Phoenix -- The Diamondbacks capped off their seven game homestand with a 3-2 victory over the visiting Minnesota Twins in front of a crowd of 31,017.
With the three game sweep of their AL Central foes, Arizona (23-23) finished off their impressive homestand with a 6-1 record. Winners of six straight, the Diamondbacks reached .500 for the first time since April 20, when Arizona was 8-8.
Through 4 1/2 innings, starting pitchers Francisco Liriano and Daniel Hudson dominated. With one out in the bottom of the fourth, Juan Miranda torched a home run to deep right-center field, breaking the stalemate and giving the Arizona Diamondbacks a 1-0 lead over the Minnesota Twins.
Later in the inning, Daniel Hudson aided his own cause with a two-out, off-the-knob single to right field that scored Xavier Nady and put Arizona up 2-0.
Liriano labored all afternoon, throwing a lot of balls to the patient Diamondbacks offense. Through four innings, Liriano threw 75 pitches to Hudson's 50.
Hudson ran into some difficulties in the top of the fifth, giving up a single to Delmon Young and a double to Rene Rivera. After Alexi Casilla struck out, Liriano drove in a run with a groundout to second.
Hudson escaped without further damage by coaxing Ben Revere into an inning-ending groundout to third base.
Young evened the score at 2-2 in the seventh inning, tagging a 1-1 fastball into the left field bleachers. Denard Span, pinch-hitting for Liriano, flied out to Nady, and the inning was over after Henry Blanco gunned down Casilla's steal attempt at second base.
Liriano was lifted after six innings, striking out four and walking four. He did not factor into the decision.
Willie Bloomquist made quick work of the Twins bullpen, hitting a solid double and making it to third base on a fielding error by Revere.
Roberts stepped up to the plate and hit a towering fly ball to center, which was bobbled then caught by Revere. Bloomquist tagged up and allowed the Diamondbacks to retake the lead at 3-2 in the bottom of the seventh.
Hudson finished the night after eight strong innings, giving up eight hits and striking out six Twins. With the victory, Hudson evens his record at 5-5 and improves his ERA to 3.82.
J.J. Putz successfully shut the door on the Twins, closing out the game and the homestand.
Minnesota (15-30) became the second team in the majors to reach 30 losses on the season, behind only the Houston Astros (17-30). The Twins have the worst record in Major League Baseball.
Arizona has an off day on Monday, and they're going to need it: Tuesday brings a day/night doubleheader in Denver against the Colorado Rockies. The day game is a makeup game for the April 3 rainout (though it was technically snow). The Diamondbacks will play 14 consecutive games without a day off starting Tuesday.
Notes:
- First baseman Juan Miranda was lifted from the game in the ninth inning after being hit on the hand by an errant Dusty Hughes pitch. Gerardo Parra replaced him in the field, sliding Nady from left field to first. His status is currently unknown.
- Ryan Roberts picked up his sixth steal of the season in the first inning off of Liriano and Rene Rivera.
- J.J. Putz picked up his 12th save of the season, and made two impressive fielding plays in the ninth, stabbing ground balls off the bat of both Danny Valencia and Delmon Young.
- The game was 2:26 long.