SEATTLE 10, MINNESOTA 6 IN MINNESOTA
Date: Thursday, May 29.
Batting stars: Jacque Jones was 2-for-3 with a home run, his fifth. Luis Rivas was 2-for-4 with a double. Doug Mientkiewicz was 1-for-4 with a home run, his fifth. Torii Hunter was 1-for-2 with a home run (his eighth) and a walk. A. J. Pierzynski was 1-for-4 with a two-run homer, his fifth.
Pitching star: Johan Santana pitched 1.2 scoreless innings, giving up one hit and striking out one.
Opposition stars: Carlos Guillen was 4-for-6 with two doubles, two runs, and two RBIs. Edgar Martinez was 3-for-5 with two RBIs. Bret Boone was 3-for-6 with a home run (his fourteenth), two doubles, two runs, and four RBIs. Mike Cameron was 2-for-4 with a double, a walk, and a stolen base, his fifth. John Olerud was 2-for-4 with a double and a walk. Ichiro Suzuki was 2-for-5 with a walk, a stolen base (his tenth) and three runs.
The game: Seattle scored two in the first inning. Suzuki led off with a single and scored from first on Cameron's double. Martinez then hit a one-out RBI single to make it 2-0.
Jones homered leading off the bottom of the first to make it 2-1. It stayed there until the fifth, when the Mariners struck again. Suzuki again started the rally with a single, and Boone hit a one-out two-run homer. With two out, Olerud and Cameron hit back-to-back doubles to increase the lead to 5-1 Mariners.
Mientkiewicz led off the bottom of the fifth with a homer to make it 5-2, but Seattle again added to its lead in the sixth inning. Walks to Mark McLemore and Suzuki were followed by a wild pitch, putting men on second and third with one out. Guillen singled in a run and Boone doubled in another, increasing the lead to 7-2.
Hunter led off the seventh inning with a home run, making the score 7-3. The Mariners again added to their lead in the eighth. Back-to-back one-out doubles by Guillen and Boone brought home one run and Martinez singled in another. Olerud singled and Cameron walked, loading the bases. With two out Mark McLemore singled home one more run, making the score 10-3.
The Twins got one back in the eighth when Rivas doubled and Denny Hocking singled. They added two in the ninth to make the final score look better. Dustan Mohr doubled and Pierzynski hit a two-run homer, bringing us to the final score of 10-6.
WP: Gil Meche (7-2). LP: Brad Radke (5-5). S: None.
Notes: Kielty was again at DH.
Lewwwwwww Ford made his major league debut in this game, replacing Hunter in center field in the eighth inning. He had his first major league at-bat in the ninth and lined a single to right.
Hocking pinch-hit for Jones in the eighth and stayed in the game in left field. Matthew LeCroy pinch-hit for Kielty in the eighth.
Jones raised his average to .339. Mohr was 1-for-4 and was batting .314. LeCroy was 0-for-1 and was batting .300.
Radke pitched five innings, giving up five runs on eleven hits and no walks and striking out three. His ERA was 5.71, as he continued to struggle. Tony Fiore allowed two runs in one-third of an inning, raising his ERA to 5.55.
Juan Rincon allowed three runs in two innings, raising his ERA to 2.31. Santana lowered his ERA to 2.75. It was the first time in five games that he had not given up a run.
The Twins batted 1.000 with men in scoring position. Unfortunately, that was only 2-for-2.
Gil Meche started for Seattle and pitched seven innings, giving up four runs on six hits and a walk and striking out four.
Coming into this game, Shigetoshi Hasegawa had allowed only one earned run all season (27.2 innings). He allowed two in the ninth here, raising his ERA to 0.94.
The loss snapped a four-game winning streak by the Twins.
Record: The Twins were 31-21, in first place in the American League Central, 4.5 games ahead of Kansas City.