MINNESOTA 2, SEATTLE 1 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Wednesday, August 28.

Batting stars:  Doug Mientkiewicz was 3-for-3.  Torii Hunter was 1-for-4 with a two-run homer, his twenty-sixth.  Dustan Mohr was 1-for-2 with a walk.

Pitching stars:  Johan Santana pitched seven innings, giving up one run on five hits and three walks and striking out five.  J. C. Romero pitched a scoreless inning, giving up two hits and a walk and striking out one.  Eddie Guardado pitched a scoreless inning, giving up one hit and striking out one.

Opposition stars:  Joel Pineiro pitched six innings, giving up two runs on eight hits and a walk and striking out three.  Bret Boone was 2-for-3 with a home run (his twenty-first) and a walk.  Mike Cameron was 3-for-4.

The game:  Boone homered in the first inning to give the Mariners a 1-0 lead.  Each team put two men on in the second but did not score.  Each team put two men on in the fourth and did not score.  Seattle put two men on in the sixth and did not score.  In the bottom of the sixth, however, Corey Koskie led off with a single and Hunter hit a one-out two-run homer to give the Twins a 2-1 lead.  In the eighth the Mariners had two singles and a walk, loading the bases with one out, but John Olerud hit into a double play to end the threat.  Cameron hit a leadoff single in the ninth but did not move from first base.

WP:  Santana (8-5).  LP:  Pineiro (13-5).  S:  Guardado (38).

Notes:  Hunter's average was .301.

A. J. Pierzynski was 0-for-3 and was also batting .301.

It was Santana's best start in a month.  For his reward, he was sent to the bullpen.  Eric Milton was back from the disabled list, someone had to go to the bullpen, and it was the kid.  I understand that you weren't going to send Brad Radke or Rick Reed to the pen, but Joe Mays certainly wasn't getting much accomplished.  To his credit, while Santana wasn't happy about the situation, he pitched very well in relief in September, posting a 1.50 ERA in 18 innings.

Romero's ERA was 1.51.

Guardado's ERA was 2.62.

Joel Pineiro was in the middle of a three-year run in which he went 36-20, 3.10.  He struggled from 2004-2008, but he hung in there, and teams kept giving him chances.  In 2009-2010 he put together another good run, going 25-19, 3.64.  He pitched in twelve seasons, and in about half of them he was a pretty good pitcher.

Record:  The Twins were 80-54, in first place, leading Chicago by sixteen and a half games.