MINNESOTA 6, OAKLAND 4 IN MINNESOTA
Date: Sunday, July 20.
Batting stars: Shannon Stewart was 4-for-4 with a double. Doug Mientkiewicz was 1-for-2 with a three-run homer (his ninth), two walks, and two runs. Torii Hunter was 1-for-4 with a two-run homer, his sixteenth.
Pitching stars: Joe Mays struck out two in two perfect innings. Eddie Guardado pitched a scoreless inning, giving up two hits.
Opposition stars: Erubiel Durazo was 2-for-3 with a double, two walks, and two RBIs. David McCarty was 2-for-4 with a walk. Chad Bradford pitched two shutout innings, giving up two hits and a walk.
The game: With two out in the first Miguel Tejada singled, Durazo walked, and McCarty singled in the game's first run. The Twins came right back in the bottom of the first. Stewart singled, Luis Rivas had a bunt single, and Mientkiewicz hit a three-run homer to put the Twins up 3-1. In the second Cristian Guzman walked and scored from first on Stewart's double to make it 4-1.
The Athletics loaded the bases in the third on two walks and a hit batsman, but did not score. They had a man on second with none out in the fourth, but did not score. They had men on first and second with two out in the fifth, but did not score. The Twins took advantage, adding to their lead in the bottom of the fifth when Mientkiewicz drew a two-out walk and Hunter followed with a home run, giving the Twins a 6-1 advantage.
Oakland finally broke through in the sixth. Adam Piatt led off with a double. He was still on second with two out, and it appeared the Athletics might be stymied again. But this time Terrence Long delivered an RBI single, Tejada walked, and Durazo hit a two-run double, cutting the Twins' margin to 6-4.
Oakland threatened in the ninth. With one out Durazo and McCarty singled, bringing the lead run to the plate. But Eric Chavez flied to right and Eric Brynes grounded out to end the game.
WP: Kenny Rogers (8-5). LP: Ted Lilly (5-8). S: Guardado (22).
Notes: Matthew LeCroy was again behind the plate in place of A. J. Pierzynski. Chris Gomez remained at third in the continued absence of Corey Koskie. Stewart was the DH.
Jones was 1-for-4 and was batting .305.
Rogers struck out seven in 5.2 innings. He gave up just three runs despite allowing six hits and five walks.
By throwing two shutout innings, Mays lowered his ERA to 6.37.
Lilly was at the end of a terrible stretch which saw his ERA go from 3.93 to 5.22 in seven starts. He would turn things around after this, getting his ERA as low as 4.18 before ending at 4.34.
The streakiness of this team continues. As you may recall, they opened the season by winning three, then lost their next six, then won their next six, then lost their next six. In May they had two four-game winning streaks and a five-game winning streak. They hit the all-star break on an eight-game losing streak. Now, they've come out of the all-star break winning four in a row. If they could make it five in a row, they'd get back to .500.
Record: The Twins were 48-49, in second place in the American League Central, 6.5 games behind Kansas City. They were a half game ahead of third-place Chicago.