MINNESOTA 11, DETROIT 4 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Tuesday, September 10.

Batting stars:  Dustan Mohr was 3-for-4 with a home run (his twelfth) and a double.  Cristian Guzman was 3-for-5 with a triple and three runs.  A. J. Pierzynski was 2-for-3 with a triple and a double.

Pitching stars:  Johan Santana pitched a scoreless inning, giving up one hit.  Tony Fiore pitched two shutout innings, giving up one hit.  LaTroy Hawkins pitched a perfect inning.

Opposition stars:  Carlos Pena was 2-for-4 with a triple.  Robert Fick was 2-for-4.  Mike Rivera was 2-for-4.

The game:  Torii Hunter hit a two-out three-run homer in the first inning to give the Twins a 3-0 lead.  The Tigers came back with two in the second, as Pena hit an RBI triple and scored on a ground out.  With two out and none on in the fourth, Doug Mientkiewicz doubled, Mohr singled, and Pierzynski circled the bases on a triple-plus-error to give the Twins a 6-2 lead.  Detroit came back again in the fifth, getting a two-run homer by Omar Infante to cut the lead to 6-4.  The Twins got back-to-back RBI doubles by Corey Koskie and David Ortiz in the bottom of the fifth to make it 8-4 and scored three in the sixth to put the game out of reach.  Mohr led off the inning with a home run, Pierzynski doubled, Guzman tripled, and Ortiz doubled.

WP:  Kyle Lohse (12-8).  LP:  Shane Loux (0-1).  S:  None.

Notes:  Pierzynski raised his average to .305.

The Twins had fifteen hits, eleven of them for extra bases.  They had seven doubles, two triples, and two home runs.

Hunter's home run was his twenty-eighth.

Lohse struck out seven in five innings, but allowed four runs on nine hits and no walks.

Hawkins lowered his ERA to 2.28.

This was the first major league appearance for Shane Loux.  It did not go well--he lasted four innings and allowed six runs (five earned) on six hits and no walks with three strikeouts.  Loux made three starts for the Tigers in 2002, going 0-3, 9.00.  He came back to make eleven appearances the next year, going 1-1, 7.12.  He then did not make it back to the majors until 2008, when he appeared in seven games for the Angels.  That was his only successful season, as he went 0-0, 2.81 in sixteen innings.  The next year, he made eighteen appearances (six starts) and went 2-3, 5.86.  He then did not make it back to the majors until 2012, when he was with San Francisco.  He was in nineteen games, going 1-0, 4.97.  Give the guy credit for perseverance.  He was only in 58 games, but it was over five seasons and over a period of eleven years.  In fact, he kept pitching through 2015, when he was a Sugar Land Skeeter.  Last season, he was the pitching coach for the Missoula Osprey in the Arizona organization.

Record:  The Twins were 84-61, in first place, leading Chicago by thirteen games.

MINNESOTA 5, DETROIT 2 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Monday, September 9.

Batting stars:  A. J. Pierzynski was 2-for-3.  Dustan Mohr was 1-for-2 with a double and a walk.  Doug Mientkiewicz was 1-for-3 with a double.

Pitching stars:  Rick Reed pitched 6.2 innings, giving up two runs on seven hits and no walks and striking out five.  J. C. Romero struck out two in 1.1 scoreless innings, giving up a walk.  Eddie Guardado struck out two in a perfect inning.

Opposition stars:  Eric Munson was 1-for-4 with a home run, his second.  Omar Infante was 2-for-3.  Eric Eckenstahler struck out four in two shutout innings, giving up one hit.

The game:  There were no baserunners on either side for the first two innings.  In the third, however, the first three Twins reached base, with Luis Rivas driving in a run with a bloop single and another run scoring on a ground out.  The Tigers got a sacrifice fly in the fifth to cut the lead to 2-1.  Cristian Guzman led off the sixth by circling the bases on a triple-plus-error to make it 3-1.  Munson homered in the top of the seventh to again make it a one-run game at 3-2, but the Twins scored two in the bottom of the seventh.  Mientkiewicz and Mohr led off the inning with back-to-back doubles and Jacque Jones later delivered an RBI single to increase the lead to 5-2.  Detroit did not threaten again.

