Delmon Young owns the longest consecutive-game streak in baseball, but Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said that has no bearing when he makes out his lineup. If Young ever needs a mental-health break, Gardenhire said, he'll get it, whether he wants it or not.
But after a brutal 0-for-6 night at the plate Tuesday, and a costly blunder in the field, Gardenhire said his instinct was just the opposite. "I thought it was important to get Delmon right back out there," Gardenhire said after deciding to extend Young's streak to 217 games. "He needs to be back out there. He had a tough night last night, and you (show) confidence in putting him back out there."
That confidence didn't pay off, however, raising the question of whether Young's streak will reach 218. Young went 0-for-3, bringing his weeklong slump to 1-for-23. Worse, he committed two errors in one inning.
With two runners on base in the fourth inning and Minnesota trailing 3-2, Young scooped up David DeJesus' single and hurled it home, trying to throw out Billy Butler. But the throw was well off line, Joe Mauer never moved away from the plate, and Livan Hernandez wasn't backing the play up, allowing Alberto Callaspo to advance an extra base.
It got worse. Two batters later, Alex Gordon sent a routine flyball Young's way, and the left fielder took three steps back, turned to make the easy catch -- and simply missed the ball. It fell behind him, and two runs scored.
TWINS 9, ROYALS 8 (10 innings): Trailing by five runs with two outs in the ninth, the Twins collected four consecutive hits, capped by Craig Monroe's pinch home run, to send the game into extra innings. Justin Morneau led off the 10th with a rocket home run, and Minnesota extended the Royals' losing streak to 10 games. Livan Hernandez gave up 13 hits and eight runs over six innings, but the bullpen pitched four scoreless innings to make the Twins' amazing comeback possible.
