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Chapman
blows save
Twins beat Reds
reds.com
CINCINNATI -- Josh Willingham took away one run on defense and hit a
two-run home run off Cincinnati closer Aroldis Chapman in the ninth
inning Sunday to lift the Twins to a 4-3 win against the Reds at Great
American Ball Park.
Willingham’s home run followed Joe Mauer’s double on a 10-pitch at-bat
and landed in the second-deck bleachers. It answered the two-run homer
Cincinnati’s Joey Votto hit in the bottom of the eighth inning to give
the Reds the lead after Scott Diamond had held them to just one run on
six hits through the first seven innings.
Diamond (6-3) got the win to end a personal two-game losing streak and
allowed the Twins to end their six-game road trip at .500, 3-3.
Jared Burton walked two, but earned his first Major League save with a
scoreless ninth inning.
Justin Morneau’s RBI groundout in the seventh inning had given the
Twins the lead for the first time in the game. Mauer had singled to
right field to lead off the inning and went to third on a double by
Willingham prior to Morneau’s groundout.
Trevor Plouffe hit his 15th home run of the season with one out in the
fifth inning off Cincinnati starter Mike Leake to even the score, 1-1.
Plouffe had struck out his previous four at-bats, including three times
on Saturday.
Diamond had been roughed up in his last two starts, allowing eight
earned runs on 13 hits in 11 1/3 innings, but continued his streak of
dominant pitching in the daylight. He was 3-0 with a 1.03 ERA in four
previous daytime starts this season and did nothing to damage those
numbers on Sunday until Votto’s home run.
Diamond allowed just a single run through seven frames, which came in
the third when Reds catcher Devin Mesoraco led off with a double. Leake
put down a sacrifice bunt to send Mesoraco to third base, and he scored
on Wilson Valdez’s single to right field with two outs. Diamond hit
Votto (on an 0-2 pitch) and Brandon Phillips in consecutive at-bats to
load the bases, but got out of the inning when Jay Bruce flew out to
Willingham in left field.
Diamond bounced back with a 1-2-3 fourth inning and got some defensive
help in the sixth to keep the Reds at bay.
Bruce singled with one out, but was thrown out at the plate attempting
to score on a double by Ryan Ludwick. Cincinnati third-base coach Mark
Berry sent Bruce home, even though Willingham cleanly fielded the ball
in the left-field corner. Willingham made a perfect relay to shortstop
Brian Dozier, who threw on to Mauer waiting at the plate to apply the
tag on Bruce.
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