WP:  Reed (14-7).  LP:  Mike Maroth (5-8).  S:  Guardado (40).

Notes:  Pierzynski raised his average to .303.

Reed made his sixth consecutive strong start.  Over that span he was 5-1, 1.41, giving up 37 hits and 3 walks while striking out 34 in 44.2 innings.  He lowered his ERA from 4.63 to 3.79.

This was the major league debut of Eric Eckenstahler.  As you can see above, it was a good one.  He made seven appearances in 2002 and was unscored upon in five of them.  Unfortunately, he gave up five runs in the other two, giving him an ERA of 5.63 for the season.  He was a reliever his entire career.  He started 2003 in AAA but came back to the majors in late July and did okay in twenty appearances, going 0-0, 2.87, although with a WHIP of 1.53.  A left-hander, he appears to have been used as a LOOGY that season, pitching only 15.2 innings in his twenty games.  This was as good as it would get for him.  He had a poor year in AAA in 2004 and was traded to the Cubs in mid-August..  They released him after the season, he signed with Cincinnati for 2005, pitched poorly in AA, and then was done.  At last report, Eric Eckenstahler was an insurance agent in Lake Forest, Illinois.

Record:  The Twins were 83-61, in first place, leading Chicago by thirteen games.

OAKLAND 6, MINNESOTA 0 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Sunday, September 8.

Batting stars:  Jacque Jones was 2-for-4.  David Ortiz was 1-for-3.

Pitching stars:  Mike Jackson pitched a scoreless inning, giving up one hit and striking out one.  Bob Wells pitched a scoreless inning, giving up one hit.

Opposition stars:  Barry Zito struck out seven in seven shutout innings, giving up three hits and two walks.  Miguel Tejada was 2-for-3 with a home run (his thirty-first) and two walks.  Eric Chavez was 2-for-4 with a walk.

The game:  Oakland loaded the bases with one out in the first, but could only score one on a fielder's choice.  Tejada homered in the third to make it 2-0.  Adam Piatt hit a home run in the fourth to make it 3-0.  The Twins had men on first and third with one out in the bottom of the fourth, but Torii Hunter and Bobby Kielty each struck out to end the inning.  Chavez' RBI single in the fifth made it 4-0 and Mark Ellis had a two-run double in the seventh to increase the lead to 6-0.  The fourth inning was the only real threat the Twins had, as they got only three hits.

WP:  Zito (20-5).  LP:  Eric Milton (13-8).  S:  None.

Notes:  It was the second consecutive game in which the Twins were shut out.

David Ortiz was at first base, replacing Doug Mientkiewicz.  It was the second consecutive game Mientkiewicz missed.  He would be back in the lineup the next day.  Ortiz was 1-for-3.

Kielty was the DH.  He went 0-for-3 with three strikeouts.

Denny Hocking was at shortstop, replacing Cristian Guzman.  He was 0-for-3.

Tom Prince was the catcher, replacing A. J. PIerzynski.  He was 0-for-3.

Milton pitched just four innings, giving up three runs on four hits and two walks and striking out two.  He threw 84 pitches.

Jones was 11-for-21 in his last five games.  He raised his average from .290 to .300.

Jackson dropped his ERA to 2.94.

This was Barry Zito's Cy Young year.  He went 23-5, 2.75.  He had an excellent season, but the award really should've gone to Pedro Martinez.  Martinez had a better ERA by almost half a run (2.26 to 2.75), a much better WHIP (0.92 to 1.13), and many more strikeouts (239 to 182).  The only categories Zito was better in were innings (229.1 to 199.1) and wins (23 to 20).  Zito had a tremendous year, but Martinez was better.

Record:  The Twins were 82-61, in first place, leading Chicago by thirteen games.