team is ready to break out of it
MINNEAPOLIS -- Phil Hughes has been pitching with a cracked nail on his right index finger, a common side effect of the sharp curveball he throws. Hes kept the nail intact with super glue. The big righty has done a nice job of holding the Minnesota Twins rotation together, too. Kennys Vargas homered and sparked rallies with two other hits, leading Hughes and the Twins past Corey Kluber and the Cleveland Indians 4-1 Thursday. Hughes (14-8) struck out eight over seven innings to forge a four-way tie for the American League lead in victories, with Rick Porcello, Max Scherzer and Scott Kazmir, and improved to 4-0 with a 1.32 ERA in four August starts. "When you get on good stretches, everythings kind of working for you mechanically and your game plan, everything, just kind of falls into place," Hughes said. Including that pesky finger nail. "As long as it stays where its at, Ill be fine," Hughes said. Zach Walters, who has four home runs and six RBIs in nine games since joining the Indians, took Hughes deep in the fifth to tie the game. But Trevor Plouffe put the Twins back in front with a two-run double in the sixth inning after Vargas hit a one-out double. Vargas singled in the eighth, and pinch-runner Eduardo Nunez scored on a double by Oswaldo Arcia. Then Glen Perkins pitched a perfect ninth for his 32nd save in 36 attempts for the Twins, denying the Indians their first sweep of a road series this season. Kluber (13-7) had his winning streak stopped at six, despite eight strikeouts over seven innings, and the Indians fell six games behind Kansas City in the AL Central. They also dropped into sixth place in the AL wild-card race, still 4 1-2 games out of the second spot. "Anytime you lose a ballgame its disappointing, whether it be going for the sweep or the first game of the series. They all count the same in the long run," Kluber said. Hughes avoided a walk for the 14th time in his 26 turns for the Twins and gave up just five hits. "Hes got one of those sneaky fastballs," Indians second baseman Jason Kipnis said. Hughes has 148 strikeouts in 165 innings, putting him on pace to sail past his career high of 165 Ks with the New York Yankees in 2012. "Change of scenery, whatever you want to call it, hes throwing the ball great," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. STREAK SNAPPED The home run by Vargas ended a scoreless streak of 20-plus innings and 64 outs for the Twins since they tallied five runs with their first five at-bats to start the series Tuesday. Kluber tried to throw a cut fastball outside that hit too much of the plate. "I dont want to say he got beat by it, but it looked like he was a little late on it, but hes just big enough and strong enough that he lifted it out of the park," Kluber said. TRAINERS ROOM Indians: C Yan Gomes was replaced in the sixth inning by Roberto Perez because of illness. ... RF David Murphy, who was placed on the disabled list Aug. 10 due to abdominal muscle tightness on his right side, has resumed core workouts but still feels discomfort. Twins: RHP Alex Meyer, the top pitching prospect in the organization, has been handled carefully with Triple-A Rochester because of shoulder trouble last season. Meyer has logged more than 123 innings already, but when asked if he could get a September call-up general manager Terry Ryan did not rule that out. UP NEXT Indians: RHP Carlos Carrasco (5-4, 3.27 ERA) starts Friday to open a three-game home series against Houston. RHP Brad Peacock (3-8, 5.47 ERA) pitches for the Astros. Carrasco takes his third turn since rejoining the rotation, following three months in the bullpen. Hes pitched 12 scoreless innings, with five hits and no walks allowed over the last two starts. Twins: Host Detroit this weekend for four games in three days, including a doubleheader. RHP Tommy Milone (6-4, 3.99 ERA) starts following the shortest outing (only four outs, seven run) of his career. LHP Robbie Ray (1-3, 5.33 ERA) pitches for the Tigers. Cheap Ottawa Senators Jerseys . -- So much for concern that running back Marshawn Lynch would be absent from the Seattle Seahawks minicamp. Cheap Custom Vancouver Canucks Jerseys . The Raptors two leading scorers were never able to co-exist the way they hoped or the team had envisioned, but