The Twins have recalled righthnder Jesse Crain, who was 1-0 with a 2.25 ERA in 12 games with Class AAA Rochester since being sent down. Righthander Kevin Mulvey, who made two appearances in this series, was sent back to Rochester.

“We needed another pitcher,” Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. 

But the other development is that Glen Perkins informed the staff after the game that he’s been having problems with his shoulder when he starts warming up. He says he’s fine once he gets warmed up but felt he should let the meidcal staff know about it now.

So Perkins will join Joe Crede on a visit to Dr. Lewis Yocum tomorrow.

Not good news for Joe Crede and the Twins.

Crede had to call trainer Rick McWane during the night because the pain in his shoulder was the worst it’s been since he first had problems with his A/C joint over the weekend. There’s also some numbness in his hand.

Crede said his shoulder barked on him in the eighth inning when as he popped up to short and worsened after he arrived a the team hotel.

So Crede will be examined tomorrow morning by Dr. Lewis Yocum in Los Angeles. He’ll probably undergo an MRI exam. He’s hoping the diagnosis will lead to a speedy recovery. We’ll see.

Justin Morneau is getting a DH day, with Jason Kubel in left field and the Bushman at first base.

A’s pitcher Trevor Cahill has good stuff, but the word is that he has trouble repeating his mechanics and doesn’t pitch inside enough. We’ll see.

Lineups

Twins (48-46)

1. Denard Span, CF
2. Joe Mauer, C
3. Justin Morneau, DH
4. Jason Kubel, LF
5. Michael Cuddyer, RF
6. Brendan Harris, 3B
7. Brian Buscher, 1B
8. Nick Punto, SS
9. Alexi Casilla, 2B

Pitching: Glen Perkins, LHP

Oakland (39-53)

1. Adam Kennedy, 3B
2. Orlando Cabrera, SS
3. Scott Hairston, CF
4. Matt Holliday, LF
5. Jack Cust, DH
6. Daric Barton, 1B
7. Landon Powell, C
8.  Rajai Davis, RF
9. Mark Ellis, 2B

Pitching: Trevor Cahill, RHP

I love a good curveball. Always have.

Bob Boone once told a story about Bert Blyleven’s curveball: “He was the only pitcher who could throw his curveball with so much spin you could hear it buzzing as it crossed the plate.”

Anthony Swarzak is no Blyleven when it comes to throwing Mr. Snappy. But his curveball was a big reason why he held Oakland to two runs over seven innings on Tuesday.

“I had to find a pitch I could get over and I found one and just rode it,” he said.

When was the turning point?

“After I gave up on trying to pinpoint a fastball. I couldn’t do it all night and I was like. `Man, I’m burning up pitches.’ It was about the third inning when I decided to go to the curveball.”

That’s right when he retired 11 of 12 batters to get him to the seventh inning. Of Swarzak’s 107 pitches, 28 were curveballs and 20 of those were strikes. His strike percentage with his curve (71 percent) was better than his other pitches (53 percent) if my math is right. That backs up what he said about not spotting his fastball.

Matt Holliday flied out three times.

Jack Cust struck out twice.

There was another key to Swarzak’s seven strong innings.

“You know what else he did?” pitching coach Rick Anderson said. “He pitched inside. We didn’t do any of that last night.”

Suddenly, last night made a little more sense. It’s amazing how pitchers get away from keeping hitters honest in the batter’s box. It’s not just the Twins.

Hopefully, Swarzak set a good example. 

 NOTES

• Joe Nathan has converted 20 straight save opportunities
• The Twins are 4-5 in extra inning games
• They are 11-14 in one-run games

Joe Crede said his shoulder felt a lot better this morning so he back in the lineup.

Joe Mauer is in the No. 2 hole. After watching everyone not named Mauer fail in that spot - and Justin Morneau drive in seven runs in that spot yesterday, Twins manager Ron Gardenhire decided to give it another shot.

The hope is that Nick Punto and Alexi Casilla will relax and produce to the point where the bottom of the order isn’t a series of speed bumps.

Denard Span is getting a night off after not looking too hot at the plate lately. He’s 2-for-18 on the road trip.

Kevin Slowey told me he’s prepared to battle pain in his wrist the rest of the season as long as it doesn’t affect his pitching. Communication with the trainers will be key. All Gardenhire wants is assurances that Slowey won’t hurt his shoulder or elbow while fighting through the wrist problem. This will be interesting to watch.

Give Slowey props for wanting to suck it up.  But this seems to be a tad risky. Good thing he’s not a power pitcher, I guess - although thylos is exactly right about the breaking balls….

