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Livan Hernandez had not won a game in a month. Justin Morneau had not homered in June. Both were well aware of their droughts, but they took different approaches toward ending them.

Whatever the solution, it worked. Morneau blasted a two-run homer into the Metrodome's upper deck Tuesday, and Hernandez made it stand up, baffling the Washington Nationals over seven innings of the Twins' swift 2-1 victory.

Hernandez had been terrible over the past several weeks, allowing 33 runs in his past 24 innings. So he put himself through an extra-long, 70-minute bullpen session on Saturday, determined to find the problem.

"I throw hundred and some pitches, working on mechanics, staying close to home plate. That was the reason I was missing so many pitches," said Hernandez, who won for the first time since May 12. "I figure out, I got to slow down a little bit. I try to throw too hard."

Morneau, meanwhile, had tried not to think about his homer-less stretch, which had reached 69 at-bats since May 30. "If you try to hit them," he said, "you're not going to."

Obsess over the problem, or just forget about it? Both approaches were effective against the Nationals, who had won three straight games.

Hernandez (7-4) was nearly flawless with his 77 pitches, mixing sinkers and sliders and keeping them all down. Washington managed only five hits, three of which were erased with double plays, and eked out a mere one run, which scored on an infield hit.

"I think we were a

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little overaggressive against Livan," Washington manager Manny Acta said, "and he preys on your aggressiveness."

Rookie John Lannan was doing the same to the Twins through the first five innings, allowing just one hit. Along with Hernandez, he worked quickly, producing a one hour, 59-minute game, the Twins' shortest of the season.

But in the sixth, the rookie left-hander gave up a two-out single to Joe Mauer, then tried a first-pitch curveball to Morneau.

"He left it over the plate a little bit," Morneau said. "I was waiting for something off-speed, but I wasn't trying to hit it out."

He did anyway, rocketing the pitch about 10 rows high into the top deck for his 11th home run of the season, one more than teammate Jason Kubel.

"I told (Kubel) he has some work to do tomorrow," Morneau joked.

Morneau has been doing lots of work this season just to maintain his steady, run-producing pace. He might have only 11 homers, well down from the 20 he had on this date a year ago, but his 53 runs batted in are just one fewer than he had last June 17.

And his .305 batting average, .495 slugging average and .368 on-base percentage testify to the consistently good, if not flashy, season the Twins' cleanup hitter is having.

"That's part of the maturing as a hitter, making adjustments and not going through those long slumps," Morneau said.

He's also battling a lot of dings and divots, some nagging soreness that doesn't keep him out of the lineup. "He's played through sore shoulders, sore elbow, sore back, sore legs," manager Ron Gardenhire said. "He does maintenance every day, and he's been out there every day."

It's just part of growing as a player, Morneau said.

"You feel good for the first three days of spring training and try to grind it out after that," he joked. "You're not going to feel great every day. Like Torii (Hunter) was saying a couple of years ago, we've got guys who need to go out there and battle through some things. Now that I'm a little older I can see that. I try to get in the lineup every day."

Hernandez has been on the mound every fifth day but had become increasingly unreliable, unable to keep his pitches down.

"It's about getting ground balls, making them reach for the ball," Gardenhire said. "You saw them reaching a lot — that's what he can do."

That's why Hernandez was delighted to have found what he believes was the problem with his delivery, even though it took Saturday's marathon workout and a brief Sunday follow-up session to pinpoint it.

Those efforts might have worn him out, because Hernandez told Gardenhire he was gassed after seven solid innings, despite throwing only 77 pitches. Matt Guerrier and Joe Nathan finished up with a shutout inning apiece against the Nationals, who, at 267 runs so far, own baseball's puniest offense.

"I'm trying to work out of a struggling situation, and everything is working perfect," Hernandez said. "I don't want to go out and be a hero. It's more important to win games."

"Hopefully," Gardenhire said, "he's out of that funk now."