MINNESOTA 6, SAN FRANCISCO 4 IN SAN FRANCISCO
Date: Tuesday, June 3.
Batting stars: Doug Mientkiewicz was 3-for-5 with a home run (his sixth), two doubles, two runs, and three RBIs. Torii Hunter was 2-for-4 with two doubles, a walk, and two runs. A. J. Pierzynski was 2-for-4. Cristian Guzman was 2-for-5 with two doubles, a stolen base (his third), and two runs. Corey Koskie was 2-for-5.
Pitching stars: Joe Mays pitched six innings, giving up three runs on nine hits and one walk. He struck out none. LaTroy Hawkins retired all five men he faced.
Opposition stars: PItcher Damian Moss was 2-for-2. Barry Bonds was 2-for-4 with a home run, his fourteenth. Marquis Grissom was 2-for-5 with a home run, his eighth. Chad Zerbe pitched two shutout innings, giving up a hit and a walk.
The game: Doubles by Guzman, Hunter, and Mientkiewicz plated two runs and gave the Twins a 2-0 lead in the first inning. Guzman doubled again in the third, stole third base, and scored on Koskie's single to make it 3-0.
The Giants chipped away at the lead. Bonds homered in the fourth to cut the margin to 3-1. In the fifth Marvin Benard doubled and scored on Moss' single to trim the lead to 3-2. The Twins got one back in the sixth when Mientkiewicz doubled and scored on Pierzynski's single, but San Francisco cut the lead back to one in the bottom of the sixth when Ray Durham singled, went to second on a ground out, and scored on a Benito Santiago single.
In the seventh, however, Hunter drew a two-out walk and Mientkiewicz followed with a two-run homer, putting the Twins up 6-3. The Giants loaded the bases with one out in the bottom of the seventh, but Hawkins came in and got a double play from Rich Aurelia to end the threat. The only San Francisco hit after that came when Grissom hit a home run with two out in the ninth.
WP: Mays (7-3). LP: Moss (6-4). S: Eddie Guardado (16).
Notes: Mays was 1-for-1 with a walk, and so was batting 1.000. Jacque Jones was 0-for-5 and was batting .319. Dustan Mohr was 0-for-4 and was batting .307.
Mays was 7-3 despite an ERA of 5.40.
Johan Santana pitched a third of an inning and did not give up a run, dropping his ERA to 2.65. Hawkins lowered his ERA to 1.37. Guardado gave up a run in an inning to make his ERA 1.82.
Moss started for the Giants. He pitched seven innings, but allowed six runs on twelve hits and two walks, striking out three. He saved the bullpen, anyway. This was his only year with the Giants. He'd had a good year with Atlanta in 2002, going 12-6, 3.42, 1.28 WHIP and finishing fifth in Rookie of the Year voting. It turned out to be the only good year he had. He only pitched in the big leagues through 2004 and had a career record of 22-19, 4.50, 1.48 WHIP. He continued to play through 2010, though, mostly in independent and winter league ball.
The time of the game was 2:36, which is pretty good for a 6-4 game.
The win snapped a four-game losing streak. Obviously, it was the Twins' first interleague game of the season.
Record: The Twins were 32-24, in first place in the American League Central, 4.5 games ahead of Kansas City.