MINNESOTA 5, CLEVELAND 3 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Monday, August 11.

Batting stars:  Dustan Mohr was 3-for-4 with two doubles and a stolen base, his fourth.  Luis Rivas was 1-for-4 with a two-run homer, his fourth.

Pitching stars:  Kyle Lohse pitched eight innings, giving up three runs on seven hits and two walks and striking out four.  LaTroy Hawkins pitched a scoreless inning, giving up a hit and striking out one.

Opposition stars:  Jody Gerut was 3-for-4 with a double.  Terry Mulholland struck out two in two shutout innings, giving up two hits.

The game:  The Twins opened the scoring in the third inning.  Mohr led off with a double and Cristian Guzman followed with an RBI single.  Rivas then hit a one-out two-run homer to make it 3-0 Twins.  The Indians got one back in the fourth on two singles and a doubleplay grounder, cutting the lead to 3-1.

It stayed 3-1 until the sixth.  Torii Hunter was hit by a pitch with two out and scored on A. J. Pierzynski's double.  Mohr followed with a run-scoring single to make it 5-1 Minnesota.

There was no more scoring until the ninth.  Gerut and Ben Broussard opened the inning with back-to-back doubles.  Ryan Ludwick singled, bringing the tying run to the plate in the dangerous Travis Hafner.  But Hawkins got him to hit into a double play, bringing home a run but emptying the bases.  Josh Bard then struck out to end the game.

WP:  Lohse (9-9).  LP:  Jake Westbrook (5-7).  S:  Hawkins (1).

Notes:  Stewart was in left, Mohr in right, and Jones at DH.  Michael Restovich pinch-ran for Jones in the eighth.

Stewart was 0-for-3 and was batting .316.  Jones was 1-for-3 and was batting .305.  Corey Koskie was 1-for-4 and was batting .303.  Pierzynski was 1-for-4 and was batting .301.

Lohse got his ERA back below five at 4.97.

Hawkins lowered his ERA to 2.33.  I don't know why Ron Gardenhire went with Hawkins rather than Eddie Guardado.  Guardado had pitched the day before, but had thrown just fifteen pitches.  He had not pitched the day before that, and after all, he was "Everyday Eddie".  This was one of two saves Hawkins had for the season.

Westbrook pitched six innings, but allowed five runs on eight hits and a walk and struck out three.  His ERA was 4.77.

The Twins had won four games in a row and were in striking distance of second place.

Record:  The Twins were 61-57, in third place in the American League Central, 2.5 games behind Kansas City.  They were one game behind second-place Chicago.