MINNESOTA 16, KANSAS CITY 2 IN KANSAS CITY

Date:  Thursday, June 19.

Batting stars:  Corey Koskie was 4-for-5 with two home runs (his eighth and ninth), a walk, three runs, and six RBIs.  Cristian Guzman was 4-for-6 with a stolen base (his fourth) and four runs.  Torii Hunter was 3-for-4 with two doubles.  Jacque Jones was 3-for-5 with a home run (his ninth), three runs, and three RBIs.  Doug Mientkiewicz was 3-for-6 with a double and two RBIs.  Luis Rivas was 2-for-6 with a double.

Pitching stars:  Joe Mays pitched eight innings, giving up two runs on six hits and two walks and striking out two.  J. C. Romero pitched a scoreless inning, giving up two hits and striking out one.

Opposition stars:  Raul Ibanez was 2-for-4.  Kris Wilson pitched 3.1 innings of relief, giving up one run on five hits and striking out one.

The game:  The Twins opened the game with three singles to score one run and a ground out plated another, making it 2-0 Twins in the first.  In the third, back-to-back RBI doubles by Justin Morneau and Hunter made it 4-0.  In the fourth Jones hit a two-run homer and Koskie had an RBI single to put the Twins up 7-0.

If it wasn't out of reach already, it was after the fifth inning.  The Twins scored seven runs.  Hunter doubled and Dustan Mohr walked, but they were on first and second with two out.  The next seven batters reached base.  Rivas doubled home a run.  Jones singled one in.  Guzman singled in another.  Koskie hit a three-run homer.  It didn't kill the rally.  Morneau walked and Hunter singled.  Mientkiewicz had an RBI double.  The score was 14-0 after five innings.

Koskie homered in the seventh to make it 15-0.  The Royals got on the board in the bottom of the seventh when Carlos Beltran doubled and Ibanez singled.  In the eighth Brent Mayne walked and Desi Relaford doubled to cut the margin to 15-2.  Mientkiewicz singled home a run in the ninth to end it at 16-2.

WP:  Mays (8-4).  LP:  Kyle Snyder (1-4).  S:  None.

Notes:  Morneau was the DH.

With a blowout game, the Twins made numerous substitutions.  Lew Ford replaced Hunter in center field in the sixth.  Bobby Kielty replaced Jones in the sixth but went to right, with Mohr moving from right to left.  Matthew LeCroy pinch-hit for Morneau in the ninth.  Tom Prince pinch-hit for A. J. Pierzynski in the ninth and stayed in the game at catcher.

Ford was 1-for-2 and was batting .429.   Morneau was 1-for-4 and was batting .355.  Jones raised his average to .311.  Mientkiewicz raised his average to .308.  Koskie raised his average to .305.  LeCroy was 1-for-1 and was batting .303.  Pierzynski was 1-for-5 and was batting .300.

Mays had his best game since April by game scores.  It was his first game score over fifty in a month.  His ERA was still at 5.48.

Snyder started for Kansas City.  He pitched four innings, allowing seven runs on ten hits and no walks and striking out two.

The Twins certainly broke their losing streak in a big way.  Offense, however, hadn't been a problem in the streak: they had scored 2, 8, 8, 7, and 6 runs in the losses, an average of over six runs.  The trouble was that they had given up an average of over ten runs in those five losses.

Record:  The Twins were 39-32, in first place in the American League Central, two games ahead of Kansas City.