The Minnesota Twins came into Sunday's game versus the Seattle Mariners looking to take 3-of-4 from Seattle and win the series at Target Field, but the Mariners weren't having any of that.

It was a pitchers duel that pitted Hisashi Iwakuma for the Mariners against Mike Pelfrey of the Twins. Iwakuma came into the game with a 5-0 record and a 0.00 ERA in his career versus Minnesota so the Twins really couldn't solve him until the ninth inning.

Pelfrey pitched a great ballgame for the Twins as he went eight shutout innings, giving up just four hits while striking out three and walking just one.

The first run of the ballgame didn't come until the ninth inning off of Glen Perkins when Nelson Cruz took him deep to give Seattle a 1-0 lead. This Cruz bomb flew 442 feet with an exit velocity of 108 MPH according to Statcast. This was Cruz's MLB-leading eighth home run since the All-Star break.

Iwakuma had only thrown 77 pitches and given up one hit in eight shutout innings when manager Lloyd McClendon sent him out for the ninth inning. There wasn't much question to this decision for two reasons, but it almost cost the Mariners once again.

With one out in the ninth inning, Brian Dozier decided to take matters into his own hands as he took Iwakuma way deep to left field tying the game up and eventually sent the game to extras.

Iwakuma's final line was 8.2 innings, giving up just one run on three hits with eight strikeouts while walking just one.

It took until the eleventh inning for this game to be decided when the Mariners put three runs on the board.

It started with two walks to start the inning to Kyle Seager and Ketel Marte which set the table for Logan Morrison who hit an RBI double to take the lead 2-1. Later in the inning, Austin Jackson hit a 2-RBI single which scored Seager and Morrison as Seattle took a 4-1 lead into the bottom half of the inning.

Tom Wilhelmsen came on in the bottom of the eleventh after usual closer Carson Smith had already pitched in the ninth. Wilhelmsen did give up a leadoff double to Eduardo Escobar, but that was a moot point as he retired the next three batters to preserve the game for the Mariners.

Seattle avoided the series loss and ended up splitting the series with the playoff-contending Twins.

Ketel Marte made his MLB debut Friday night, but Sunday was quite a memorable one for the youngster. Marte was 3-for-4 with a walk and a run scored.

The Mariners continue their two-city, seven-game road trip as they travel to Colorado to face the Rockies with Felix Hernandez toeing the slab Monday.

As for the Twins, they head up to Toronto to face the Blue Jays in a pivotal playoff race series Monday as they will send Ervin Santana to the hill to face David Price who is making his Blue Jays debut.

WP: Fernando Rodney (4-4, 5.32 ERA)

LP: Kevin Jepsen (2-6, 3.21 ERA)

SV: Tom Wilhelmsen (2 saves, 4.08 ERA)

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About the author
Josh Eastern
I live in Seattle, Washington and attend Indiana University as a journalism major. You can follow me on Twitter (@JoshEastern) and feel free to email me at [email protected] with any questions/thoughts.