With the Chicago White Sox nipping at the Twins heels for the lead in the Central Division, the Twins needed a strong series with the Detroit Tigers in town. The Twins put Francisco Liriano on the mound against Detroit’s Max Scherzer. Scherzer had been pitching very strong recently and the game on September 1st against the Twins was no exception. This one was a pitcher’s duel all the way. Liriano pitched 7 strong innings not allowing a single run. Scherzer on the other hand pitched 9 innings giving up only 1 run on a Jose Morales sacrifice fly in the 5th inning. The Tigers scored the tying run in the 8th inning off the Twins reliever Jesse Crain, which forced the game to go to extra innings. In the bottom of the 10th, Michael Cuddyer led off with a single to left field. On the strikeout pitch to the next batter, Delmon Young, Cuddyer stole second base to represent the winning run now in scoring position. Danny Valencia then came to the plate with the opportunity to be the day’s hero and he took full advantage. Valencia slapped a soft fly ball to left center field for a hit that allowed Cuddyer to score the winning run. Here is a video we took of that game winning hit taken from our seats:
This game marked the 5th walk-off win in Target Field history and only the second time the walk-off came from a base hit. The first walk-off win came on a wild pitch, the second on a sacrifice fly, the third on a throwing error, and the fourth (arguably the most dramatic) came on a Jim Thome homerun. I’ve been lucky enough to be in attendence for all 5 of the walk-off victories at Target Field so far and I’ve really enjoyed the experience this season.
Below is a link to the pictures I took at this game. These pictures were taken from Section 3, Row 11, which is just off of 1st base near the end of the Twins dugout. I hope you take a look and don’t be afraid to let me know what you think. I believe the site should be setup to allow users to leave comments now if you wish. Here is the link to the pictures: