ANAHEIM 6, MINNESOTA 3 IN MINNESOTA
Date: Wednesday, October 9.
Batting stars: Doug Mientkiewicz was 3-for-4. Cristian Guzman was 2-for-4 with a double. Corey Koskie was 1-for-3 with a walk.
Pitching stars: Johan Santana struck out three in 1.2 scoreless innings, giving up no hits and no walks. Mike Jackson struck out two in a scoreless inning, giving up two hits.
Opposition stars: Brad Fullmer was 2-for-3 with a home run and a double. Darin Erstad was 2-for-5 with a home run. Troy Glaus was 2-for-3 with a triple and a walk.
The game: Erstad hit a home run in the first inning to give the Angels a 1-0 lead. Anaheim opened the second with a Glaus single, a Fullmer double, and a Scott Speizio double to make it 2-0 with men on second and third. Starter Rick Reed retired the next two batters, leaving men on first and third, and it appeared the Twins might get out of the inning. But then Spiezio and Adam Kennedy pulled off a double steal of second and home and David Eckstein followed with a single to make the score 4-0. It stayed 4-0 until the sixth, when Fullmer hit a two-run homer to increase the lead to 6-0. The Twins got back into the game in the bottom of the sixth. Guzman led off with a double and scored on Koskie's single. With one out, Torii Hunter doubled and Mientkiewicz followed with a two-run single to cut the lead to 6-3. That was as good as it got, however. The Twins put two on with two out in the eighth, bringing the tying run to the plate, but pinch-hitter Bobby Kielty was caught looking to end the threat. The Twins went down in order in the ninth.
WP: Ramon Ortiz. LP: Reed. S: Troy Percival.
Notes: Michael Cuddyer again was the right fielder, going 1-for-3.
Reed lasted 5.1 innings, giving up six runs on eight hits and no walks, striking out none.
Ortiz also lasted 5.1 innings, giving up three runs on ten hits and one walk and striking out three.
The Twins were 2-for-3 with men in scoring position, which of course is good news and bad news. It's a good batting average, but you're not going to win many games if you only have three at-bats with men in scoring position.
Record: The best-of-seven series was tied one apiece.