Wait, is this Baseball or tennis? Is Mauer so hot he can place the Baseball so precisely? "If anybody can do it, he can," said Justin Morneau, the only Twin with more home runs than Mauer this year.

Sure enough, 50-50 Joe -- whose team is now, of course, 5-5 with him in the lineup -- got an outside fastball from Armando Galarraga when he came to the plate two innings later, and this time, he kept the ball low, deep and just out of Thomas' reach.

"I was hoping he wasn't" going to repeat his thievery, said Mauer, who collected his fourth home run in only 10 games, walked in the fifth inning, then singled in the seventh to go 18 for 36 in his first 10 games of the season. "I didn't know if it was going to go out or not, but I was thinking extra bases."

So was everyone in his dugout, and of course they were right. "He's hitting .500 -- it's hard not to appreciate that," starting pitcher Kevin Slowey said.

Now if he could wave his magic bat and somehow fix the bullpen, which had another hiccup Tuesday, though this one wasn't fatal. When Slowey departed after six innings, Ron Gardenhire revealed his new bullpen lineup: Jesse Crain pitching the seventh inning, Jose Mijares the eighth, and Matt Guerrier standing by in an emergency.

One occurred right away. Crain gave up a home run to the first batter he faced, Ramon Santiago, then walked Curtis Granderson, setting off a chorus of boos in the Dome. Gardenhire was out of the dugout practically before Granderson was out of the batter's box.

"Jess just didn't look like he could find it, and we can't wait," the manager said. Mijares retired four consecutive batters, then gave way to Guerrier, who retired both hitters he faced.

So is Guerrier the eighth-inning guy again? "Whoever gets outs. We're just looking for outs right now," Gardenhire said. "These games are ones you've got to win, when you've got a lead like that."

It was Slowey who handed that lead over to the pen on a night he wasn't sharp -- he put a runner or two on base in each of his six innings -- but was effective when he needed to be. Slowey, 5-1 despite a 4.91 earned-run average, frustrated the Tigers by holding them to 0 for 9 with runners in scoring position. Three of those big outs were made by Miguel Cabrera, who came in hitting .378.

"One thing I've been working on between starts is just continuing to trust that a quality pitch will get guys out," Slowey said. "It doesn't have to be the perfect pitch, just a quality pitch."

He also walked Placido Polanco, the game's second batter, to snap his streak of 18 1/3 innings -- 79 consecutive hitters in all -- without a walk. Slowey finished with a season-high two walks, giving him four this year.