Span's three triples put Twins back in first

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By Kelly Thesier / MLB.com

06/30/10 1:00 AM ET

MINNEAPOLIS -- Much of the talk recently regarding the Twins' offense has centered on the club figuring out ways to get more of its big sluggers into the lineup.

But on Tuesday night, it was their leadoff hitter, Denard Span, who put on quite a show as he tied a modern-era record with three triples and had five RBIs to help the Twins capture an 11-4 victory over the Tigers and reclaim a half-game lead in the American League Central race.

One night after 39-year-old slugger Jim Thome lumbered out his first triple in over six years, Span made the feat look much easier as he sprinted around the basepaths inning after inning.

"He definitely inspired me," Span said with a smile when asked about Thome's triple the previous evening. "A triple for me is like hitting a home run for a power hitter."

Span became the first Major Leaguer to hit three triples in a game since the Braves' Rafael Furcal on April 21, 2002, and he's only the second Twins player to accomplish the feat. He joins Ken Landreaux , who hit three triples for Minnesota on July 3, 1980, vs. Texas.

The dizzying speed show began in the first inning when Span led off with his first triple of the night off starter Armando Galarraga, a deep shot to center field that got things started for Minnesota. For a team that has found itself falling behind early in games of late, the quick start was definitely a momentum boost.

Span would score his team's first run when Orlando Hudson followed up the big hit with an RBI double. After Span singled in his next at-bat and tied up the game on Justin Morneau's RBI single in the third, he got back to his triple-hitting ways the very next inning.

In the fourth, Span broke open the 3-3 tie with his second triple of the night. This shot to right field scored two runs and was the start of the offensive outburst. In the very next inning, Span added a bases-clearing double off the wall in the right field -- a ball that he originally thought was a homer -- that extended the Twins' lead to 10-3.

"When you see a guy like Denard running around the bases, those are pretty exciting and that gets everybody fired up," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. "The last one with the bases loaded was pretty impressive."

Triples are considered to be one of the most exciting plays in baseball and Span certainly created a buzz throughout the sellout crowd of 40,593 at Target Field with the display that he put on in the contest.

As Span headed to the plate in the seventh inning seeking to become the first player in the modern era to have four triples in the game, he was greeted with a standing ovation. Over the cheers and hollers, the main chorus line "every day a star is born" of his at-bat song by Jay-Z blared a little louder than usual throughout the ballpark and Span admitted that in the goose-bump inducing moment, he was at a loss.

"That's the first time I've ever come up to the plate and witnessed anything like that," Span said. "The fans getting up for me, I didn't know what to do. Do I hurry up and get in the box? Am I supposed to go deep? It was definitely an unbelievable feeling."

The cheers quickly turned to playful boos when Enrique Rodriguez issued a five-pitch walk to Span, as the crowd certainly didn't want the thrilling show to end and neither did the center fielder.

"I needed a game like this," Span said. "I hadn't had a game like this all year. Hopefully this will get me going. I've been kind of streaky all year and everybody knows what I've been doing on the road [batting .192] but playing so well here. It's always good to beat up on Detroit."

Span certainly has seen his fair share of success vs. the Tigers. With his 4-for-4 evening with a walk, Span raised his career average vs. Detroit to .403 and he now has four career four-hit games against his club's division foe.

"Obviously, he's pretty good," said Tigers manager Jim Leyland. "There's not much else to say. Guy gets three triples, that's pretty impressive. He's hurt us in the past quite a bit. There's a few games we started to get him out a little bit, but we went right back to making bad pitches tonight."

But while Span energized the crowd with his speed on the basepaths, the Twins were equally pleased by the performance of starter Nick Blackburn.

Blackburn entered Tuesday's contest in the midst of a slump, one that had seemed to put his rotation spot on tenuous ground. He had gone 0-4 with a 12.05 ERA in his last five starts in June. But all four of those losses had come on the road, and the Twins hoped that a little confidence boost at home might be just what the right-hander needed.

The offensive support certainly helped Blackburn. But he never seemed to ease up, and even rebounding when he gave up three runs in one frame, as he pitched seven innings while allowing four runs on seven hits.

"Tonight felt completely different than I've felt in awhile," Blackburn said. "Finally I wasn't battling my mechanics the whole game, I was just out there focusing on pitching and it felt a lot better."

And while Span may have topped Thome's triple against the Tigers on this night, he's going to have to go a lot further to catch up with the noted slugger's home run accomplishment. Thome blasted career home run No. 572 with a solo shot to left-center field to lead off the seventh inning and cap off the scoring for Minnesota. Thome is now one home run shy of tying legendary Twins slugger, Harmon Killebrew, for 10th on the all-time career home run list.

But the focus for the Twins on this night was not on individual accomplishments but rather finding themselves back atop the AL Central standings.

"It was just a good day for me, for the team," Span said. "We got a win that we really needed. Detroit came in last night and beat us and took over first place. It was just good for us to regrab it for a couple hours."

Kelly Thesier is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.