Scott Diamond's streak of 14 scoreless innings to start his 2012 season with the Twins was bound to end sometime. Turns out that time was the first inning of Friday's game against Milwaukee.
After all, this Diamond isn't flawless.
All puns aside, Diamond still pitched well enough Friday against the Brewers to improve to 3-0 on the season despite allowing his first runs of the year. He picked up the victory as Minnesota's offense gave Diamond plenty of run support as it beat Milwaukee by an 11-3 final in the series opener at Miller Park.
"He's going out there and throwing up zeros," said Twins catcher Joe Mauer, who had three hits and drove in three runs in the win. "He gave up a couple runs, but that's going to happen. He wasn't going to go scoreless the whole year. Going up there and giving us a chance to win and keeping us in games, that's what we needed."
Diamond struggled with his command early, something he didn't do in his starts against the Angels and Blue Jays earlier this month. In fact, he issued just one total walk in his first 14 innings combined.
But Diamond issued a walk in the first inning Friday as he put Brewers catcher Jonathan Lucroy on base with a four-pitch walk. One batter later, though, Diamond got Rickie Weeks to ground out to end the first inning with runners on second and third and just one scored in the inning.
Diamond gave up his second run of the game -- and the season -- in the third inning. With Minnesota leading 2-1, Milwaukee tied it off Diamond when Corey Hart and Norichika Aoki led off the inning with back-to-back doubles. Yet with a runner on second and nobody out, Diamond was able to again work out of trouble. Ryan Braun reached on an infield single, but was caught stealing during the next at-bat as Aoki moved to third. Aoki was eventually out at home plate on a grounder by Aramis Ramirez, and Lucroy flied out to end the Brewers' threat.
The final run Diamond allowed Friday came off the bat of Braun, who delivered a leadoff homer in the bottom of the sixth to straightaway center. Diamond allowed one home run in six starts with Triple-A Rochester this season before being promoted to the majors. As a late-season call-up last year, Diamond surrendered three homers in seven starts.
But with the Twins' offense rolling, Diamond's three-run outing was still good enough to improve his record to 3-0 and help Minnesota win three in a row for the first time since July 3-5 of last season.
Diamond, pitching in his first interleague game, helped out his own cause with first career big league hit. He started a rally in the fifth inning by singling to right field off Milwaukee starter Marco Estrada. Diamond and Denard Span came around to score on a Joe Mauer double for a 4-2 Twins lead.
"You get your first big league hit, that's pretty cool," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. "But he's a pitcher. It is the American League, although this is the National League. We'll take the pitching performance."
In Diamond's minor league career, he had just 40 at-bats in four seasons and picked up five hits, including a double and three RBI.
The way he was pitching Friday, Diamond got one last chance for another hit in the top of the sixth inning. With the bases loaded and one out, the Twins opted to let Diamond bat rather than send up a pinch hitter with a chance to break open the game.
Instead, Diamond struck out on four pitches without swinging the bat.
"The kid's throwing the heck out of the ball," Gardenhire said of Diamond. "We're in the what, top of the sixth inning? I can't take him out of there after pitching our bullpen seven innings (Wednesday). . . . I just told him to swing. He didn't swing. I just wanted him to swing. Just don't hit into a double play."
After back-to-back seven-inning starts, Diamond's outing Friday was a bit shorter. He left the game after 5-1/3 innings, allowing three runs on eight hits. But he exited the game with a 6-2 lead, and Minnesota's offense continued to pour it on from there.
Now with three strong starts -- and three wins -- under his belt, Diamond has given the pitching staff a much-needed boost.
"He looks pretty good. He's made a lot of improvement," Gardenhire said. "I think the little bit of time he got in the big leagues last year probably helped him. He's not overwhelmed. He went to Triple A and did his thing. As we said when we sent him down, be the guy that's throwing the best and you'll get your chance, and here he is."
Kevin Gorg contributed to this report.
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