NEW YORK 4, MINNESOTA 2 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Saturday, April 19.

Batting stars:  Torii Hunter was 2-for-3 with a walk.  Jacque Jones was 2-for-5 with a stolen base, his fourth.

Pitching stars:  J. C. Romero struck out two in 1.1 innings, giving up two walks.  LaTroy Hawkins pitched a perfect inning and struck out one.

Opposition stars:  Andy Pettitte pitched 7.1 innings, giving up two runs on six hits and two walks and striking out seven.  Alfonso Soriano was 2-for-5 with a stolen base, his fourth.  Bernie Williams was 1-for-4 with a two-run homer, his third.  Raul Mondesi was 1-for-4 with a home run, his fifth.

The game:  Soriano led off the game with a single and Nick Johnson followed with a walk.  The next two batters went out, but Hideki Matsui had an RBI single to put the Yankees up 1-0.  The Twins got the run back in the bottom of the first.  Jones singled and stole second, and with two out Hunter delivered an RBI single to tie it 1-1.

The Twins took the lead in the fourth.  With two out Bobby Kielty doubled and scored on an A. J. Pierzynski single to put the Twins up 2-1.  In the sixth, however, Jason Giambi walked and Williams followed with a two-run homer to put New York in front 3-2.  Mondesi homered in the seventh to make it 4-2.

The Twins threatened in the late innings, but to no avail.  They put two on with one out in the eighth, but a pair of strikeouts ended that inning.  They put two on with two out in the ninth, but again, a strikeout ended the inning and this time the game.

WP:  Pettitte (3-0).  LP:  Joe Mays (2-2).  S:  Juan Acevedo (3).

Notes:  Michael Cuddyer was again in right field.  Kielty was the DH.

Matthew LeCroy pinch-hit for Luis Rivas in the ninth.  Denny Hocking then pinch-ran for LeCroy.  Dustan Mohr pinch-hit for Cristian Guzman in the ninth.

Kielty was 1-for-4 and was batting .368.  Jones was batting .354.  Guzman was 0-for-4 and was batting .304.

Mohr was 0-for-4 and was batting .111.  Hunter raised his average to .180.

Mays wasn't terrible, but he wasn't particularly good, either.  6.2 innings, four runs, six hits, two walks, and four strikeouts.  His ERA was 5.96.

Romero lowered his ERA to 2.16.  Hawkins continued to have an ERA of zero through seven innings.

The Twins still had a chance to be involved in their sixth series sweep to open the season.

Record:  The Twins were 9-8, in third place in the American League Central, 4.5 games behind Kansas City.