Twins back in the Wildcard lead (with The Sabean Special)

Well I'm back from vacation, and just in time to see the Twins re-take the Wildcard lead with a comeback victory combined with a comeback victory from the Red Sox.

The Twins comeback came in the 7th inning of their game, when Rondell White hit a 2-out, 2-run HR to give the Twins a 2-1 lead, which was all they needed. The Red Sox comeback was complete after Carlos Pena hit a solo HR in the 10th to beat the ChiSox.

But none of this would have been possible without a great pitching performance by starter Boof Bonser. 6.1 solid innings from him, giving up just 1 ER while striking out 6. If we can get performances similar this from the back of the rotation, things will be looking very good.

At the backend of the game, as always, is Joe Nathan. And with Bonser getting the win and Nathan getting the save, we have yet another edition of The Sabean Special. And that's always exciting. Joe pitched a perfect 9th, striking out 2, to get his 29th save of the year while lowering the ERA to 1.74. Meanwhile, Dennys Reyes appears to be firmly back on track, as he got the only man he faced out to lower his ERA to 0.85.

All of this brings up Johan Santana starting against Tampa Bay on Tuesday going against Jae Seo. The Twins really need Santana to bring his best stuff every night, and that's basically what he's been doing all year. Hopefully that trend can continue. With the Twins 0.5 games up on the Sox and still 5 GB on the Tigers, here's the pitching matchups for Tuesday:

Twins: Johan Santana (16-5, 2.95) vs. Jae Seo (D'Rays)
White Sox: Javier Vazquez (11-8, 4.98) vs. Kason Gabbard (Red Sox)
Tigers: Jeremy Bonderman (11-7, 4.01) vs. Jake Woods (Mariners)