Lineups

Twins (47-46)

1. Carlos Gomez, CF
2. Joe Mauer, C
3. Justin Morneau, 1B
4. Michael Cuddyer, RF
5. Jason Kubel, DH
6. Joe Crede, 3B
7. Delmon Young, LF
8. Nick Punto, SS
9. Alexi Casilla, 2B

Pitching: Anthony Swarzak, RHP

Oakland (39-52)

1. Adam Kennedy, 3B
2. Orlando Cabrera, SS
3. Scott Hairston, CF
4. Matt Holliday, LF
5. Jack Cust, DH
6. Kurt Suzuki, C
7. Daric Barton, 1B
8. Ryan Sweeney, RF
9.  Mark Ellis, 2B

Pitching: Dallas Braden, LHP

Twins manager Ron Gardenhire was in the clubhouse Monday after his team blew a 10-run lead, making sure the loss didn’t linger.

Who could blame him? There was a starting lineup of players who could look in the mirror and realize they were a factor in the Twins losing 14-13 to Oakland, a team that had scored the second fewest runs in the American League coming into the game. The Twins tied a club record for largest blown lead, first set on September 28, 1984 at Cleveland.

So the manager made small talk and cracked jokes. He told a bunch of players that he had assumed that Michael Cuddyer was safe at home and didn’t make the final out of the game - and that he was more worried that Carlos Gomez, who was on first as a pinch runner, was going to try to score, too.

This was well after the game. By then, the dirt had stopped flying from where Cuddyer slammed his helmet in the ground after home plate umpire Mike Muchlinski called him out as he tried to score from second on a wild pitch. Gardenhire’s face was no longer red.

“I think the anger stage has passed,” Justin Morneau said. “It was a tough game to lose.”

It was a crazy game to watch. The Twins were up 12-2 in the middle of the third inning. Morneau had set a career-high with seven RBI - in his first two at-bats. Nick Blackburn, their best starting pitcher was on the mound. Jason Kubel reached base in all six plate appearances.  The Twins were about to win their fourth game in five tries and the Morneau angle had the media in cruise control.

“We should have won the game.” Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. “We could have won the game. We had a chance at the end.”

Oakland didn’t give up. Matt Holliday fueled an incredible response by going 4-for-5 with two doubles and two homers, one grand slam. Blackburn tied a season-high for a Twins pitcher by giving up 13 hits in five innings. He didn’t have his best stuff and couldn’t figure out how to win with what he had,

“(Pitching coach Rick Anderson) was telling me what it was between innings.” Blackburn said, “and I still couldn’t go out there and make the adjustments.”

It was 13-7 in the seventh when the lead changed hands. The first two batters reached against reliever Brian Duensing. Then Mark Ellis popped up a pitch that Morneau overran. It fell in for no play.

“I just misjudged it,” Morneau said. “I thought it was going to be on the warning track and it was 10 feet behind me.”

Ellis, of course, singles to load the bases. One out later, Bobby Keppel replaced Duensing. Orlando Cabrera sent a blooper down the right field line that Cuddyer dived for - and missed. Two runs scored.

Keppel re-loaded the bases with a walk to Scott Hairiston - then gave up a grand slam to Holliday to tie the game. Blackburn couldn’t believe what the game he started turned into.

“We couldn’t get them out,” he said. “They were even hitting balls that weren’t bad pitches.”

Out came Keppel. In came Jose Mijares. And his first pitch was clobbered out to center by Jack Cust. It was 14-13 Oakland.

HAD A CHANCE

Brendan Harris led off the eighth with a single. The guess here was that Joe Mauer was going to bat for Mike Redmond, but didn’t.

Instead, Gardenhire trusted Redmond to move the runner over - which became a double play.

The plan was for Mauer to bat for Alexi Casilla with a runner on second. That never materialized. Mauer laced a single but Denard Span tapped out to end the inning.

THE NINTH

Nick Punto and Morneau struck out in the ninth, but Cuddyer doubled to left off of closer Michael Wuertz. Kubel was walked intentionally as Delmon Young came to the plate.

Wuertz’s second pitch bounced in the dirt. popped up and rolled to the wall. Catcher Kurt Suzuki couldn’t find the ball, and Young waved Cuddyer to come home from second.

“Once the ball went straight up in the air and I was full speed out of the get-go, I saw Suzuki looking around and I said to myself, `If it hits and rolls, I’m gone.’ It did, and he still didn’t know where the ball was. I didn’t break stride one bit.”

Suzuki retrieved the ball and threw to Wuertz, who was covering the plate. Replays showed that Cuddyer slid into the plate before he was tagged, but Muchlinski didn’t see it that way. He ruled Cuddyer out.

While the A’s celebrated their largest comeback in Oakland history, Cuddyer and Young screamed at Muchlinski before Gardenhire jumped in.

“There was no doubt in my mind I was safe,” Cuddyer said.

“Definitely, Cuddy was safe,” Gardenhire said. “There’s no doubt about that. A little bit of a bad call there…but we also shot ourselves in the foot.”

Walks, missed plays, awful pitches, bad calls. It was hard to point at one thing. So Gardenehire made sure his team wasn’t crushed by the loss.

“You don’t even know how to describe this game,” Gardenhire said, “because this stuff doesn’t happen very often.”

ONE MORE THING

There was a request after the game to interview Muchlinski. Crew chief Tim Hallion intercepted the request. “No, thank you,” he said.