SEATTLE 5, MINNESOTA 2 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Saturday, May 31.

Batting stars:  Dustan Mohr was 2-for-3 with a home run (his seventh) and two RBIs.  Doug Mientkiewicz was 2-for-4.

Pitching stars:  LaTroy Hawkins struck out two in a scoreless inning, giving up two hits.  Johan Santana pitched a perfect inning, striking out one.

Opposition stars:  Ichiro Suzuki was 3-for-5 with a home run (his fifth), a triple, and two runs.  John Olerud was 2-for-3 with a double and a walk.  Bret Boone was 2-for-5.  Edgar Martinez was 1-for-4 with a home run, his thirteenth.  Ryan Franklin pitched seven innings, giving up two runs on seven hits and a walk and striking out three.

The game:  There was no score, or even a threat, until the fourth.  Boone led off with a single and Olerud hit a one-out single.  With two down, Randy Winn and Jeff Cirillo each hit an RBI single to make it 2-0 Mariners.  It went to 4-0 in the fifth.  Suzuki led off with a triple and scored on a ground out.  Edgar Martinez followed with a home run.

The Twins got on the board in the fifth.  Torii Hunter, Doug Mientkiewicz, and Mohr all singled to lead off the inning, bringing in a run and putting men on first and second.  A bunt moved the runners to second and third with one out, but the Twins could not get either run across, leaving the score 4-1.

Suzuki homered in the top of the seventh to make it 5-1.  Mohr homered in the bottom of the seventh to make it 5-2.  And that was it.  The Twins did not get a hit after Mohr's homer.

WP:  Franklin (4-3).  LP:  Rick Reed (3-6).  S:  Kazuhiro Sasaki (9).

Notes:  Tom Prince was behind the plate in place of A. J. Pierzynski.  Chris Gomez was at second base in place of Luis Rivas.  Bobby Kielty was the DH.  There were no in-game lineup substitutions.

Jacque Jones was 0-for-4 and was batting .330.  Mohr was batting .322.

Reed started and pitched seven innings, but allowed five runs on nine hits and a walk and striking out four.

Hawkins lowered his ERA to 1.46.  Santana lowered his ERA to 2.68.

The first five Seattle batters were batting over .500.  Suzuki was at .317, Carlos Guillen was at .321, Boone was at .308, Martinez was at .314, and Olerud was at .302.

Suzuki would set a career high, up to that point, in home runs in 2003 at 13.  He would top that in 2005 with 15.  For his career, he hit 117 home runs, which is more than I would have thought.  He hit 118 in nine seasons in Japan, with a high of 25 in 1995.

This was the first time the Twins had lost three in a row since a six-game losing streak from April 18-24.

Record:  The Twins were 31-23, in first place in the American League Central, 3.5 games ahead of Kansas City.