SEATTLE 5, MINNESOTA 2 IN SEATTLE

Date:  Monday, September 2.

Batting stars:  Jacque Jones was 2-for-4 with two doubles.  Cristian Guzman was 2-for-4 with a double.  Doug Mientkiewicz was 1-for-3 with a walk.

Pitching stars:  Johan Santana struck out nine in 4.1 innings of relief, giving up two runs on four hits and a walk.

Opposition stars:  Joel Pineiro pitched seven innings, giving up two runs on seven hits and a walk and striking out six.  Edgar Martinez was 2-for-3 with a double and a walk.  Bret Boone was 2-for-4 with a double.

The game:  Jones led off the game with a double and scored on a couple of productive outs to give the Twins a 1-0 lead.  The Twins loaded the bases with none out in the third, but could only get a David Ortiz sacrifice fly to make it 2-0.  Eric Milton had only given up a pair of harmless singles over the first three innings, but Seattle started the fourth with a single, a double, and two singles to tie the score.  Johan Santana came in to strike out the side and keep the score tied.  There was no more scoring until the eighth.  Santana was still in the game and gave up a single and a walk to open the inning.  A ground out put men on second and third with one out.  LaTroy Hawkins came in and struck out Mike Cameron, but then gave up a two-run single to Ruben Sierra and an RBI double to Desi Reliford to give the Mariners their first lead of the game at 5-2.  The Twins got a leadoff walk in the ninth, but a double play wiped out the runner and a strikeout ended the game.

WP:  Arthur Rhodes (8-3).  LP:  Santana (8-6).  S:  Kazuhiro Sasaki (34).

Notes:  Milton pitched three innings, giving up two runs on six hits and no walks and striking out two.

It was Santana's first relief appearance since August 3.  He would stay in the bullpen the rest of the season.

It was Pineiro's second consecutive start against the Twins.  He pitched well in both, giving up a total of four runs on fifteen hits and two walks and striking out nine in thirteen innings.  He won one and lost one.

Arthur Rhodes had a very long career, starting at age 21 in 1991 and ending at age 41 in 2011.  He was a starter early in his career, moving to the bullpen in 1995 and making his last major league start in 1996.  He was twentieth in MVP balloting in 1997, when he went 10-3, 3.02 with one save.  From 2001-2002, he went 18-4, 2.03 with a WHIP of 0.84 in 137.2 innings.  He made his only all-star team in 2010 at age forty, when he went 4-4, 2.29, 1.02 WHIP in 55 innings (69 games).  He had 33 saves, with a high of 9 in 2004.  He had some bad years, too:  his career stats are 87-70, 4.08, 1.30 WHIP.  But when he was good, he was really good.

Record:  The Twins were 80-59, in first place, leading Chicago by twelve games.  This was the Twins' fifth consecutive loss.