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Twins defeat Halladay, Phillies

PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- Carl Pavano and Roy Halladay both threw strikes and pitched to contact. Minnesota was the team that found a few holes. Pavano finished with a four-hitter for his second complete game this season, and Justin Morneau and Denard...

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AP photo Twins starting pitcher Carl Pavano delivers a pitch against the Phillies in the seventh inning on Sunday.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- Carl Pavano and Roy Halladay both threw strikes and pitched to contact. Minnesota was the team that found a few holes.

Pavano finished with a four-hitter for his second complete game this season, and Justin Morneau and Denard Span homered to lead the Twins past Halladay and the Philadelphia Phillies 4-1 on Sunday.

Pavano (8-6) won his third straight start while snapping a three-game road losing streak. The right-hander struck out two and walked none in his ninth career complete game.

"The ground balls were all gobbled up," Pavano said. "The boys played great behind me and we beat a tough pitcher today."

The only run Pavano allowed came on Wilson Valdez's sixth-inning homer. He retired the next 13 batters before Ryan Howard's two-out single in the ninth.

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"Pavano was fantastic," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. "That's an unbelievable lineup they have over there, but he kept them off balance and got his pitches over for strikes."

Jason Kubel and Joe Mauer had RBI singles for the AL Central leaders, who pounded out 11 hits off Halladay and took the final two games of the three-game series. Minnesota rallied from a five-run deficit in the ninth inning Saturday and won in the 11th.

Halladay (8-6) lost his third straight start, giving up a season high in hits while striking out eight and walking none in eight innings. In his last two starts, the right-hander has yielded 10 runs (nine earned) and 19 hits, including five homers, in 14 innings.

"I pitched to contact and they put the ball in play and sometimes found holes," Halladay said. "The two homers are what really cost me."

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