MINNESOTA TWINS 6, DETROIT TIGERS 4 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Tuesday, July 1.

Batting stars:  Alexi Casilla was 3-for-4 with a double and a walk.  Justin Morneau was 3-for-4 with a double.  Craig Monroe was 2-for-3 with a three-run homer (his eighth) and a walk.  Carlos Gomez was 2-for-3 with two walks.  Mike Redmond was 2-for-4 with two RBIs.

Pitching stars:  Scott Baker pitched six innings, giving up three runs on seven hits and striking out five.  Joe Nathan pitched a perfect inning, striking out one.

Opposition stars:  Carlos Guillen was 3-for-4 with three runs.  Marcus Thames was 2-for-4 with a two-run homer, his sixteenth.  Gary Sheffield was 2-for-4 with a double.  Ivan Rodriguez was 2-for-4.  Zach Miner pitched two shutout innings, giving up one hit and four walks.  Bobby Seay pitched two shutout innings, giving up two hits.

The game:  The Twins threatened in the first.  Gomez walked, Casilla got a bunt single, and a wild pitch moved runners to second and third with none out, but a home-and-first double play took the Twins out of the inning.  Detroit started the scoring in the fourth, when Guillen singled, went to third on Thames’ single, and scored on a wild pitch.  The Twins came right back in the bottom on the fourth.  Redmond and Morneau led off the inning with singles and Monroe followed with a three-run homer, putting the Twins up 3-1.  Minnesota added to their lead in the fifth.  Denard Span led off with a double, Gomez followed with a bunt single, Casilla hit an RBI double, and Redmond delivered a two-run single, making the score 6-1 Twins.

Detroit got back into the game in the sixth when Guillen hit a one-out single and Thames followed with a home run, making it 6-3.  The Twins got three one-out walks in the bottom of the sixth, loading the bases, but a double play ended the threat.  Detroit got one more in the eighth.  Guillen singled, went to second on a ground out, and scored on Sheffield’s two-out double.  But the next four batters were retired and the Twins took a 6-4 win.

WP:  Baker (5-2).

LP:  Nate Robertson (6-7).

S:  Nathan (23).

Notes:  Redmond was behind the plate in place of Joe Mauer.  Brendan Harris was at short, with Nick Punto going to third and sort-of regular third baseman Brian Buscher on the bench.  Monroe was at DH in place of Jason Kubel.

Casilla was batting .327.  He would finish at .281.  Morneau was batting .314.  He would finish at .300.  Redmond was batting .300.  He would finish at .287.

The Twins had fourteen hits.  Their first five batters went 12-for-18 with a home run, two doubles, and four walks.

Nathan did not allow an obligatory baserunner, retiring Detroit in order in the ninth.

This was the last home run Monroe would hit as a Twin.  He was released on August 8.

I think of Span as a center fielder, but he was in right in 2008, with Gomez in center.  He would not become the regular center fielder until 2010.

Future Twin Clete Thomas played left field for the Tigers, going 0-for-3.

Record:  Detroit was 42-41, in third place in the AL Central, 5.5 games behind Chicago.  They would finish 74-88, in fifth place, 14.5 games behind Chicago.

Minnesota was 46-38, in second place, two games behind Chicago.  They would finish 88-75, in second place, one game behind Chicago, due to losing game 163.

Random Record:  The Random Twins are 4-3 (.571).