1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
Minnesota	1	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	0		3	7	2
Milwaukee	0	1	0	0	0	1	0	2	X		4	11	1

W:  Todd Coffey (3-1)

L:  Nick Blackburn (6-3)

S:  Trevor Hoffman (17)
 
Home Runs:
MIL -- N/A

MIN -- Kubel J (13)

Key Players:
RHP Braden Looper:  6.0 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 4 BB, 4 K -- 5.16 ERA

C Jason Kendall:  2 for 3; 2B, 2 RBI, BB, R -- .234 BA

CF Mike Cameron:  2 for 4; 2 2B, 2 R -- .252 BA

Game Summary:
The Brewers gave the Twins a game on Tuesday and the Twinkies gave it right back on Wednesday.  Braden Looper finished with a quality start, but was outdueled by Twins righty Nick Blackburn.  That is until the eighth when the Twins committed two errors on an RBI double by Jason Kendall that resulted in two runs, including the go ahead one.  That allowed Trevor Hoffman to chime in and bounce back from a couple of rough outings.  He showed a crisp change up and picked up his 17th save in the Brewers 4-3 victory over their Interleague rivals.

Lead off triple.  That’s all I heard as I walked into the ballpark tonight, and my first thought was, ‘Great.  We’ve struggled all week and we’ve already dug ourselves a hole with Looper on the mound.  This is going to be a rough game.’  But I stood corrected as Looper quickly took control of the mound.  After the Brendan Harris hit a sac fly following the triple, the righty allowed just one more hit over the next four innings.

It all culminated in the fifth with Carlos Gomez, who lined a slider right up the middle very similar to the liner that hit Dave Bush earlier this season.  The ball ricocheted right off Looper, I still can’t tell where, and lifted into the air towards first base.  Luckily, Prince Fielder used his quick reflexes to reach the ball.  But the damage was done.

Looper flew through the next couple of batters to finish the fifth, but when he returned for the sixth, he just wasn’t the same pitcher.  His velocity was down and suddenly right over the plate.  I’m not trying to take anything away from Twins hitters, though.  They worked the count on Looper all night and really pushed his pitch count, but I truly believe the line drive had more to do with his sudden struggles on the mound than the Twins hitters.  When you let things swell, your shoulder starts to stiffen up.

Minnesota took advantage.  Jason Kubel hit a second decker to right on the first pitch he saw, which was a change up right down the chute.  Michael Cuddyer then took his first pitch fastball in the same location to left center for double.  Joe Crede extended the rally with a 1-2 fastball in pretty much the same location as well to give the Twins a 3-1 lead.

But it’s not like Looper was getting any help.  The Brewers had five hits over the first two innings, but only Mike Cameron’s double went for extra bases.  On top of that, it took Looper, himself, to drive in Cameron in the second.  That evened the game at one before the aforementioned meltdown.

When the Twins pulled ahead in the sixth, the Brewers answered back.  Cameron led off with his second double of the game (could have been his third as he crushed a ball right at Kubel in his second at bat) and advanced to third on a deep fly ball by JJ Hardy.  Jason Kendall picked up his first hit of the night on a flare to right to score Cameron and trim the lead to one.  But Frank Catalanotto and Craig Counsell were unable to extend the inning leaving it at 2-3 Twins.

And so Blackburn continued to deal.  The righty wasn’t exactly dominating the Brewers.  After all, he had given up nine hits over the first seven innings, but his pitch count was still incredibly reasonable.  In fact, when Blackburn came into the eighth he had just 84 pitches under his belt.  Even worse, it took him just four pitches to get through Cameron and Hart to start the inning.

Things changed quickly.  Hardy worked a solid two out at bat for soft single to center to bring up Kendall yet again.  If you’re a Brewers fan, and you watch as many games as I do, he probably wasn’t your first option. 

Kendall doesn't  care what you think.  The usually soft hitting catcher smoked a fastball to deep left center, missing a home run by just a foot or two.  Hardy, one of the slowest runners on the Brewers, took off for the home all the way from first, and had shortstop Brendan Harris’ relay been on line, would have been tossed out.  Instead, the throw went up the right field line and past Joe Mauer.   This allowed Hardy to score the tying run and sent Kendall to third easily, but that didn’t stop Blackburn, the back up in the throw to home, to try and toss out the runner.  The throw went wide and then past the shortstop backing up the third baseman.  This allowed Kendall to score the go ahead run.

“Hell’s Bells” then rung out over Miller Park, and the return home was pleasant for future Hall of Fame closer, Trevor Hoffman.  The righty struck out two after throwing a couple of change ups to get Harris and Carlos Gomez off balance.  It was the 17th save for Hoffman who sewed up an excellent performance by his cohorts in the bullpen, Todd Coffey and Mitch Stetter.

Records:  Brewers (38-33); Twins (36-37)

Player of the Game:  Jason Kendall
I can’t express how much I dislike Kendall’s bat in the lineup, but the veteran is starting to pick his game up a bit and making his sub-.300 SLG somewhat tolerable.  Kendall struggled early but figured out Nick Blackburn in the latter innings.  He was ultimately responsible for three of the Brewers four runs. That’s POG worthy.

MVP: C Jason Kendall -- +0.664 WPA

LVP: RF Corey Hart -- -0.179 WPA

On Tap:
The Brewers try to pick up a series victory over the Minnesota Twins after getting swept in Detroit.  In order to do so they’ll need Mike Burns to take advantage of his first big league start.  The righty has logged 56 innings as a reliever in the big leagues and amassed a 5.46 ERA.  However, he showed some understanding of the big leagues in his four inning stint against the Marlins in his only appearance this season.  The well balanced offense provided by the Twins isn’t the most desirable opponent, but will have to due.  Even worse, he’ll be opposing Minnesota’s Scott Baker.  Baker was quite filthy last season, but has had his ups and downs in 2009.  The last time he faced the Brewers, he tossed 8.1 innings of three run ball in a 6-3 victory.  First pitch is scheduled for 1:05 CST.