MVN - Most Valuable Network

Perkins is doing everything right

Ever since the White Sox hit Glen Perkins hard at Chicago, there has been improvement from him.

Perkins has pitched well in the last few weeks, and Friday night was no exception for the kid from Stillwater.

He gave up two runs on six hits in six two-third innings against the Tigers. He could have completed the seventh inning with one more out of that inning, but Ron Gardenhire wisely took Perkins out and insert Jesse Crain, who got the last out of the inning.

The Twins’ 3-2 victory over the Tigers  gave Perkins his sixth victory of the season.

After the brief slump that Perkins had, he figured it out by getting ahead of the hitters, throwing strikes, throwing inside, and getting out of jams. That’s how he won Friday’s contest.

The Tigers did not put up a crooked run off Perkins tonight, which is one reason why the Twins were in a position to win this game.

Perkins was able to get the Tigers to hit it to him when he needed it.

Perkins’ turning point of the night came in the seventh inning.

With the Twins leading 3-1, Matt Joyce and Ivan Rodriguez got hits off Perkins to start that inning.

This is where Perkins either saved the day or loses the game. He was able to get Ramon Santiago to hit it to Perkins for the first out. However, he hit Curtis Granderson to load up the bases.

The fans at Comerica Park were expecting the Tigers to either tie it or win it with Placido Polanco at the plate.

Instead, Polanco hit a sac fly, which cut the Tigers’ deficit to 3-2.

Crain came in after that, and he got Carlos Guillen out to end the threat.

From there, Matt Guerrier and Joe Nathan did the rest.

With Perkins figuring it out in the seventh, it shows that he has come a long way. He would have imploded in that inning if this game was in late May. He had no clue what he was doing out on the mound back then.

Now, he is showing what a starter should be doing, which is giving his team a chance to win. With the way he is pitching, he has a chance to win 10 games this season. That’s a good thing. They are going to need at least 10 wins from him if the Twins want to be a playoff team.

The Twins have to like what they see out of Perkins right now.

This entry was posted on Friday, July 11th, 2008 at 9:41 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.