KANSAS CITY 4, MINNESOTA 3 IN MINNESOTA
Date: Saturday, August 23.
Batting stars: Corey Koskie was 3-for-4. Doug Mientkiewicz was 2-for-4 with two doubles. Matthew LeCroy was 2-for-4. A. J. Pierzynski was 2-for-4. Luis Rivas was 1-for-4 with a home run, his seventh.
Pitching star: Grant Balfour struck out four in four shutout innings, giving up two hits and no walks.
Opposition stars: D. J. Carrasco struck out four in four shutout innings, giving up three hits and no walks. Aaron Guiel was 2-for-4 with a three-run homer (his eleventh), a double, and two runs. Raul Ibanez was 2-for-4.
The game: It started well. With one out in the first Rivas hit a home run. Mientkiewicz followed with a double and scored on LeCroy's single to give the Twins a 2-0 lead. In the third, singles by LeCroy, Koskie, and Jacque Jones made it 3-0 Twins.
The Royals got on the board in the fourth. Guiel doubled and scored on a Joe Randa single to make it 3-1. In the fifth, Desi Relaford and Angel Berroa singled and Guiel hit a three-run homer to make it 4-3 Kansas City.
And that was it. The best the Twins could do was put the tying run on third with two out in the seventh.
WP: Carrasco (5-4). LP: Joe Mays (8-8). S: Mike MacDougal (26).
Notes: Chris Gomez was at short in place of Cristian Guzman. Michael Ryan pinch-hit for Gomez in the ninth and Guzman then came in as a pinch-runner.
Jones was in left with Stewart in right.
Ryan drew a walk and was batting .500. Stewart was 1-for-5 and was batting .312. Jones was 1-for-4 and was batting .307.
Mays pitched five innings, allowing four runs on seven hits and no walks and striking out three. It was Mays' first start since August 12 and only his second start since July 5. He pitched well other than the three-run homer, but of course the three-run homer is what put the Royals ahead to stay.
Balfour lowered his ERA to 2.03.
Jose Lima started for Kansas City. He pitched four innings, allowing three runs on ten hits and no walks and striking out one.
The Twins were blowing a chance to move up in the standings, losing two of three to the Royals at home. They would have one more chance the next day.
Record: The Twins were 66-63, in third place in the American League Central, 2.5 games behind Chicago. They were 1.5 games behind second-place Kansas City.