TORONTO 10, MINNESOTA 3 IN MINNESOTA
Date: Tuesday, May 17.
Batting stars: Shannon Stewart was 2-for-4. Luis Rivas was 2-for-4. Torii Hunter was 1-for-2 with a two-run homer (his fifth) and two walks. Justin Morneau was 1-for-4 with a home run (his seventh) and two runs.
Pitching stars: None.
Opposition stars: Reed Johnson was 3-for-4 with a double, a hit-by-pitch, and three runs. Shea Hillenbrand was 3-for-5 with three RBIs. Alex Rios was 3-for-5 with a double and two runs. Vernon Wells was 2-for-5 with a home run (his sixth) and three RBIs. Orlando Hudson was 1-for-4 with a two-run homer, his second.
The game: Rios led off the game with a double and scored on Johnson's single. Wells hit a two-run homer and it was 3-0 Blue Jays before the Twins even came to bat. The Twins did very little on offense for the first three innings, but in the fourth Joe Mauer singled and Hunter hit a two-run homer to cut the lead to 3-2.
That was as good as it got for the Twins. in the fifth Ken Huckaby walked, Johnson doubled, and Hillenbrand delivered a two-run single. The Twins loaded the bases in the bottom of the fifth but did not score. In the sixth Frank Menechino doubled and Hudson hit a two-run homer to make it 7-2 Toronto.
Morneau homered leading off the sixth for the Twins, but that was the end of the good news. The Blue Jays opened the seventh with singles by Rios, Johnson, and Hillenbrand to make it 8-3. In the ninth Johnson was hit by a pitch, Hillenbrand singled, Wells had an RBI single, and a pair of wild pitches brought home another run to make it 10-3.
WP: Josh Towers (5-1). LP: Johan Santana (5-2). S: None.
Notes: Luis Rivas was at second base. He would eventually be replaced by Nick Punto as the starter. Juan Castro was at short--he would eventually be replaced as the starter by Jason Bartlett. Lewwwwww Ford was the DH--he and Matthew LeCroy shared the position, although LeCroy played there more often.
Terry Tiffee pinch-hit for Stewart in the ninth.
Morneau was batting .375--he would finish at .239. Mauer was batting at .321--he would finish at .294.
We've been through the 2005 team's stats a few times recently, so there's no real need to repeat them here. I'll just note that Morneau batted .439 in April and did not bat more than .237 in any other month.
Record: The Twins were 21-16, in second place in the American League Central, 5.5 games behind Chicago. They would finish 83-79, in third place, 16 games behind Chicago.
The Blue Jays were 21-18, in third place in the American League East, 4.5 games behind Baltimore. They would finish 80-82, in third place, 15 games behind New York.
Random Record: The Twins are 59-53 in Random Rewind games.