BOSTON 6, MINNESOTA 5 IN MINNESOTA
Date: Saturday, May 10.
Batting stars: Dustan Mohr was 3-for-5. Matthew LeCroy was 2-for-5 with two home runs (his fourth and fifth) and three RBIs. A. J. Pierzynski was 2-for-4.
Pitching stars: None.
Opposition stars: Manny Ramirez was 3-for-5 with a double. Todd Walker was 2-for-5 with a home run (his third) and two RBIs.
The game: Walker homered with one out in the first inning to put the Red Sox up 1-0. Nomar Garciaparra followed with a double, went to third on a Ramirez single, and scored on a sacrifice fly to make it 2-0.
The Twins tied it up in the bottom of the first. With two out Corey Koskie walked and LeCroy hit a two-run homer to make it 2-2. It stayed 2-2 until the sixth, when LeCroy homered again to make it 3-2 Twins.
The lead lasted until the next half-inning. Shea Hillenbrand led off with a double and Doug Mirabelli hit a one-out double to tie it. With two out, Walker delivered an RBI single to put Boston ahead 4-3. That lead also lasted until the next half-inning. With two out in the bottom of the seventh Mohr singled and Cristian Guzman tripled to tie the score 4-4.
The Red Sox got the lead back in the eighth. Ramirez and Kevin Millar singled and Hillenbrand walked, loading the bases with one out. Jeremy Giambi hit a sacrifice fly to make it 5-4 Boston. It went to 6-4 in the ninth when Johnny Damon led off with a double, went to third on a ground out, and scored on a sacrifice fly.
The Twins rallied in the bottom of the ninth. With one out, Doug Mientkiewicz had a pinch-hit one-out double. Mohr singled to put men on first and third. With two out Koskie singled to make it 6-5 and put the tying run on second and bring LeCroy up to bat. He could not deliver a third home run, however, flying out to left to end the game.
WP: Tim Wakefield (4-1). LP: Juan Rincon (1-1). S: Brandon Lyon (4).
Notes: Todd Sears was at first base in place of Mientkiewicz. Denny Hocking was at second base in place of Luis Rivas. Mohr was in left in place of Jacque Jones. Bobby Kielty was in right.
Jones came in for defense in the seventh, replacing Kielty. Jones went to left, with Mohr moving to right. Mientkiewicz pinch-hit for Hocking in the ninth.
Jones was 1-for-1 and was batting .344.
Hocking was 0-for-3 and was batting .111.
Kenny Rogers started for the Twins. He pitched 6.1 innings, giving up four runs on eight hits and a walk and striking out four. Wakefield was the Red Sox starter. He pitched seven innings, giving up four runs on seven hits and two walks and striking out six.
Rincon gave up two runs (one earned) in two innings to raise his ERA to 1.53.
Hocking had not played since April 21, presumably due to injury. This was only his third start of the season. It would be his last season with the Twins. He was not significantly better or worse than he had been in other seasons, but his playing time was substantially decreased. He would go on to play one year for Colorado and one for Kansas City before retiring. He played every position but pitcher and catcher over his career, and would've been a candidate for playing all nine positions had he wanted to do that. He played 287 games at second, 285 at short, 121 at third, 101 in right, 85 in left, 51 in center, 45 at first, and 19 at DH. Even though he never had a regular position, he played over 100 games in six seasons. I guess you could see he was kind of a poor man's Cesar Tovar.
The loss snapped a five game winning streak for the Twins.
Record: The Twins were 19-16, in second place in the American League Central, 2.5 games behind Kansas City.