MINNESOTA 12, CLEVELAND 3 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Friday, April 19.

Batting stars:  Tom Prince was 2-for-3 with two home runs and four RBIs.  Brian Buchanan was 2-for-4 with a double and three RBIs.  Bobby Kielty was 2-for-4 with a double.

Pitching stars:  Kyle Lohse pitched seven innings, giving up two runs on four hits and no walks with six strikeouts.  Bob Wells pitched a scoreless inning.

Opposition stars:  Ellis Burks was 2-for-4 with a two-run homer, his third.  Matt Lawton was 2-for-3 with a walk.  Milton Bradley was 2-for-4.

The game:  Jacque Jones led off the first with a triple and scored on a ground out to give the Twins a 1-0 lead.  It stayed 1-0 until the fourth, when Minnesota led off the inning with two singles and a walk, loading the bases.  Buchanan then delivered a three-run double and scored on Kielty's double to make it 5-0.  In the fifth the Twins really put it away, scoring six times.  Torii Hunter delivered an RBI double, Kielty had a two-run single-plus error, and Prince hit a three-run homer to make it 11-0.  The Indians got on the board in the seventh on Burks' two-run homer.  Prince homered again in the seventh to make it 12-2 and Wil Cordero had an RBI single in the ninth to round out the scoring.

WP:  Lohse (1-1).  LP:  C. C. Sabathia (2-1).  S:  None.

Notes:  Buchanan was the DH in this game, with David Ortiz on the bench.  That decision worked out well...Tom Prince gave A. J. Pierzynski a day off behind the plate.  That worked out well, too...Jay Canizaro at second base did not work out so well.  He went 0-for-4 to drop his average to .130...Seven of the Twins' fourteen hits were for extra bases:  four doubles, a triple, and two home runs...It was the first good game for Lohse in three starts, dropping his ERA to 7.36...Charles Nagy pitched an inning of relief, giving up the second homer to Prince.  He was a pretty good pitcher at one time, making three all-star teams and twice finishing in the top six in Cy Young voting.  By this point, however, injuries had pretty much robbed him of his effectiveness.  This would be his last season with the Indians--he would make five appearances for San Diego in 2003 and then his career would be over...Sabathia lasted just 4.1 innings, giving up eight runs on eight hits and two walks with three strikeouts.  This was Sabathia's second year, and while he wasn't yet what he would become he was still a pretty good pitcher.  He had finished second in Rookie of the Year voting in 2001 and finished 13-11, 4.37 in 2002.

Record:  The Twins were 11-6, in second place, a half game behind Cleveland.