News
Save for Mauer, lost effort vs. Angels
Homers from Twins catcher not enough to lift Liriano's start
By Quinn Roberts / MLB.com
07/25/09 2:28 AM ET
ANAHEIM -- Another start, another disappointing loss for Twins starter Francisco Liriano.After getting through the first five innings relatively unscathed, a three-run home run by Angels designated hitter Mike Napoli sealed a 6-3 loss for the Twins Friday in front of 39,272 at Angel Stadium.
Liriano lasted only 5 1/3 innings and gave up eight hits on six earned runs, moving his record to 4-10 and his ERA to 5.56.
"I think I am making too many mistakes every game," Liriano said. "I am trying the best I can, I am just not pitching well enough and have to try harder.
"I tried to calm down and make some pitches, but sometimes it just gets in my head."
With the loss, the Twins moved below the .500 mark for the first time since they were 35-36 on June 21.
Liriano once again had trouble in the middle innings, a trend that has plagued his starts much of the season. He gave up a solo home run to Angels catcher Jeff Mathis in the bottom of the fifth before surrendering the three-run shot to Napoli in the sixth to make the score 6-2.
Twins manager Ron Gardenhire saw the anger in Liriano during and after the game.
"You can see he is getting frustrated," Gardenhire said. "He was going along and then a home run here, a home run there and a couple of bad pitches that he got in the zone and then Napoli got one to hit and put it out."
The lefty's problems throughout the game also stemmed from his inability to get the ball down and instead left many balls up and over the plate.
"It is what we talk about all the time with Frankie and him getting into situations with men on and he starts overthrowing the ball and missing location and that is what happened there," Gardenhire said. "He tried to do too much with that pitch rather than locate and got it up and over."
Liriano was outpitched by Angels ace John Lackey who held the Twins to four hits in seven and 2/3 innings, only giving up two runs, both of which were solo homers to Joe Mauer.w
Mauer's first home run was hit off the rocks in center field in the fourth inning and the second was to right field in the sixth inning.
For the catcher, his two home runs Friday marked the first time this season he has hit two home runs in a game. It was also the third multi-home run game of his career.
"I think we're going to be talking about Joe Mauer 10 years from now the same way we talk about Johnny Bench, Bill Dickey, Roy Campanella, Carlton Fisk. He's going to be as good as anybody who's played the position. You don't find many guys who can do what he can do," said Angels manager Mike Scioscia after the game.
Other than Mauer's two hits, the rest of the Twins lineup managed only four hits. The team also didn't get a leadoff runner on base until the ninth inning, something Gardenhire knows can't happen if his team wants to win games.
"Other than Mauer, who put some good swings out there, we didn't have much else going on," Gardenhire said. "We were pretty much shut down."
With the Twins' poor hitting and Liriano unable to go deep into the ballgame, the bullpen was once again forced to work a considerable amount of innings, throwing two 2/3 frames.
Reliever Jess Crain, after giving up a game-winning double Thursday to Napoli, pitched a solid 1 2/3 innings, surrendering no hits and striking out two before lefty Brian Duensing pitched a scoreless eighth.
"The night was going along well there for a while until the home run in the sixth clocked us a little bit," Gardenhire said. "The big ball by Napoli put us down pretty good."
Quinn Roberts is an associate reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
