SEATTLE 5, MINNESOTA 2 IN SEATTLE
Date: Friday, May 23.
Batting stars: Dustan Mohr was 3-for-4 with two doubles. Torii Hunter was 2-for-4. Jacque Jones was 2-for-5.
Pitching star: Tony Fiore pitched three shutout innings, giving up one walk and striking out one.
Opposition stars: Mark McLemore was 2-for-3 with a home run (his second), a walk, and two runs. John Olerud was 2-for-4. Jamie Moyer pitched five innings, giving up two runs on four hits and three walks and striking out three. Bert Blyleven's favorite pitcher, Shigetoshi Hasegawa, struck out two in two shutout innings, giving up two hits.
The game: The Twins had men on first and second with two out in the first, but did not score. The Mariners jumped on Brad Radke for three runs in the first inning, although the defense did not help him any. Ichiro Suzuki reached on an error, Carlos Guillen walked, and Edgar Martinez hit a one-out single, loading the bases. Olerud then hit a potential double play ball, but Cristian Guzman missed the throw at second base, allowing two runs to score. Mike Cameron hit an RBI double, making it 3-0 Seattle after one.
The Twins got one back in the second, but missed a chance for more. Todd Sears led off with a single and Mohr doubled, putting men on second and third with none out. A ground out scored one, but a strikeout and a fly out ended the inning. The lead went back to three in the bottom of the second, as McLemore led off with a home run to make it 4-1. It went to 5-1 in the fourth on singles by McLemore and Dan Wilson, a sacrifice bunt, and a sacrifice fly.
The Twins scored in the fifth, but again missed a chance for more. Luis Rivas and Jones opened the inning with singles, putting men on first and third with none out, but a ground out scored the only run they got, making the score 5-2. And that was it. The Twins got a man to second a couple of times, but never got the tying run up to bat.
WP: Jamie Moyer (7-2). LP: Radke (5-4). S: Kazuhiro Sasaki (7).
Notes: Sears was at first base in place of Doug Mientkiewicz. Bobby Kielty was the DH.
Jones was batting .343. Mohr was batting .320.
Radke pitched five innings, giving up five runs (two earned) on nine hits and two walks and struck out none. His ERA was 5.43.
The Twins were 0-for-7 with men in scoring position and stranded eight.
This was the only season in which Moyer made the all-star team. He went 21-7, 3.27, 1.23 WHIP. He finished fifth in Cy Young voting that year, one of three times he finished in the top six. He was age forty in 2003, so he would only play eight more seasons.
Record: The Twins were 27-20, in first place in the American League Central, 1.5 games ahead of Kansas City.