KANSAS CITY 3, MINNESOTA 2 IN MINNESOTA
Date: Friday, August 22.
Batting stars: Shannon Stewart was 3-for-5 with a double. Jacque Jones was 2-for-4 with a double and two runs.
Pitching stars: Kyle Lohse pitched 6.1 innings, giving up three runs on seven hits and a walk and striking out three. J. C. Romero struck out two in two perfect innings.
Opposition stars: Brent Mayne was 2-for-4 with a double. Joe Randa was 2-for-4. Darrell May pitched 6.2 innings, giving up two runs on seven hits and two walks and striking out five.
The game: The Twins put men on first and third with two out in the first but did not score. In the third the Royals scored three, which was all they needed. Angel Berroa was hit by a pitch, went to second on a wild pitch and scored on Mayne's double. Randa singled Mayne home. Mike Sweeney walked and Carlos Beltran had an infield single, loading the bases. Raul Ibanez hit a sacrifice fly to put Kansas City up 3-0.
The Twins got on the board in the fifth but missed a chance for more. Jones led off with a single and Stewart hit a two-out single. Luis Rivas doubled to score Jones, but Stewart was thrown out trying to make it a two-run double. The score remained just 3-1.
The Twins got one more in the seventh, but again had a man thrown out at the plate. Jones led off with a double and scored on Cristian Guzman's one-out single. Stewart singled to put men on first and third. Denny Hocking then hit a grounder to first, with Guzman thrown out at home. Another ground out ended the inning. The Twins did not get a hit after that.
WP: May (7-6). LP: Lohse (10-10). S: Jeremy Affeldt (2).
Notes: Doug Mientkiewicz was back at first base. Jones was in left, Stewart in right, and Matthew LeCroy was the DH.
Hocking pinch-hit for Rivas in the seventh and stayed in the game at second base. Dustan Mohr pinch-hit for Guzman in the ninth.
Stewart went up to .313. Jones was up to .307.
Lohse's ERA went to an even 5.00.
It feels like Darrell May started about every other game the Royals played against the Twins. In fact, he made five starts against the Twins in 2003. He went 2-0, 2.73, 1.18 WHIP. He struck out 20 in 29.2 innings. For the season, he was 10-8, 3.77, 1.19 WHIP and struck out 115 in 210 innings. It was the best season of his career and the only one in which he had an ERA under five. For his career he was 4-3, 3.92, 1.36 WHIP against the Twins.
After one day in second, the Twins slipped back into third place.
Record: The Twins were 66-62, in third place in the American League Central, 1.5 games behind Chicago. They were a half game behind second-place Kansas City.