MINNESOTA 6, SAN DIEGO 2 IN SAN DIEGO

Date:  Saturday, June 7.

Batting stars:  Jacque Jones was 2-for-4 with two home runs (his seventh and eighth) and a walk.  A. J. Pierzynski was 2-for-4 with three RBIs.  Doug Mientkiewicz was 2-for-5 with a stolen base, his second.

Pitching stars:  Johan Santana struck out seven in six innings, giving up one run on three hits and a walk.  Micheal Nakamura struck out two in 1.1 scoreless innings, giving up a hit.

Opposition stars:  Mark Loretta was 2-for-3 with a home run (his fifth), a double, and a walk.  Scott Linebrink pitched 4.1 innings of relief, giving up one run on six hits and a walk and striking out three.

The game:  Jones led off the game with a home run to put the Twins up 1-0.  The Padres put their first two batters on base, but a double play took them out of the inning.  In the second Dustan Mohr walked, stole second, and scored on a Luis Rivas single.  Jones led off the third with a home run to make it 3-0 Twins.  Later in the inning, with two out, Torii Hunter walked, Mientkiewicz singled, and Mohr walked to load the bases.  Pierzynski then delivered a two-run single to put the Twins up 5-0.

San Diego got a leadoff double from Loretta in the fourth but could do nothing with it.  The Twins added another run in the sixth.  Mohr doubled and Pierzynski had an RBI single to put the Twins up 6-0.

The Padres finally got on the board in the sixth when Loretta hit a two-out home run.  They put two on in the seventh on a hit batsman and a walk but did not score.  In the eighth Gary Matthews and Rondell White walked and Brian Buchanan hit a two-out RBI single to make it 6-2.  Nakamura then entered the game and struck out Dave Hansen to end the inning.  San Diego got only a harmless single in the ninth.

WP:  Santana (3-1).  LP:  Carlton Loewer (1-2).  S:  Nakamura (1).

Notes:  Santana was 1-for-3 and was batting .333.  Jones raised his average to .316.  Mohr was 1-for-2 and was batting .300.

This was Santana's second start of the season.  He would take one more turn in the rotation, then would go back to the bullpen until mid-July.

This was the major league debut for Micheal Nakamura.  It was also his only career save.  There can't be a lot of guys who got a save in their major league debut, and there have to be a lot fewer for whom it was their only career save.  If someone with more time and/or initiative than I have wanted to look that up, I would be grateful.

Mientkiewicz had four stolen bases in 2003.  That was his career high in a season.  For his career, he had 14 stolen bases in 29 tries.

Santana's ERA was 2.49.

Loewer started for the Padres and lasted just 2.2 innings.  He allowed five runs on five hits and three walks and struck out two.

Record:  The Twins were 35-25, in first place in the American League Central, 4.5 games ahead of Kansas City.