The thing that impresses me most about Brian Duensing is his poise with runners on base. Good thing because the rookie lefthander gets himself into those situations a lot.

Last Sunday against Oakland, he let the leadoff batter reach in five of his seven innings. But the A’s never scored.

On Friday, Curtis Granderson led off the third inning with a single but got stranded on second base. Marcus Thames led off the fifth with a double and got stranded on third. The Tigers went 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position against Duensing, and 0-for-8 for the game.

He is living dangerously, but thriving in big spots. Consider these splits against Duensing:

(*) Leading off an inning, opponents are batting .309.
(*) With men on base — .227.
(*) With RISP — .182.

I don’t want to pick on Francisco Liriano, but he’s had a tough time this year, so compare these splits:

(*) Leading off an inning — .283.
(*) With men on base –.330.
(*) With RISP — .306.

RAUCH BREEZES

After using Jose Mijares to finish the seventh inning, Manager Ron Gardenhire turned to Jon Rauch for the eighth. The Twins had Matt Guerrier and Ron Mahay warming during the eighth, but Rauch finished the job.

“With Matty throwing 20-plus pitches a couple days ago, we thought let’s try Rauch up there,” Gardenhire said. “These guys haven’t seen much of him. That was a nice job.”

NATHAN MAKES IT INTERESTING, AGAIN

Joe Nathan recorded two quick outs in the ninth, then issued a walk to Brandon Inge and a double to Curtis Granderson, bringing pinch-hitter Aubrey Huff to the plate representing the tying run. Huff had smashed a three-run, ninth-inning, game-tying home run on Monday against Toronto, so this is far more drama than the Twins wanted.

But this time, Huff broke his bat, ending the game with a soft liner to Nathan. That’s 42 saves in 47 chances for Nathan, who acknowledged his arm wasn’t feeling the best earlier this week against Cleveland.

KEY PLAYS

Curtis Granderson looked like he’d hit a run-scoring blooper in the fifth inning before shortstop Orlando Cabrera’s went back to make a twisting catch. You could almost feel the crowd holding its breath as Cabrera went back. It was a big play, and Duensing retired Gerald Laird to end the inning.

And you have to believe Gardenhire is going to keep going with Matt Tolbert at third base. He made a terrific play to open the seventh inning, robbing a hit from Miguel Cabrera. Tolbert stabbed the ball and made a one-hop throw, and Michael Cuddyer made a deft backhanded scoop. I circled it twice on my scorecard.

Notes: Duensing’s got a good sense of humor. For a taste, head to the game story. And, check this out: If the Twins need a one-game tiebreaker, the Vikings and Packers might have to make other plans Oct. 5, when they were supposed to play at the Metrodome on “Monday Night Football.” … The Twins will try to extend their winning streak to a season-high six games on Saturday. (First pitch: 3:10 p.m.) Head to La Velle’s blog for the starting lineups and other pregame tidbits.

This entry was posted on Friday, September 18th, 2009 at 11:38 pm 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.