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Back-to-back homers in ninth help Twins sink Pads

Baseball Betting Lines

06/25/2008 - San Diego, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Brendan Harris and Brian Buscher each slugged solo home runs on back-to-back pitches off Trevor Hoffman in the top of the ninth inning to propel the Minnesota Twins to a 3-1 victory over the San Diego Padres in the opener of a three-game interleague set.

The heroics in the ninth made a winner of Dennys Reyes (2-0), who recorded the final out of the eighth inning. Joe Nathan shut the door with a perfect ninth frame to seal Minnesota's season-high seventh straight victory.

Justin Morneau and Michael Cuddyer each had two hits for the red-hot Twins.

Kevin Slowey and Padres ace Jake Peavy battled valiantly through six innings, as Minnesota's Slowey fanned seven and allowed just four hits in six scoreless innings of work.

Peavy was almost as effective, lasting six frames and giving up just one run on five hits with six strikeouts, but neither starter factored in the decision. Hoffman (1-5) took the loss with his lackluster performance in the ninth.

Adrian Gonzalez had two hits and Chase Headley recorded the Padres' only RBI in San Diego's third consecutive loss and seventh in eight games.

Hoffman entered the game in the ninth and earned two quick outs before facing Harris, who met a first-pitch, belt-high fastball and sent it into the second deck over the left-center field wall for his third longball of the season.

"I was looking for a fastball," Harris said. "[Hoffman] got ahead of the first two guys with a fastball and then went with a changeup. I was hoping I would get [a fastball] and put it in play and not have to hit the changeup."

Buscher followed immediately with his first career home run, uppercutting Hoffman's offering into the right field seats.

Nathan needed just 11 pitches to retire the Padres in succession in their final at-bat for his 20th save of the year.

Alexi Casilla got the Twins started with a one-out double in the first. Morneau worked a two-out walk and Cuddyer punched a low, outside slider on a full count to right field for an RBI single.

Slowey retired Kevin Kouzmanoff on an inning-ending fly out to left with runners on the corners in the bottom half, and proceeded to retire 14 straight batters before a Jody Gerut single in the sixth.

Slowey was pinch-hit for in the away seventh and reliever Jesse Crain couldn't hang on to the slim 1-0 lead. Back-to-back singles by Adrian Gonzalez and Kouzmanoff put runners on the corners with no outs, and Headley grounded into a force out at second to bring home the tying run.

Peavy was also pulled after the sixth, having thrown 106 pitches in his third start since coming off the disabled list with a strained elbow.

The Padres put their first two hitters on base in the home eighth, but came away empty-handed as Matt Guerrier fanned Gerut and got Edgar Gonzalez to pop out to second. Reyes then came in to face Brian Giles, who grounded weakly to second to end the frame.

"Today we had a couple of opportunities and we couldn't get it done and you saw the results," frustrated Padres manager Bud Black said following the loss.

Game Notes

Morneau extended his hitting streak to 12 games with a 2-for-3 effort at the plate...Peavy entered the game with a 1.26 earned run average in six home starts this season...The Twins officially activated infielder Nick Punto from the 15-day disabled list on Tuesday...Hoffman has now pitched against every major league team...The last time the Twins won more than six straight games occurred July 14-21, 2006 when they won eight straight...In the second game of the series on Wednesday, the Twins' Glen Perkins (3-2) will square off against veteran Greg Maddux (3-5).