Credit: Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports
If you haven’t been paying attention to Phil Hughes, it’s time that you started. After having a rough couple of starts to start his Minnesota Twins career, Hughes is now on a hot streak of epic proportions. The Padres simply didn’t stand a chance against the Twins starter.
On Wednesday, Hughes went seven innings, gave up seven hits, struck out seven and didn’t issue a walk again. In his last six starts, Hughes has walked one, ONE, batter in 39.1 innings. He also lays claim to a 1.60 ERA and 30 strikeouts in those same six starts.
It’s a good thing that Hughes has been so good since he and the Twins found themselves in a pitcher’s battle on Wednesday. The first run of the game wasn’t scored until the sixth inning on a Chris Parmelee sacrifice fly. That’s the only run that Tyson Ross, the Padres starter, gave up in the outing during seven innings of work with eight strikeouts and three hits.
Dale Thayer appeared in relief for San Diego and gave up a no doubt solo jack-job to Trevor Plouffe in the eighth inning to give the Twins the decisive 2-0 win. Important note: Dale Thayer looks like this:
Thayer's magnificent mustache and the head scratching face is a great combo (req @Kevinly17) pic.twitter.com/U92aWUFPk8
— CJ Fogler AKA Perc70 #BlackLivesMatter (@cjzero) May 22, 2014
The only extra-base hit in the ballgame for either team was the Plouffe solo home run.
Base running fun for the Twins: Jason Kubel and Joe Mauer both stole a base in the game.
Danny Santana went down on strikes four times in his start at short.
Casey Fien and Glen Perkins appeared in relief. Perkins picked up another save.
The Twins have an off day on Thursday. The Twins travel to San Francisco to take on the Giants this weekend.