Generally people believe that in order to win a baseball game you have to have sound fundamentals:  Pitching, Hitting and Defense. 

Last night the Twins put their own twist on that philosophy.  Trailing 2-1 in the 7th inning the Twins put a 5-spot on the board against Jarrod Washburn.  The inning started with three perfectly executed bunts.  Jason Bartlett’s drag bunt put him on first.  Then came Alexi Castilla’s infield bunt.  Nick Punto finished the job by executing a sacrifice bunt to move the runners to 2nd and 3rd base.  Hometown hero Joe Mauer was walked and Cuddy smoked the ball to the gap to score two runs.

By the end of the inning, Washburn was replaced and the Twins put up 5 on the Mariners. 

At that point, Santana was set up for the win. He was strong again last night where he pitched 7 innings giving up 2 runs on four hits while striking out 7.  Typical night.

Other game notes: 

• Michael Cuddyer continues to swing a hot bat.  He’s batting .339 through the first 15 games.  Add that to his team leading 14 RBIs and he looks to be continuing where he left off last year.  He’s finally turned into a bonafied #4 hitter.  In case you are wondering…  He’s on pace to hit 151 RBIs this season!  I guess we’ll see if that happens.
• Last night Joe Mauer and Alexi Castilla successfully pulled off a double steal.  This was the 15th and 16th stolen base of the season for the Twins.  The Twins as a team have yet to be thrown out while stealing since the start of the season.  The Ellias Sports Bureau has confirmed that this is a Twins record.  The previous record was 7 consecutive stolen bases to start the year.
• Rondell White will be taken off of the disabled list today.  He may play in tomorrow’s game against Kansas City
• Torii Hunter is slowly healing from his bruised shoulder. He contends that he feels good enough to play in the field but did suggest that he’s having some difficulty swinging the bat.  He will likely rest another day or two before returing to the lineup.
• Pat Neshak gave up a three run homerun in the bottom of the 9th last night.  This was the second night in a row where the Twins gave up 9th inning homeruns.