Liriano continues to impress as the starter, improves to 6-1.

[Porter]

PITTSBURGH (AP) -- Francisco Liriano isn't only one of the majors' top rookies, he is quickly become a dominating starter for the Minnesota Twins. On a night one mistake might have cost him, he showed a veteran's poise to turn a possible loss into a victory.

Liriano shook off an early two-run deficit to strike out a career-best 11 and the Twins rallied for three runs in the seventh against Ian Snell to beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 4-2 Friday night.

In a matchup of two of the majors' most promising young pitchers -- Liriano is 22 and Snell is 24 -- the right-handed Snell (7-4) missed a chance to become the first Pirates starter since Doug Drabek in 1990 to win six consecutive starts.

"It was kind of fun watching these two young guys go out there and fling the ball around," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. "But Liriano is pretty special for us, and we had one big inning where we banged the ball around and got to the middle of the lineup, which has been carrying us."

Hes the type of pitcher the Twins need to help Johan Santana. But when hes outpeforming him too? Thats pretty impressive.

[Lynch]

No doubt. Gonna be sweet to see Santana and Liriana as the 1-2 punch in the rotation. Could be one of the best in baseball.

[Dam8610]

Francisco Liriano, Joe Nathan, Boof Bosner, and Barry Bonds are the top 4 reasons I hate the Giants.