MINNESOTA 7, DETROIT 3 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Saturday, April 13.

Batting stars:  Torii Hunter was 3-for-3 with a double and a stolen base, his second.  Doug Mientkiewicz was 3-for-4 with two doubles.  Corey Koskie was 1-for-3 with a walk.

Pitching stars:  Bob Wells, Mike Jackson, and LaTroy Hawkins each pitched a scoreless inning, with Hawkins getting two strikeouts.

Opposition stars:  Wendell Magee was 3-for-4 with a double.  Dmitri Young was 3-for-4.  Bobby Higginson was 2-for-3 with a double.

The game:  Young had an RBI single in the top of the first, but the Twins came back on Hunter's two-run double in the bottom of the first to take a 2-1 lead.  It stayed 2-1 until the fifth, when three Tigers singles loaded the bases with one out.  Higginson's sacrifice fly tied the scored and Young followed with another RBI single to give Detroit a 3-2 advantage.  In the sixth, Mientkiewicz delivered a run-scoring double to tie it 3-3, took third on a ground out and scored on Hunter's sacrifice fly to put Minnesota back up 4-3.  The Twins put the game away in the eighth.  Their first two batters went out, but a single and two walks loaded the bases, A. J. Pierzynski singled in two, and a passed ball allowed the final run to score.  The Tigers opened the bottom of the ninth with two singles, but their next three batters were retired to end the game.

WP:  Eric Milton (2-1).  LP:  Jeff Weaver (0-2).  S:  None.

Notes:  The loss dropped Detroit to 0-10 to start the season...The Tigers' first four batters combined to go 9-for-17...Bobby Kielty was in right field, with Denny Hocking getting the start at second base...Milton pitched six innings, giving up three runs on nine hits and no walks with four strikeouts...Weaver pitched 5.2 innings, giving up four runs (two earned) on seven hits and no walks with two strikeouts...Jones went 0-for-4 to drop his average to .375...Hunter raised his average to .340...Hocking was 0-for-4 and was batting .063...Pierzynski stole a base in the eighth inning, his first of the season.  It would be his only stolen base of the season.  for his career he stole 15 bases in 37 attempts.  His season high was three, which he did in 2003 and 2010.  There were a total of nine seasons in which he had exactly one stolen base...Jackson's scoreless inning kept his ERA at zero through 5.1 innings (five appearances)...Hawkins had an ERA of 0.90 in ten innings (six appearances).