Twins score five in 12th to beat Brewers
Our look at the Brewers' 9-4, 12-inning loss to the Twins Saturday at Miller Park:
FIVE HITS
• If you were the blame-assigning type, you'd have plenty of ways to go with the Brewers after Saturday night's game.
Brewers reliever Julian Tavarez gave the Twins' five-run 12th inning a boost by allowing a single and two walks to open the inning, one inning after he escaped from a bases-loaded, one-out jam that resulted from two singles and a walk.
"I was just trying to be very careful to stay away from the long ball," Tavarez said. "They had some power hitters out there that I faced in the second inning. ... I wasn't missing the spot by much."
The singular forehead-slapping moment for the Brewers, however, gave the Twins the lead in the top of the ninth — the third straight inning in which they had scored, to rally from a 3-1 deficit.
On Brian Buscher's single to right, right fielder Corey Hart reached down to field the ball and came up with air. The ball rolled to the wall, and Buscher ended up at third, scoring a batter later on Brendan Harris' sacrifice fly.
"I was expecting one thing and it kind of did another," Hart said.
• Major League Baseball is talking about installing instant replay for questionable home runs later this season. Prince Fielder's 10th-inning shot off the left-center-field wall would have qualified for a second look, although it appears the umpires got the call right.
Fielder's two-out drive appeared to hit off the yellow line atop the wall. Miller Park ground rules say the ball has to go over the line to be a home run, but Fielder acted like he had a walk-off four-bagger as he was rounding first, throwing his arms up in the air.
He ended up at third with a triple, which was confirmed after the umpires discussed the play.
"If it's an inch more it hits and skips over," Brewers manager Ned Yost said.
Mike Cameron grounded to the pitcher to strand Fielder at third.
• After Hart's two-base error helped the Twins take the lead in the top of the ninth, Russell Branyan got the run back with a two-out blast to right-center off Twins closer Joe Nathan.
Branyan's clutch shot, which measured 415 feet into the Tundra Territory seats, was the Brewers' third pinch-hit homer of the season and also the third pinch-hit homer of Branyan's career.
It didn't even come close to the longest-homer award, however. That went to Ryan Braun, who launched his 18th homer onto the landing at the bottom of Bernie Brewer's slide in left field, 455 feet away. It tied for the ninth-longest homer at Miller Park.
• Jeff Suppan left with the lead after seven innings and added a double and a run scored in the third inning. His seven-hit, two-run, five-strikeout, one-walk effort was the Brewers' 14th quality start in their last 18 games.
"He was really good," Yost said. "He was as sharp as he could be, keeping his pitches down, throwing strikes, commanding the baseball."
Suppan said he mixed in curve balls, sliders and change-ups — what he called "soft pitches" — well.
"I think I was changing speeds the way I wanted to," he said.
• Buscher, the Twins' third baseman, set a career high with three RBIs and tied his best with three hits, including a one-out single to center that scored two runs and broke the 4-4 tie in the 12th.
The final bit of damage came from Michael Cuddyer, who came off the bench to slam a two-RBI triple off the center-field wall. He then scored when Cameron's relay throw short-hopped Bill Hall.
FROM THE DUGOUT
• With second baseman Rickie Weeks on the disabled list and shortstop J.J. Hardy nursing a strained rotator cuff, the middle of the Brewers' infield looks quite different these days. On Friday, it didn't look good.
Bill Hall, ordinarily the third baseman, committed two errors at second base in Friday's 10-2 loss to the Twins. On Saturday, he moved back to third and Joe Dillon started at second, with Craig Counsell at shortstop.
Brewers manager Ned Yost said Hall's mistakes could be attributed to not getting much time at second base.
"It's totally different than anything he's done all year long," Yost said. "It's a totally different angle to catch the ball. You can't take a cram course, even though on ground balls he's caught thousands and thousands and thousands of them. But still, to practice in one position and then you've got to move to another position, it's hard."
Yost wasn't about to let loose on Hall because of Friday's outing.
"It's unfair to the player when you start chastising him for making mistakes when you're asking him to do something out of the norm," he said.
• Asked whether it was tough to determine the best middle infield combination with Hardy and Weeks out, Yost went a different direction:
"The toughest thing for me right now is getting (Gabe) Kapler in the game," he said.
Kapler is batting .337 in a reserve and pinch-hitting role. He's 14-for-28 in his last 12 games.
• Brewers reliever David Riske is almost back to 100 percent from a hyper-extended right (pitching) elbow.
The right-hander will report to Class AAA Nashville on Tuesday to start a rehab assignment, assistant general manager Gord Ash said.
"I don't suspect it'll be long," Ash said.
Riske, who went on the disabled list on May 15, was scheduled for 35 pitches in a throwing session Saturday, but he went to 38, Ash said.
• Former closer Eric Gagne was expecting to throw Sunday and sounds optimistic that he'll be throwing off the mound soon in his rehab from right rotator cuff tendinitis.
• Ash said the Brewers are being careful with Hardy, who has been sidelined with a rotator cuff strain.
"It's better to miss a few days now than multiple days later," Ash said. "And it might still be multiple days."
PREGAME NOTES
• Brewers starter Jeff Suppan is 16-3 at Miller Park in his career. Among players in the Twins starting lineup, only Joe Mauer (2-for-2), Justin Morneau (1-for-1) and Brendan Harris (1-for-5) have faced him.
• Gabe Kapler is the only Brewers player who has faced Twins starter Glen Perkins, a left-hander. Kapler is 0-for-1.
• Mauer, the Twins catcher, has hit safely in 14 of 18 career games against the Brewers, with a .319 average and six career multi-hit games.
• The Miller Park roof was open for most of batting practice, but it started to close during the Twins' session as a storm approached.
• The Brewers passed the 1 million mark in home attendance Friday in the 30th home game of the season. Last year, when the team set the home attendance record at 2,869,144, it didn't reach 1 million until the 32nd game.
• Brewers right-hander Seth McClung (3-3, 4.07 ERA) is set to oppose righty Scott Baker (2-1, 3.60) in the series finale Sunday (1 p.m., FSN Wisconsin).
Morry Gash/Associated Press
Brewers center fielder Mike Cameron can't come up with a ball hit by Minnesota's Michael Cuddyer during the 12th inning Saturday.
