MINNESOTA 12, BOSTON 0 IN MINNESOTA
Date: Friday, August 5.
Batting stars: Jacque Jones was 3-for-4 with a two-run homer (his seventeenth), a walk, and two runs. Matthew LeCroy was 3-for-4 with a double. Joe Mauer was 3-for-5 with a double, three runs, and three RBIs. Lewwwwww Ford was 3-for-5 with three runs.
Pitching stars: Brad Radke struck out eight in seven shutout innings, giving up four hits and a walk. Terry Mulholland struck out one in a perfect inning. Matt Guerrier struck out two in a scoreless inning.
Opposition stars: Johnny Damon was 1-for-3 with a triple. Manny Delcarmen pitched 1.2 scoreless innings, giving up two hits and two walks and striking out one.
The game: The Twins scored all of their runs in three innings. In the first, Ford led off with a triple and scored on a ground out. The next three batters, Mauer, LeCroy, and Jones, all singled to load the bases. A two-base error then brought home all three runners and put the Twins up 4-0.
The Twins next scored in the fourth. Michael Ryan reached on an error and Ford singled to put men on first and third. Back-to-back doubles by Mauer and LeCroy plated three runs and made the score 7-0.
The Twins put on the exclamation point in the eighth. Ford, Luis Rodriguez, and Mauer all singles to bring home one run. Terry Tiffee hit a two-run double and Jones hit a two-run homer to make it 12-0.
The Red Sox' best chance to score was in the first inning, when Damon led off with a triple. Three strikeouts took them out of the inning. They got a pair of singles in the seventh and got nothing from them.
WP: Radke (7-10). LP: Bronson Arroyo (9-7). S: None.
Notes: Ryan was in left field in place of Shannon Stewart, who was given the day off. Ford was in center in place of Torii Hunter, whose season had ended on July 29.
Tiffee pinch-ran for LeCroy in the seventh. Rodriguez pinch-hit for Punto in the eighth and stayed in the game at second base.
The Twins did not have a .300 hitter unless you count Mike Redmond, who batted .311 in 148 at-bats. Mauer led the regulars in batting at .294. The Twins batted .259, which was next-to-last in the league. Boston led the league at .281.
Jones led in home runs with 23, with Justin Morneau right behind at 22. LeCroy hit 17 homers, Hunter 14, Michael Cuddyer 12 and Stewart 10. The Twins hit 134 home runs, twelfth in the league. Texas led with 260.
We went through the Twins 2005 pitching staff recently, and I have nothing to add to that.
This was only the Twins' second win in nine games.
Record: The Twins were 56-53, in third place in the American League Central, 14.5 games behind Chicago. They would finish 83-79, in third place, 16 games behind Chicago.
The Red Sox were 62-46, in first place in the American League East, 3.5 games ahead of New York. They would finish 95-67, tied for first with New York in the American League East. New York won the tiebreaker, so Boston was the wild card.
Random record: The Twins are 58-52 in Random Rewind games.