individually DeRozan was thriving, in the midst of a career season. http://www.nhldiscount.us.com/Authentic ... jerseys/.Y. -- That hangover from the Big East tournament is gone for Villanova. Cheap Custom Philadelphia Flyers Jerseys .com) - Rajon Rondo turned in a game-high 21 points to go with eight rebounds and seven assists as Dallas claimed a 102-98 win over the Lakers on Friday. Cheap Custom Florida Panthers Jerseys . -- Adam Tambellini scored three times and set up one more as the Calgary Hitmen won their sixth in a row by crushing the host Lethbridge Hurricanes 8-1 on Saturday in Western Hockey League play.SAN DIEGO -- Two games, two dramatic wins. It may be just what the struggling San Diego Padres need. Will Venable hit a two-run single in the 12th inning to give the Padres a 6-5 win over the Kansas City Royals on Monday night, their second consecutive victory in their final at-bat. San Diego used Yonder Alonsos slow grounder to score Cameron Maybin with the game-winning run Sunday in the ninth inning of a 4-3 win over Arizona. "Coming on the heels of (Sundays) win, its great," Padres manager Bud Black said. "We are seeing subtle signs. These are the kind of games that can lift guys." Venable singled off Tim Collins (0-2) and over the head of right fielder Lorenzo Cain, driving in Chris Denorfia and Alonso. Denorfia led off the inning with a single off Louis Coleman before Collins came on. After a sacrifice, Alonso reached on a bloop double to left to bring up Venable. For the offensively challenged Padres, the two games may be signs that the team is ready to break out of its season-long funk. San Diego is ranked near or at the bottom in the majors in just about every offensive category. "Bottom line, we just have to get a W," Alonso said. "I dont care how we do it. We have seen it all. This game will do a lot of crazy things on you. (Sunday), we get a game-winner on a bunt swing. (Monday), Will hit a mammoth single. This game will do a lot of things to you. You just have to keep your head up." The Padres rallied back with a pair of homers to tie the game twice and force extra innings. Jedd Gyorko, who is hitting.164, hit a solo homer with one out in the ninth inning off Royals closer Greg Holland to tie the game at 4. It was Hollands first blown save in eight chances. Yasmani Grandal hit a three-run shot off Royals rookie Yordano Ventura in the sixth to tie the score 3-all. "We are a team that doesnt give up, even if we are down by three runs," Alonso said. "We just keep chipping awaay, chipping away and the next thing you know were winning the ball game.dddddddddddd." Eric Hosmer homered and drove in three runs for Kansas City, which extended its season-high losing streak to five games despite a season-high 16 hits. Cain, who came off the disabled list before the game, had four hits. The Royals grabbed a brief lead in the 12th inning when Mike Moustakas hit an RBI single to score Salvador Perez off Tim Stauffer (1-0). "Any time you lose, its painful, it hurts, especially when you are struggling a bit," Royals manager Ned Yost said. Hosmer hit his first homer of the season, a solo shot off Nick Vincent, to put Kansas City ahead 4-3 in the seventh. "We had plenty of opportunities to put it away," Hosmer said. "Thats just the way things are going right now. This is definitely one of the tougher losses of the season." Ventura had allowed just two hits in five shutout innings before giving up Grandals homer. The right-hander allowed five hits, did not walk a batter and struck out a career-high 10 in six innings. Ventura extended his scoreless innings streak to 18 scoreless innings before Grandals homer. Ventura collected his first major league hit with a sharp single leading off the fifth. Nori Aoki followed with a single and both runners moved up on a fly out. Hosmer grounded a two-run single up the middle for a 3-0 lead. Padres starter Eric Stults had his second tough outing as he lasted just 4 2-3 innings, allowing three runs and 11 hits. The left-hander tied a season high by allowing five runs over 2 2-3 innings -- his shortest start since April 2009 -- in his last start. NOTES: Maybin left the game during the top of the seventh inning with a stomach ailment. ... 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