CLEVELAND 5, MINNESOTA 4 IN CLEVELAND
Date: Tuesday, April 9.
Batting stars: Cristian Guzman was 3-for-5 with a stolen base, his second. Corey Koskie was 2-for-4. Jacque Jones was 1-for-3 with two walks and a stolen base, his second.
Pitching stars: Bob Wells pitched three shutout innings. J. C. Romero retired all four batters he faced, three by strikeout.
Opposition stars: Chuck Finley struck out seven in six shutout innings, giving up four hits and four walks. Milton Bradley was 1-for-3 with a home run and a walk. Matt Lawton was 1-for-4 with a home run, his third.
The game: The Indians scored four runs in the second inning, getting an RBI single from Gutierrez, a two-run homer by Bradley, and a Lawton solo homer. Gutierrez delivered another RBI single in the third to make it 5-0. The Twins left the bases loaded in the third but didn't do a lot else off Finley. After Finley left, however, the Twins got back into the game. A. J. Pierzynski had an RBI double and Guzman delivered a run-scoring single in the seventh to cut the lead to 5-2. The Twins missed a chance to get more, leaving men on first and third. It was still 5-2 going to the ninth. With two out and none on, Pierzynski reached second on an error and scored on Jones' single. Jones then stole second and scored on a Guzman single. That was as good as it got, though, as Doug Mientkiewicz struck out to end the game.
WP: Finley. LP: Joe Mays. S: Bob Wickman.
Notes: Matthew LeCroy replaced David Ortiz at DH and went 0-for-3...Jay Canizaro played second base and was 1-for-2...Warren Morris pinch-hit for him and went 0-for-1, his last at-bat as a Twin...Tom Prince gave Pierzynski a partial day off behind the plate, although Pierzynski pinch-hit for him in the seventh and caught the rest of the way. Prince was 0-for-1 with a walk...Starter Joe Mays lasted only three innings, allowing five runs on five hits and three walks with one strikeout. His ERA was 12.15...Jones was batting .455...Dustan Mohr was 1-for-4 and was batting .375...Bobby Kielty made his season debut for the Twins as a pinch-hitter, going 0-for-1...Future Twin Jim Thome was 0-for-2 with two walks.