Liriano’s return bolsters Twins

He threw six shutout innings against the Indians in a 6-2 victory.

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Minnesota Twins hope Francisco Liriano’s return to the starting rotation will bolster their postseason push.

So far, so good: After Liriano’s first major league action since April, the Twins have reclaimed first place in the AL Central.

Liriano, who missed all of last season after Tommy John surgery and struggled in three starts earlier this year, threw six scoreless innings Sunday, helping the Twins to a 6-2 victory over the Cleveland Indians.

Denard Span and Brendan Harris homered for Minnesota, which moved a half-game ahead of the White Sox. Chicago lost 14-3 at Kansas City.

“Been a long time,” Liriano said, when reminded that his last major league victory was also against the Indians, on July 23, 2006.

Indeed, it’s been a long road back for the hard-throwing lefty from the Dominican Republic. Two seasons ago, he went 12-3 with a 2.16 ERA and 144 strikeouts before arm problems cut short his rookie year. After taking off last season, he went 0-3 with an 11.32 ERA in three starts before being sent down in April.

But Liriano dominated at Triple-A Rochester, going 10-0 with a 2.67 ERA in his last 11 starts, and was openly frustrated as the Twins waited until Friday to call him up.

Mike Redmond caught Liriano’s previous major league start, when he gave up six runs in less than an inning at Oakland April 24.

“Amazing transformation,” Redmond said. “He’s improved so much. His arm strength, you know it’s not what it was before he first got hurt. But it was pretty close.”

After breezing through two innings on 19 pitches, Liriano was tested in the third, facing a bases-loaded situation after two walks and a throwing error by shortstop Harris. Liriano threw 34 pitches in the inning but got Francisco swinging again to end the threat.

“We made him work a little bit there in the middle innings, but we didn’t take advantage of it. That was really the difference for us,” Indians manager Eric Wedge said.

Liriano threw 96 pitches. Jesse Crain relieved him in the seventh after the Twins pulled ahead 3-0.

Span went 2-for-4, and Nick Punto and Mike Lamb each had run-scoring triples for Minnesota.

Matt Ginter (1-3), making his fourth start of the season, allowed five runs and five hits in six innings for the Indians.

“In the fifth inning and sixth inning, I got the ball up a little bit,” Ginter said. “They made me pay. They put some good swings on the ball.”