TORONTO 5, MINNESOTA 2 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Wednesday, October 9.

Batting star:  Chuck Knoblauch was 2-for-3 with a walk and two runs.

Pitching star:  Mark Guthrie retired all seven men he faced.

Opposition stars:  Juan Guzman pitched 5.2 innings, giving up two runs on four hits and four walks and striking out two.  Duane Ward struck out four in two shutout innings, giving up one hit.  Roberto Alomar was 2-for-3 with a stolen base.  Devon White was 2-for-4 with a double, a stolen base, and three runs.  Kelly Gruber was 2-for-4 with two RBIs.

The game:  White led off the game with a single, stole second, was bunted to third, and scored on a Joe Carter single to put the Blue Jays up 1-0.  The Twins put men on first and second in the bottom of the first, but did not score.  Toronto put men on first and second in the second, but also did not score.

In the third White led off with a double and went to third on Alomar's single.  Alomar then stole second and Gruber singled them both home, making it 3-0 Blue Jays.  The Twins got on the board in the bottom of the third when Knoblauch hit a two-out single, went to second on a wild pitch, and scored on a Kirby Puckett single.

The Twins got closer in the sixth.  Walks to Knoblauch and Chili Davis put men on first and second with two out.  Brian Harper then delivered an RBI single to cut the lead to 3-2.  In the seventh, however, Manny Lee and White walked, putting men on first and second with one out, Alomar hit an RBI single, and Carter hit a sacrifice fly, making the score 5-2 Blue Jays.

And that was it.  The Twins had only one baserunner after that, Knoblauch's eighth-inning single, but he did not get past first base.

WP:  Guzman.  LP:  Kevin Tapani.  S:  Ward.

Notes:  The Twins made just one substitution.  Gene Larkin pinch-hit for Shane Mack in the ninth.

Tapani pitched 6.1 innings, giving up four runs on eight hits and two walks and striking out five.

This was Guzman's rookie year.  He had an excellent season, going 10-3, 2.99, 1.18 WHIP.  He was especially good against the Twins, going 2-1, 1.66, 0.88 WHIP.  It was no surprise that he had a good game against the Twins in the ALCS.

The Twins again did well with men in scoring position, going 2-for-6.  They simply did not get enough men in scoring position.

With the series tied 1-1, home field advantage swung to Toronto.  The Twins would have to win at least one game there to bring the series back to Minnesota.  Could they do it?  We will see.

Record:  The Twins were 1-1 in the best-of-seven series.