MINNESOTA 4, CLEVELAND 2 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Sunday, April 21.

Batting stars:  Torii Hunter was 3-for-4 with two stolen bases, his fourth and fifth.  Tom Prince was 2-for-3 with a double.  Denny Hocking was 2-for-3 with a double.

Pitching stars:  Rick Reed pitched 6.1 innings, giving up two runs (one earned) on six hits and two walks with three strikeouts.  J. C. Romero pitched 1.2 scoreless innings.  Eddie Guardado pitched a scoreless inning.

Opposition stars:  Russell Branyan was 2-for-3.  Jim Thome was 1-for-4 with a two-run homer, his fifth.  Travis Fryman was 2-for-2 with two walks.

The game:  It was scoreless until the fourth, when an error preceded Thome's two-run homer.  The Twins got the run back and then some in the bottom of the fourth.  A walk, a single, and a bunt put men on second and third with one out.  Hocking delivered a two-run double to tie it and Jacque Jones followed with an RBI double to put Minnesota ahead 3-2.  Brian Buchanan hit a two-out homer in the fifth (his second) to give the Twins a 4-2 lead.  The Indians threatened in the ninth, getting a pair of singles to put men on first and second with two out, but Eddie Perez flied to right to end the game.

WP:  Reed (2-1).  LP:  Chuck Finley (1-2).  S:  Guardado (8).

Notes:  Buchanan was the DH for this game, going 1-for-3 with a walk and a home run...Prince was again used in place of A. J. Pierzynski.  It again paid off, and he was now batting .375 on the season...Hocking got the start at second base and raised his average to .172...Romero remained unscored upon in twelve appearances (13 innings)...Guardado made his tenth appearance in nineteen team games.  Everyday Eddie, indeed...Jones was 2-for-5 with a double and was batting .351...Doug Mientkiewicz was 0-for-3 with a walk and was batting .300...Hunter raised his average to .405...Buchanan was 1-for-3 with a home run and a walk and was batting .357...Dustan Mohr was 1-for-4 and was batting .333...Ex-Twin Matt Lawton was 0-for-3 with a walk and was batting .265...Thome was only batting .183...Finley started for Cleveland and struck out seven in six innings, but allowed four runs on ten hits and two walks.  A five-time all-star, he was in the last year of his career.  He didn't do a lot for the Indians in 2002, but he was traded to St. Louis in mid-July and pitched quite well in fourteen starts that helped the Cardinals reach the league championship series to give a nice ending to his playing career.

Record:  The Twins were 13-6, in first place, a half game ahead of Chicago.