TAMPA BAY 6, MINNESOTA 4 IN TAMPA BAY
Date: Tuesday, April 23.
Batting stars: A. J. Pierzynski was 3-for-4 with a triple and a double. Dustan Mohr was 3-for-4 with a double. Doug Mientkiewicz was 1-for-4 with a double.
Pitching stars: Tony Fiore pitched 2.1 scoreless innings. Jack Cressend and Bob Wells each pitched a scoreless inning.
Opposition stars: Brent Abernathy was 2-for-4. Randy Winn was 2-for-4. Steve Cox was 1-for-4 with a home run.
The game: Twins starter Brad Radke pitched a perfect first inning only to run into trouble in the second. Pierzynski delivered an RBI triple in the top of the inning. In the bottom half, with a man on first and two out, the Devil Rays (as they were then known) came up with four consecutive singles to score three runs. Minnesota tied it in the third on a Mientkiewicz two-run double. The tie didn't last long, as Cox opened the bottom of the third with a homer to put Tampa Bay up 4-3. Winn delivered a two-out two-run single in the fourth to make it 6-3. The Twins made it 6-4 in the seventh on Pierzynski's run-scoring single. They threatened to tie in the ninth, as with two out Mohr singled and Pierzynski doubled, putting men on second and third. That brought up Denny Hocking. Without knowing what the bench options were at the time it's hard to second-guess the decision to allow him to bat, but Hocking was never a great batter and was off to a very slow start in 2002. In any event, he grounded out to second to end the game.
WP: Joe Kennedy (1-1). LP: Radke (2-2). S: Esteban Yan (4).
Notes: Brian Buchanan was again the DH, going 0-for-3. Hocking was the second baseman and was 0-for-4...Jacque Jones was 1-for-4 with a double and was batting .346...Torii Hunter was 0-for-4 to drop his average to .385...Mohr raised his average to .364...Pierzynski brought his average up to .351...Radke lasted just 3.2 innings, allowing six runs on seven hits and two walks with four strikeouts...Fiore remained unscored upon in three appearances (6 innings). This was the one good season he had, going 10-3, 3.18. He even finished eighth in Rookie of the Year voting. Unfortunately, he would only spend one more year in the big leagues...Three players in the Tampa Bay lineup would have Twins connections. Jason Tyner (who oddly was not used as the DH) was 1-for-5. Chris Gomez was 1-for-3 with a walk. The other, of course, was Abernathy...Devil Rays starter Joe Kennedy pitched five innings, giving up three runs (two earned) on six hits and no walks with three strikeouts...My recollection was that Ben Grieve, who was 0-for-2 with two walks in this game, had flopped in Tampa Bay, but he really didn't. He wasn't as good as he'd been in Oakland, but he was still a decent player in his first two seasons there (2001-02).
Record: The Twins were 13-7, tied for first place with Chicago.