MINNESOTA 6, NEW YORK METS 1 IN NEW YORK
Date: Tuesday, June 18.
Batting stars: Cristian Guzman was 3-for-5 with a double. A. J. Pierzynski was 2-for-4 with a double and a home run, his fourth. Dustan Mohr was 2-for-4 with a double and a home run, his fifth.
Pitching stars: Johan Santana struck out seven in six innings, giving up one run on three hits and a walk. LaTroy Hawkins struck out two in two shutout innings. Travis Miller pitched a scoreless inning, giving up one hit.
Opposition stars: Roger Cedeno was 2-for-4. Bobby Jones and Mark Corey each pitched a scoreless inning.
The game: With two out and none on in the second, the Twins got consecutive doubles from Mohr, Pierzynski, and Luis Rivas to take a 2-0 lead. Mohr led off the fourth with a home run to make it 3-0. Torii Hunter led off the sixth with a home run to increase the lead to 4-0. The Mets got on the board in the bottom of the sixth on an Edgardo Alfonso RBI single. The Twins added two runs in the ninth.
WP: Santana (2-1). LP: Jeff D'Amico (4-6). S: None.
Notes: Jacque Jones was 2-for-5 to raise his average to .314...Hunter was 1-for-4 with a home run (his sixteenth) and was batting .305...Mohr raised his average to .317...Santana was 0-for-2 at the plate...Mets' starter D'Amico pitched six innings, giving up four runs on eight hits and no walks and striking out four...This was Travis Miller's first appearance for the Twins this season. He had been with the Twins off and on every season since 1996. He had only two full seasons with them, 2000 and 2001. He had been a starter through 1997, then moved to the bullpen in 1998. His major league ERAs were good from 1998-2000, but he never had a season with a WHIP of less than 1.43. He would make only five appearances for the Twins in 2002 and was released on June 26, signing a few days later with the Cubs. The Cubs released him a month later and he signed with Cleveland. He was with Cincinnati and Milwaukee in 2003 but never played in the majors with anyone but the Twins. His big league numbers are 7-18, 5.05, 1.66 WHIP in 267.1 innings. He appeared in 203 games, 14 of them starts.
Record: The Twins were 40-30, in first place by five games over Chicago.