SAN DIEGO — Kevin Slowey gave the Twins their 10th consecutive quality start on Tuesday, and the team extended its winning streak to seven games with a 3-1 victory over the Padres.

Some people dismiss the quality start stat — at least six innings pitched, three or fewer earned runs allowed. But the Twins are 9-1 in this stretch.

This wasn’t just quality for Slowey. This was magnificent. Six innings, no runs, four hits, no walks, seven strikeouts.

In my game story, I have Manager Ron Gardenhire’s explanation for pulling Slowey with 92 pitches after six innings.

Remember, Slowey was on the disabled list for 3 1/2 weeks with a strained right biceps earlier this season. Asked how he felt after 92 pitches this time, he said:

“I felt fine. After being injured early in the year, I’ve done a lot of little things differently between starts with Perry [Castellano], our strength and conditioning guy. I still don’t think I’m going to be able to throw 95-97 [mph] but it feels great.”

Short hops

* Justin Morneau went 2-for-3, extended his hitting streak to 12 games.

* The Padres are 8-17 against lefthanded starting pitchers heading into Wednesday’s game against Twins lefty Glen Perkins.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 25th, 2008 at 1:03 am and is filed under Twins thoughts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.