Morneau leads Twins in 4-3 comeback win vs. Tigers

MINNEAPOLIS — Justin Morneau had four hits, including a homer and the tying single in the seventh inning, and the Minnesota Twins came back to beat the Detroit Tigers 4-3 on Saturday.

Magglio Ordonez’s three-run homer in the seventh spoiled an otherwise stellar start by Francisco Liriano, but Morneau capped the rally with his hit in the bottom of the inning.

In the eighth against Brandon Lyon (3-4), Nick Punto poked a soft single over the outstretched glove of shortstop Adam Everett to allow pinch-runner Matt Tolbert to score on a head-first slide just ahead of the relay throw.

Matt Guerrier (4-0) pitched one inning for the win, and Joe Nathan wrapped it up with his 22nd save to pull the Twins within three games of the first-place Tigers.

Their bullpen exhausted from the 16-inning defeat the night before, the Twins needed the old Liriano on this afternoon more than ever. Despite the devastating seventh, he did deliver the kind of quality start that has been often missing since his elbow surgery following that sensational rookie season in 2006.

His slider zipping and diving in the zone, Liriano recorded 13 straight outs during the middle innings he’s had so much trouble with this year and took a 2-0 advantage into the seventh. After two quick singles to start the frame, though, he lost the lead.

The unfamiliarly shorn Ordonez, in a season-long slump that has worsened on this road trip, crushed the first pitch he saw over the center-field wall to make it 3-2. Liriano immediately hung his head and stared at the turf for several seconds, hands on his knees.

Tigers starter Edwin Jackson, who brought the league’s second-best earned run average into the game, also gave up a home run to Michael Cuddyer in the fourth.

Jackson threw 122 pitches and got only one out in the seventh before being removed, but he got an animated pat on the shoulder from manager Jim Leyland after striking out Brendan Harris following a leadoff walk drawn by Denard Span. Span scored after back-to-back singles by Joe Mauer and Morneau against Bobby Seay, but Jackson’s effort helped preserve the depleted relief corps after the marathon 11-9 victory. Said Leyland, reflecting before the game: “I was awful proud of ‘em. We could’ve lost that game — easy.”

On the Twins side, manager Ron Gardenhire had plenty of pride in his club after the late push — and they only needed nine innings to do it.

NOTES: Twins starter Kevin Slowey will see a doctor in Baltimore on Monday about his strained right wrist, which sent him to the DL after Friday’s game. Slowey has experienced some pain during activities like opening doors since being struck on the wrist by a batted ball last September, but never when he pitches until now. … Leyland praised the poise of Luke French, who made his first major league start on Friday, and said he will remain in the rotation. … Jackson has four no-decisions and one loss in his last five starts, but he has allowed more than three earned runs just twice in 17 starts this year — the last time in early May.