MINNESOTA 4, KANSAS CITY 1 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Thursday, April 18.

Batting stars:  David Ortiz was 2-for-3.  A. J. Pierzynski was 2-for-3 with a double.  Corey Koskie was 2-for-4 with a triple.

Pitching stars:  Eric Milton pitched 7.2 innings, giving up one run on four hits and no walks with four strikeouts.  Eddie Guardado struck out all three men he faced.

Opposition stars:  Brandon Berger was 2-for-3 with a double.  David McCarty was 1-for-3 with a home run.

The game:  There was no score until the fourth, when Koskie led off with a triple, scored on an Ortiz sacrifice fly, and Torii Hunter followed with a home run to give the Twins a 2-0 lead.  Milton held the Royals scoreless until the eighth, when McCarty hit a two-out solo homer to cut the Twins' lead to 2-1.  That drove Milton from the game at 109 pitches.  J. C. Romero got the last out of the eighth.  In the bottom of the eighth, Koskie had an RBI single, took second on the throw home, and scored on Ortiz' single to give Minnesota a 4-1 lead.  Guardado struck out the side in the ninth to end the game.

WP:  Milton (3-1).  LP:  Jeff Suppan (1-2).  S:  Guardado (7).

Notes:  Jay Canizaro was at second base and went 0-for-3.  His average fell to .158...Ortiz was at first base in this game, with Bobby Kielty at DH and Doug Mientkiewicz given the day off.  Mientkiewicz came in to play defense in the ninth...Suppan pitched 7.1 innings for Kansas City, giving up four runs on seven his and a walk with four strikeouts...Ex-Twin McCarty went 1-for-3...Hunter's home run was his fifth.

Record:  The Twins were 10-6, in third place, a game and a half behind Cleveland and a half game behind Chicago.