Twins continue home dominance with series win over Oakland

Baseball Betting Lines

08/20/2008 - Minneapolis, MN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Mike Redmond stroked a pair of run-scoring singles to lift the Minnesota Twins to a 3-1 victory over the Oakland Athletics in the finale of a three-game series at the Metrodome.

Justin Morneau also knocked in a run and Francisco Liriano threw five solid innings to earn the victory for the Twins, who won the final two games of the series after dropping the opener.

Minnesota wrapped up a nine-game homestand with a 7-2 mark and continued its strong play at the Metrodome. The Twins haven't lost a series at home since June 3-5 against Baltimore and are 30-9 in the dome since June 1.

Now comes the Twins' longest road trip of the season and longest for the franchise since 1969 -- a 15-day, 14-game trek through Anaheim, Seattle, Oakland and Toronto.

Liriano (4-3) surrendered an unearned run on five hits and three walks while striking out five. He has won each of his four starts with an earned run average of 1.14 since returning to the majors in August.

Dallas Braden (3-3) took the loss for Oakland, allowing three runs on six hits and three walks over 5 2/3 innings. He struck out seven.

Jack Cust knocked in the lone run for the Athletics, who have lost four of their last five and set a club record since moving to Oakland in 1968 by dropping their 11th straight series. The A's haven't won a series since taking three of four from Seattle from July 7-10.

The Twins snapped a 1-1 tie with a run in the third inning. Carlos Gomez led off with a bunt single, took second when Denard Span was hit by a pitch and scored on a base hit to left field by Redmond.

Oakland stranded a runner at third in the top of the sixth when Mark Ellis was called out on strikes, and Minnesota tacked on a run in the bottom of the frame.

Nick Punto led off the home sixth with a single, stole second and scored on a base hit to center by Redmond. The Twins went on to load the bases with one out later in the inning, but Brian Buscher and Brendan Harris struck out to keep it a two-run game.

Minnesota's bullpen, after Liriano threw 107 pitches over five innings, held Oakland hitless for the final four innings, with Joe Nathan working the ninth for his 34th save.

Oakland grabbed the lead in the first with an unearned run. Ellis reached on an error to start the game, advanced to second on a one-out single by Emil Brown and scored on an infield single by Cust. Punto flagged down Cust's ball with a dive, but Ellis kept running around third and slid home ahead of the second baseman's wide throw to the plate.

The Twins answered with a run in the bottom of the inning to tie it. Span led off with a walk and Punto singled him to second. The runners advanced on a ground ball to first by Redmond and Span raced home on a base hit by Morneau. A double play grounder by Delmon Young ended the inning.

Oakland threatened in the second when Ellis doubled with two outs to put runners on second and third, but Kurt Suzuki lined out to Harris at shortstop.

Game Notes

The Athletics last lost 11 straight series from August 5 through September 4, 1960 when the franchise was based in Kansas City...The Twins are 16-3-3 in series at the Metrodome this season...Oakland heads to Seattle for the start of a four-game series on Thursday.

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Big 12 Conference betting odds

Work left to do: Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Kansas State

Texas joins Texas A&M and Kansas as locks after getting league win No. 11. Texas Tech greatly helped its own hopes and crippled OK State's with the two-point win Saturday. Is K-State the last reasonable hopeful? Could be an elimination match in Stillwater on Tuesday, at least for the Cowboys.

Work left to do:

Texas Tech [18-11 (7-7), RPI: 44, SOS: 12] A critical two-point win over OK State leaves the Red Raiders with Baylor and at Iowa State left. Get both and the Red Raiders likely are good to go. Get one and there could be some interesting comparisons with a K-State team that could finish two or three games "ahead" of them in the standings but doesn't have any of the quality wins Texas Tech has. Not a lot in nonconference play (against Arkansas in Little Rock being the best win, by far) to lean on.

Oklahoma State [18-9 (5-8), RPI: 50, SOS: 35] Still without a road win, the Cowboys now need to win two on the road just to get to .500 in conference play. It's hard to recall a team (OK, other than Clemson) falling so precipitously from lock status to almost certainly out of the NCAAs at this point. There are wins to be had in the last three, including a very big home game against K-State on Tuesday, but this team is reeling. Can you tell the pressure to win is getting to them with the way the final possession played out at Texas Tech? There are some good nonconference performances to lean on, specifically beating Missouri State and Syracuse on neutral floors and Pitt in OK City, but if the Pokes don't right this very, very soon, that won't be enough.

Kansas State [20-9 (9-5), RPI: 56, SOS: 96] It pays to be in the Big 12 North. The nine league wins are Colorado (twice), Missouri (twice), Iowa State (twice), Baylor, Nebraska and (a good one against) Texas. That helps explain the middling computer profile. The win over USC is nice, but the nonconference leaves a lot to be desired. The game at OK State in Stillwater on Tuesday is huge, as it could KO the Cowboys and leave K-State with a home date against Oklahoma with which to work.