PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES 11, MINNESOTA TWINS 6 IN MINNESOTA
Date: Friday, June 11, 2004.
Batting stars: Joe Mauer was 3-for-3 with a home run (his second), a double, two runs, and two RBIs. Jacque Jones was 3-for-4 with two doubles. Torii Hunter was 2-for-4. Lew Ford was 2-for-5 with a home run (his second), a double, two runs, and two RBIs.
Pitching stars: None.
Opposition stars: Mike Lieberthal was 3-for-4. Ricky Ledee was 3-for-5 with two home runs (his fourth and fifth), three runs, and five RBIs. Placido Polanco was 3-for-5 with a home run (his second), two runs, and three RBIs. Jimmy Rollins was 2-for-5 with two runs.
The game: The Twins took the early lead in the second. With one out, Torii Hunter singled, Jacque Jones doubled, and Matthew LeCroy walked, loading the bases. All the Twins could manage was a sacrifice fly, but they took a 1-0 lead.
The lead lasted until the fourth. Jim Thome drew a one-out walk, and with two out Ricky Ledee hit a two-run homer, putting Philadelphia up 2-1. In the fifth, Mike Lieberthal led off with a single, Jimmy Rollins hit a one-out single, and Placido Polanco hit a three-run homer, making it 5-1 Phillies.
Joe Mauer homered in the fifth to cut the lead to 5-2, but Philadelphia got the run right back in the sixth on singles by Ricky Ledee and Mike Lieberthal and a two-out RBI double by Marlon Byrd.
The Twins got back into it after that. In the sixth, Lew Ford led off with a double and scored on a pair of ground outs. In the seventh, Joe Mauer led off with a double, went to third on a wild pitch, and scored on a ground out. Doug Mientkiewicz then doubled and Lew Ford hit a two-run homer to tie it 6-6.
But then, in the ninth, the Phillies took over. With one out, Jimmy Rollins and Placido Polanco singled and Bobby Abreu walked, loading the bases. Jim Thome brought home two with a ground rule double, and Ricky Ledee hit a two-out three-run homer, giving Philadelphia an 11-6 lead. The Twins went down in order in the ninth.
WP: Tim Worrell (2-2).
LP: Terry Mulholland (0-2).
S: None.
Notes: Joe Mauer was behind the plate. He was the regular catcher when healthy, but he missed most of the season due to injury, with Henry Blanco doing most of the catching. Michael Cuddyer was at second base in place of Luis Rivas. Matthew LeCroy was at DH. The Twins didn’t have a regular DH in 2004. Jose Offerman played the most games there at 39, with LeCroy second at 30.
Joe Mauer was batting .346. He would finish at .308. Lew Ford was batting .324. He would finish at .299.
Jim Thome was at first base for Philadelphia. He would play for the Twins in 2010-2011.
Mauer batted eighth in this game. Presumably, the Twins were trying not to put too much pressure on him in his rookie season, especially when he was coming back from injury. This was his tenth major league game.
Lew Ford hit thirty-five career home runs. 2004 was his career high, with fifteen.
Ricky Ledee hit sixty-three career home runs, two of them in this game. His career high was thirteen, in 2004 and 2000.
Seth Greisinger was the Twins’ starter. He pitched 5.2 innings, allowing six runs on nine hits and a walk, striking out three. This was the last game he would pitch for the Twins, as he would spend the rest of the season in AAA and be released after the season. He would make just one more major league appearance, for Atlanta in 2005.
Record: Philadelphia was 31-27, in second place in the NL East, 1.5 games behind Florida. They would finish 86-76, in second place, ten games behind Atlanta.
The Twins were 33-27, in first place in the AL Central, a half game ahead of Chicago. They would finish 92-70, in first place, nine games ahead of Chicago.
Random Record: The Random Twins are 31-37 (.456).