Major League Baseball

Final Score: Minnesota 5, Toronto 0

Minneapolis, MN (Sports Network) - Brad Radke hurled seven shutout innings while Matt Guerrier and Joe Nathan threw the other two, as Minnesota avoided a four-game sweep at the hands of Toronto by blanking the Blue Jays 5-0 at the Metrodome.

Radke (12-8) won his third straight start by allowing just five hits and one walk with three strikeouts. Guerrier and Nathan, meanwhile, needed to see just three batters each to lock down the win, the Twins first in four games.

Michael Cuddyer homered, Justin Morneau had a pair of runs batted in and Jason Tyner fell a homer short of the cycle while adding two RBI for the Twins.

"A nice win for us today," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. "Radke did a super job shutting down (Toronto)."

Bengie Molina had two of Toronto's five hits, none of which went for extra bases.

Shaun Marcum (1-2) allowed four runs on eight hits with a pair of walks and two strikeouts in five-plus innings for the Blue Jays, who had their four-game winning streak ended.

"We played good," said Toronto manager John Gibbons. "Radke was great today. He'd been on a role, he's a proven winner in this league. Marcum didn't pitch bad...Radke just shut it down."

The Twins scored a run in five different innings to slowly build their lead.

In the second, Morneau doubled and Torii Hunter walked before Jason Kubel hit into a double play that advanced Morneau to third. Tyner then came through with an RBI double for the game's first run.

Cuddyer's two-out solo home run in third accounted for Minnesota's two-run lead. It was Cuddyer's 17th homer of on the season.

Minnesota continued to add to its lead with a run in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings.

In the fifth frame, the Twins loaded the bases before taking a 3-0 lead on Morneau's bases-loaded sac fly that scored Nick Punto. Then, Kubel led off the sixth with a single and then scored on Tyner's triple to the right-field corner. Tyner was left stranded though as Jason Frasor relieved Marcum and recorded three straight outs.

Finally, in the seventh Morneau drove in his second run of the game with a single to center that plated Mike Redmond, accounting for the final score.

Game Notes

Minnesota had also lost four of six heading into the game...Marcum was facing the Twins for the first time in his career...Time of game was two hours and 35 minutes...Toronto's Lyle Overbay went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts...Radke faced just 26 batters over his seven frames.