MINNESOTA 3, DETROIT 1 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Monday, May 6.

Batting stars:  Jacque Jones was 2-for-3 with a walk and three RBIs.  Brian Buchanan was 2-for-3 with a hit-by-pitch.  Torii Hunter was 2-for-4 with a double.

Pitching stars:  Rick Reed pitched five innings, giving up one run on five hits and a walk with four strikeouts.  Tony Fiore pitched 1.1 scoreless innings.  Eddie Guardado pitched a perfect inning with one strikeout.

Opposition stars:  Damian Jackson was 2-for-3 with two doubles.  Jose Macias was 2-for-4.  Steve Sparks pitched a complete game, giving up three runs on eleven hits and three walks with four strikeouts.

The game:  Macias' RBI single in the third put the Tigers up 1-0.  The Twins took the lead in the fourth, when Jones delivered a two-out two-run single.  In the sixth, the Twins had the bases loaded with one out when Jones hit a sacrifice fly to make it 3-1.  The Tigers had the tying run in scoring position with two out in the eighth, but their last four batters were retired.

WP:  Reed (4-1).  LP:  Sparks (2-3).  S:  Guardado (12).

Notes:  Matthew LeCroy was again the DH, going 0-for-4...Buchanan was in right field, replacing the Bobby Kielty/Dustan Mohr combination...Denny Hocking was again at second base, going 1-for-4...It is unclear why Reed was removed after just five innings.  He had thrown only 62 pitches.  He had given up a couple of hits in the fifth, but he also got a double play and was not in that much trouble.  It could be that the hits made Ron Gardenhire think it was time to pull him, but it could also be that he had some sort of minor health issue.  He did not miss a start, however...Sparks threw 125 pitches...Jones pulled his average back over .300 at .306...Hunter raised his average to .363...Corey Koskie was 0-for-3 to make his average .304...Buchanan raised his average to .326...A. J. Pierzynski was 1-for-4 and was batting .315...Fiore's ERA fell to 0.63...Mike Jackson pitched a scoreless inning to make his ERA 1.38...J. C. Romero gave up a hit and no runs in two-thirds of an inning and dropped his ERA to 0.49...Guardado' ERA went to 1.13...Damian Jackson had a surprisingly long career, playing in parts of twelve seasons.  He was only a regular for three of those seasons, 1999-2001, when he played for San Diego.  The Tigers may have expected him to be their regular second baseman when they traded for him, but he lost time to injury and gradually lost the job to Damion Easley.  He went on to play for Boston, the Cubs, Kansas City, San Diego again, and Washington.  He also spent three years in independent ball before ending his playing career after the 2009 season.  His final career numbers were .243/.323/.356.  He played some outfield in addition to middle infield, which probably extended his career.

Record:  The Twins were 21-12, in first place, a game and a half ahead of Chicago.