• Francisco Liriano has his worst outing of the year and still gets the win

Even though he only surrendered three runs, this really was Frankie’s worst performance of the season.  It took him a career-high 117 pitches to make it through five innings, and he faced no less than five batters in almost every single inning.  He gave up seven hits and walked more batters than he struck out (six Ks vs. five BBs).  That he only gave up three runs speaks volumes about the Brewers’ offense, and not so much about his ability to pitch out of a jam.  Unlike his previous start against the Pirates, in which he was only a couple of meatballs away from pitching a gem, Frankie was only a couple of bad pitches away from a complete meltdown.  It’s been so frustrating to watch him this season because he shows so much talent, and just when it starts to look like he’s starting to turn the corner, he has a performance as awful as this.  The Twins have been patient with Frankie thus far, but obviously they can’t continue to do so and hope to catch the Tigers and win the division title.  Moving him to the bullpen probably isn’t going to help either Frankie or the Twins much, since he struggles to pitch from the stretch and would likely fail in high-leverage situations.  If he fails to show any progress in his next couple of starts, perhaps the Twins should consider sending him to Rochester.  Working with pitching coach Bobby Cuellar seemed to do wonders for him last year, and he could be sent down with the promise that he would be called back up no matter what happens.  Whether he would be called up as a starter or reliever would depend upon how well he does with the Red Wings.

This game was so difficult to watch I had to keep reminding myself that the Twins were actually winning.  As awful as Frankie was, Milwaukee starter Jeff Suppan was even worse, giving up seven runs (four earned) on nine hits while walking three.  The Twins jumped out to an early lead in the first, when Michael Cuddyer struck out but reached first on a wild pitch, loading up the bases for Joe Crede.  Crede then lashed a double over the head of Mike Cameron, plating three runs.  Carlos Gomez (who had a pretty good night, going 3-for-5 with a pair of runs and RBI) later singled and then hustled to second when Cameron took his sweet time getting the ball back to the infield.  He then scored on a single by Brendan Harris, putting the Twins up 4-2.  A fielding error by J.J. Hardy opened up a three-run third inning, giving the Twins a 7-3 lead they would never relinquish.  Good thing the Brew Crew decided to play more like a beer-league softball team, allowing the Twins to reach the .500 mark for the umpteenth time this season and keep pace with the Tigers.

• Jinx!

Joe Mauer is SI‘s cover model this week, for only the second time in his career.  The issue dealt with his pursuit of .400, so naturally he’s gone 0-for-8 in his past two games and dropped his average to a mere .395.  The SI curse probably has little to do with it though, since hitting .400 is really hard to do in the first place and Mauer was starting to show signs of slowing down even before the issue hit the stands.  Still, you’d better start sleeping with one eye open, Tom Verducci.