Cuddyer, Span help Twins edge Rangers

Baseball Betting Lines

09/05/2010 - Minneapolis, MN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Michael Cuddyer and Denard Span each drove in a pair of runs and Minnesota survived a ninth-inning scare to take a 6-5 decision over Texas in the finale of a three-game series from Target Field.

Orlando Hudson and J.J. Hardy also collected an RBI each for the Twins, who swept the set from the AL West leaders and have won eight of their last 10 games.

Nick Blackburn (9-9) allowed six hits and two runs over seven solid innings, fanning four with three walks for Minnesota, which maintained its 3 1/2 game lead over Chicago in the AL Central after the White Sox topped Boston.

Matt Capps earned his ninth save despite allowing two runs to score and being charged with a run on three hits while recording the final out of the game.

Matt Treanor drove in two while Julio Borbon, Cristian Guzman and Vladimir Guerrero added RBI hits in the ninth for the Rangers, who slid to their sixth loss in eight outings.

C.J. Wilson (14-6) was tagged in the loss for seven hits and six runs, striking out five but walking four over 5 1/3 frames.

Jon Rauch turned in a scoreless eighth but allowed an RBI double from Borbon with two down in the ninth and departed with a runner on second.

Capps was called upon but Guzman hit a run-scoring single for a 6-4 game. Young followed with a base hit and David Murphy walked to load the bases. Guerrero then sent a ball up the middle. It was fielded by Hudson behind second base and he threw to third behind Young, who was trying to go back to the base.

Although Guzman scored to make it a one-run game, Young was called out due to runners interference -- incidental contact with Texas' third-base coach -- while rounding the bag.

Cudddyer's two-run double in the first staked the Twins to the lead, then the Rangers countered in their next at-bat with a Treanor two-run single.

Minnesota got a run back in the home second as Hardy and Matt Tolbert both walked, Jason Repko beat out a bunt single and Span's sacrifice fly plated the go-ahead run.

The home team put up three more runs in the sixth. Jason Kubel and Delmon Young stroked back-to-back singles then a Hardy hit plated one run. Repko walked two batters later to load the bases then Span also walked to force in a run and chase Wilson.

Michael Kirkman then allowed a sac fly from Hudson to make it 6-2 before retiring Joe Mauer on a fly out.

Blackburn finished his performance by sending the Rangers down in order in the sixth then working around a Guzman double in the seventh.

Game Notes

Minnesota won seven of the 10 meetings with Texas this season, including a perfect 6-0 mark at home...The Rangers announced Sunday that outfielder Josh Hamilton will be out for an undetermined period of time while recovering from a bruised left ribcage suffered on Saturday...Both clubs are in action on Monday as the Twins stay home to host Kansas City while the Rangers head to Toronto to start a four-game set.

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Big East Conference odds

Work left to do: Villanova, Syracuse, DePaul, West Virginia, Providence

Notre Dame and Louisville appear to have done enough to make the move, so we'll make them locks. The Cardinals, despite a modest RPI, are trending way up and have clinched at least a tie for third in the Big East, which should be more than enough with their pair of big road wins. Villanova got back to .500 and gets back to more solid footing. Syracuse got a very important road win and crippled a fellow contender in the process. West Virginia's fate could be in its hands Tuesday at Pitt.

Work left to do:

Villanova [18-9 (7-7), RPI: 21, SOS: 5] Pounded Rutgers to get back to .500. If Cats can get their last two (at UConn, vs. Syracuse), that should be enough with strong computer numbers and a host of wins away from The Pavilion. The Cats have beaten Texas and swept the Big 5 (never easy in Philly), but have a couple of losses to bubble teams (Xavier, Drexel), too. I still think they'll be OK, possibly even at 8-8.

Syracuse [20-8 (9-5), RPI: 53, SOS: 62] History says 10 wins will be plenty, but it might be hard for the Orange to get that last one with a final two vs. G'town, which is trying to win the league title, and at Villanova, which will be desperate for a W. The relative lack of nonconference heft and the weak computer numbers are still concerns, but the Orange have won four in a row and got a very, very big win at Providence on Saturday.

DePaul [16-12 (8-7), RPI: 54, SOS: 18] Beat Cincy and should get past South Florida to get to 9-7, but then what? They have beaten Kansas and Cal (right after the DeVon Hardin injury) earlier this season, but also have lost to Bradley and Purdue, among others. They'll likely need a couple of BE tourney wins, too, but we'll see ...

West Virginia [19-7 (8-6), RPI: 58, SOS: 125] The game at Pitt on Tuesday night could decide the Mountaineers' fate (barring a deep tournament run). They can still get to 9-7 in the Big East without it by beating Cincinnati, but the nine wins would be against UConn, Villanova, St. John's, South Florida, DePaul, Rutgers, Seton Hall twice and the Bearcats. Beating bubble foes is fine, but where's the beef? Outside of beating PG-less UCLA in nonconference play (still a top quality win), there's not a lot to fall back on (besides maybe NC State). WVU vs. Syracuse would be an interesting debate, as the teams don't play in the Big East regular season. WVU has the best win, but Cuse has played the much better schedule.

Providence [17-10 (7-7), RPI: 70, SOS: 33] The Friars likely saw their at-large hopes die at home in the four-point loss to Syracuse, barring an unexpected run to the Big East semis or more. The RPI, bad already, won't be helped by playing St. John's and South Florida in the final two league games.

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