Fueled by his neatly falling sinker, Nick Blackburn finished an important series for Minnesota by finishing another efficient performance. As long as Blackburn keeps pitching like this, the Twins can't help but call him their ace. Justin Morneau punctuated a productive series - and celebrated another All-Star game selection - with a two-run homer to back Blackburn in Minnesota's 6-2 victory over the Detroit Tigers on Sunday. "We've got a lot of confidence in him," said catcher Joe Mauer, who singled ahead of Morneau's shot to start a six-run fourth inning against Detroit rookie Rick Porcello.
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Team Page: Tigers | Twins

Season Series

Date	Home	Score	Pitchers
Mon 5/4	Det	MIN 7 at DET 2	W: Liriano L: Jackson
Tue 5/5	Det	MIN 0 at DET 9	W: Porcello L: Blackburn
Tue 5/12	Min	DET 2 at MIN 6	W: Slowey L: Galarraga
Wed 5/13	Min	DET 10 at MIN 14	W: Crain L: Lyon
Thu 5/14	Min	DET 5 at MIN 6	W: Breslow L: Seay
Fri 7/3	Min	DET 11 at MIN 9	W: Dolsi L: Dickey
Sat 7/4	Min	DET 3 at MIN 4	W: Guerrier L: Lyon
Sun 7/5	Min	DET 2 at MIN 6	W: Blackburn L: Porcello
Fri 8/7	Det	MIN 8 at DET 10	W: Galarraga L: Swarzak
Sat 8/8	Det	MIN 11 at DET 0	W: Pavano L: Verlander
Sun 8/9	Det	MIN 7 at DET 8	W: Lyon L: Guerrier
Fri 9/18	Min	DET 0 at MIN 3	W: Duensing L: Porcello
Sat 9/19	Min	DET 2 at MIN 6	W: Crain L: Verlander
Sun 9/20	Min	DET 6 at MIN 2	W: Robertson L: Baker
Mon 9/28	Det	PPD
Tue 9/29	Det	MIN 3 at DET 2	W: Rauch L: Lyon
Tue 9/29	Det	MIN 5 at DET 6	W: Verlander L: Duensing
Wed 9/30	Det	MIN 2 at DET 7	W: Bonine L: Pavano
Thu 10/1	Det	MIN 8 at DET 3	W: Baker L: Robertson
Tue 10/6	Min	DET 5 at MIN 6	W: Keppel L: Rodney

Box Scores

Tigers (44 - 37) Season Stats | Roster | Tickets		Twins (43 - 40) Season Stats | Roster | Tickets
Lineup Name AB R H RBI BB 1. C Granderson, CF 3 0 1 0 1 2. R Santiago, 2B 4 0 0 0 0 3. M Cabrera, 1B 4 0 1 0 0 4. D Kelly, LF 4 1 0 0 0 5. B Inge, 3B 4 1 1 2 0 6. M Ordonez, DH 4 0 1 0 0 7. J Anderson, RF 4 0 1 0 0 8. G Laird, C 4 0 1 0 0 9. A Everett, SS 4 0 1 0 0 Totals 35 2 7 2 1		Lineup Name AB R H RBI BB 1. D Span, CF-LF 4 0 2 1 0 2. B Harris, SS 4 0 0 0 0 3. J Mauer, C 3 1 1 0 1 4. J Morneau, 1B 4 1 2 2 0 5. J Kubel, DH 4 0 2 0 0 6. M Cuddyer, RF 3 1 0 0 1 7. J Crede, 3B 4 1 2 0 0 8. D Young, LF 4 1 2 1 0 8. C Gomez, CF 0 0 0 0 0 9. N Punto, 2B 3 1 1 0 1 Totals 33 6 12 4 3
Pitcher Name IP H R ER BB K ERA* R Porcello (L, 8-6) 4.0 7 6 4 2 3 4.14 F Ni 2.0 3 0 0 1 3 1.80 Z Miner 2.0 2 0 0 0 2 4.78		Pitcher Name IP H R ER BB K ERA* N Blackburn (W, 7-4) 9.0 7 2 1 1 6 2.94
* = Season Stat
BATTING HR: B Inge (19) BASERUNNING SB: C Granderson (15)		BATTING 2B: J Kubel (18) HR: J Morneau (21) BASERUNNING CS: J Kubel (1)

Complete Box Score

Player News

Tigers Miguel Cabrera (DET) News: Cabrera finished fourth in the AL MVP voting with 171 points.  (STATS - Mon. Nov 23, 2009) Miguel Cabrera (DET) News: With Joe Mauer taking 27-of-28 first place votes in the American League MVP award voting on Wednesday, Miguel Cabrera took the lone other first place vote, according to Ken Davidoff of Newsday. As a result, he has earned a $200,000 bonus from the Tigers.   (Fanball - Mon. Nov 23, 2009) Adam Everett (DET) News: Contrary to previous reports, the Nationals are not interested in shortstop Adam Everett, according to MLB.com. The team plans to spend their money on pitching, and they don't feel Everett bring enough offense to the table.  (Fanball - Sun. Nov 22, 2009)

Twins Carl Pavano (MIN) News: The Brewers are interested in free agent pitcher Carl Pavano, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.   (Fanball - Mon. Nov 23, 2009) Joe Mauer (MIN) News: In a near unanimous decision, Joe Mauer has been named the 2009 American League Most Valuable Player, according to BBWAA.com.   (Fanball - Mon. Nov 23, 2009) Joe Mauer (MIN) News: Mauer has become only the second catcher in 33 years to win the American League Most Valuable Player Award. The Minnesota Twins star was a near-unanimous winner in voting announced Monday by the Baseball Writers' Association of America, receiving 27 of 28 first-place votes and 387 points. Yankees teammates Mark Teixeira and Derek Jeter were second and third.  (STATS - Mon. Nov 23, 2009)