MINNESOTA 7, DETROIT 2 IN MINNESOTA
Date: Sunday, August 3.
Batting stars: Luis Rivas was 3-for-5 with a triple and a stolen base, his eleventh. Shannon Stewart was 2-for-4 with a home run (his tenth), a walk, and two runs. Cristian Guzman was 2-for-4 with a stolen base, his thirteenth. Doug Mientkiewicz was 2-for-5.
Pitching stars: Johan Santana struck out seven in six innings, giving up two runs on five hits and three walks. J. C. Romero struck out three in 1.1 scoreless innings, giving up a hit and a walk. Eddie Guardado pitched a scoreless inning, giving up one hit.
Opposition stars: Warren Morris was 2-for-3 with a walk. Craig Monroe was 2-for-3 with a walk. Bobby Higginson was 1-for-4 with a two-run homer, his seventh.
The game: The Tigers put men on first and second with two out in the first but did not score. In the bottom of the first Stewart walked, Rivas tripled, and Mientkiewicz singled, giving the Twins a 2-0 lead. Stewart homered in the second to make it 3-0. In the third Torii Hunter and A. J. Pierzynski singled and Michael Restovich walked, loading the bases with none out. A double play scored one run and Guzman singled home another, increasing the lead to 5-0.
Detroit got a leadoff double from Ben Petrick in the fifth but could do nothing with it. They finally got on the board in the sixth when Morris singled and Higginson hit a two-run homer. But that was as good as it got for the Tigers. The Twins got the two runs back in the seventh. Mientkiewicz and Jacque Jones singled and Restovich walked, loading the bases with two out. Chris Gomez then doubled home two runs to make the score 7-2. Detroit got men to second and third with two out in the eighth, but the score remained 7-2.
WP: Santana (5-3). LP: Matt Roney (1-7). S: None.
Notes: Gomez was again at third in the absence of Corey Koskie. Stewart was in left, Restovich in right, and Jones at DH.
Restovich was 0-for-1 with three walks and was batting .381. Stewart was batting .319. Jones was 1-for-3 and was batting .309. Pierzynski was 1-for-4 and was batting .304.
LaTroy Hawkins pitched two-thirds of an inning and was not scored on, making his ERA 2.50.
Roney was the Tigers starter. He lasted just two innings and allowed five runs on six hits and four walks and struck out three. He would finish the year 1-9, 5.45, 1.49 WHIP. He would make just three major league appearances after the 2003 season, and those were with Oakland in 2006.
The Twins once again got back to .500. Could they finally get back over the hump? They would make the attempt in Baltimore.
Record: The Twins were 55-55, in third place in the American League Central, 4.5 games behind Kansas City. They were 2.5 games behind second-place Chicago.