CLEVELAND 9, MINNESOTA 3 IN CLEVELAND

Date:  Wednesday, April 10.

Batting stars:  Torii Hunter was 3-for-4 with a stolen base.  Dustan Mohr was 2-for-4 with a home run, his second.  A. J. Pierzynski was 1-for-2 with a double and a walk.

Pitching stars:  Jack Cressend struck out two in a scoreless inning.  LaTroy Hawkins pitched a scoreless inning.

Opposition stars:  Jim Thome was 2-for-5 with a grand slam and a double, driving in five.  Ellis Burks was 2-for-3 with a double and two walks.  Matt Lawton was 2-for-4 with a double and a walk.

The game:  Thome doubled in a run in the first inning to give the Indians a 1-0 lead.  In the second, the Twins loaded the bases with none out.  Mohr singled home the tying run and Pierzynski hit a sacrifice fly to give Minnesota a 2-1 lead, but a double play ended the inning.  In the bottom of the inning, Cleveland scored six runs to put the game away early.  Cristian Guzman made two errors in the inning, making all six runs unearned.  An error brought home the first run, Lawton singled in the second, and Thome hit a two-out grand slam.  It killed the rally, but it also killed the Twins' hopes of winning the game.  Burks singled home a run in the fourth to make it 8-2.  Mohr homered leading off the fifth to make it 8-3, but that was as close as Minnesota would come.  Omar Vizquel hit a sacrifice fly in the eighth to round out the scoring.

WP:  Danys Baez (2-0)  LP:  Rick Reed (1-1)  S:  None.

Notes:  Jay Canizaro got another chance at second, going 0-for-2 with a walk.  His average was .167...Jacque Jones was 1-for-4 to make his average .432...Mohr raised his average to .393...Reed pitched five innings, allowing eight runs (only two earned) on six hits and a walk with three strikeouts...Baez pitched 5.1 innings, giving up three runs on six hits and four walks with no strikeouts...Lawton was batting .306.

Record:  The Twins were 5-4, in second place, three games behind Cleveland.

CLEVELAND 5, MINNESOTA 4 IN CLEVELAND

Date:  Tuesday, April 9.

Batting stars:  Cristian Guzman was 3-for-5 with a stolen base, his second.  Corey Koskie was 2-for-4.  Jacque Jones was 1-for-3 with two walks and a stolen base, his second.

Pitching stars:  Bob Wells pitched three shutout innings.  J. C. Romero retired all four batters he faced, three by strikeout.

Opposition stars:  Chuck Finley struck out seven in six shutout innings, giving up four hits and four walks.  Milton Bradley was 1-for-3 with a home run and a walk.  Matt Lawton was 1-for-4 with a home run, his third.

The game:  The Indians scored four runs in the second inning, getting an RBI single from Gutierrez, a two-run homer by Bradley, and a Lawton solo homer.  Gutierrez delivered another RBI single in the third to make it 5-0.  The Twins left the bases loaded in the third but didn't do a lot else off Finley.  After Finley left, however, the Twins got back into the game.  A. J. Pierzynski had an RBI double and Guzman delivered a run-scoring single in the seventh to cut the lead to 5-2.  The Twins missed a chance to get more, leaving men on first and third.  It was still 5-2 going to the ninth.  With two out and none on, Pierzynski reached second on an error and scored on Jones' single.  Jones then stole second and scored on a Guzman single.  That was as good as it got, though, as Doug Mientkiewicz struck out to end the game.

WP:  Finley.  LP:  Joe Mays.  S:  Bob Wickman.

Notes:  Matthew LeCroy replaced David Ortiz at DH and went 0-for-3...Jay Canizaro played second base and was 1-for-2...Warren Morris pinch-hit for him and went 0-for-1, his last at-bat as a Twin...Tom Prince gave Pierzynski a partial day off behind the plate, although Pierzynski pinch-hit for him in the seventh and caught the rest of the way.  Prince was 0-for-1 with a walk...Starter Joe Mays lasted only three innings, allowing five runs on five hits and three walks with one strikeout.  His ERA was 12.15...Jones was batting .455...Dustan Mohr was 1-for-4 and was batting .375...Bobby Kielty made his season debut for the Twins as a pinch-hitter, going 0-for-1...Future Twin Jim Thome was 0-for-2 with two walks.