Blackburn's strong mound performance guides Twins past Tribe

Baseball Betting Lines

04/24/2009 - Cleveland, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Justin Morneau belted his fourth home run of the season, and Nick Blackburn pitched strong seven innings to lead the Minnesota Twins past the Cleveland Indians, 5-1, in the opener of a three-game series.

Jose Morales went 2-for-4 with an RBI for the Twins, who improved to 1-2 on a five-game road trip. Jason Kubel, who had a double, and Joe Crede also had an RBI. Denard Span went 2-for-5 with a pair of runs scored.

Blackburn (1-1) gave up just one run on six hits with four strikeouts to collect the win. Blackburn, who beat the Indians all three times he faced them last year, improved his ERA to 4.44.

Grady Sizemore went 2-for-4 and had the lone RBI for the Indians, who dropped to 2-2 on a six-game homestand.

Fausto Carmona (1-3) allowed five runs -- four earned -- on eight hits in a six-plus inning start to absorb the loss.

Ahead 3-1, Minnesota added two runs in the seventh to extend its margin. Back- to-back singles from Morales and Nick Punto set up a first and third with no outs. Rafael Betancourt then took over for Carmona on the hill.

A Span single to third loaded the bases. Alexi Casilla grounded into a force play with Morales being thrown out at home. Morneau grounded out, but advanced the runners to score Punto in the process. Following a Kubel intentional walk, Crede singled to shortstop to knock in Span. Michael Cuddyer went down swinging to end the frame.

Jose Mijares and Joe Nathan pitched a scoreless eighth and ninth frame, respectively, to secure the victory for the Twins.

The Twins drew first blood in the opening inning to take an early 1-0 edge. Span, who singled to right to lead off, advanced to second on Casilla's groundout. After Morneau went down on strikes, Kubel doubled to left field to knock in Span. Carmona got Crede to ground out to end the frame.

Cleveland scored a run in the third to deadlock the tilt. Asdrubal Cabrera doubled off the wall in center field with one out. Sizemore's single to center knocked in Cabrera.

Minnesota put two runs on the board in the fourth. Morneau got things started by ripping a Carmona pitch into the seats in right field. With two outs and Crede on first, Delmon Young reached base as a throwing error by DeRosa allowed Crede to advance to third. Crede scored on a Morales single to left.

Game Notes

The Twins went 4-for-11 with runners in scoring position, while Cleveland went 1-for-5 with RISP...Minnesota was 10-8 last season against the Indians, but won just three of the nine games contested in Cleveland.

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