KANSAS CITY 12, MINNESOTA 4 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Monday, August 5.

Batting stars:  Doug Mientkiewicz was 2-for-2 with a double.  A. J. Pierzynski was 2-for-4 with a double.  Cristian Guzman was 2-for-4.

Pitching star:  Bob Wells pitched a scoreless inning.

Opposition stars:  Carlos Febles was 4-for-5 with two doubles, scoring three runs.  Neifi Perez was 3-for-5 with a double and three runs.  Brent Mayne was 3-for-5 with a double and three runs.

The game:  The Twins scored first, getting a run in the second on a Denny Hocking sacrifice fly.  The Royals came back with two in the third, starting the inning with a Perez single, a Mayne double, and a Febles single to take a 2-1 lead.  Kansas City added two more in the fifth on doubled by Perez and Febles and singles by Aaron Guiel and Luis Alicea.  They put the game away in the sixth, getting five singles and a three-run homer by Alicea.  That made the score 9-1.  The Twins cut it to 9-4 after seven, but the Royals got the three runs back in the eighth.

WP:  Shawn Sedlacek (2-2).  LP:  Joe Mays (1-3).  S:  None.

Notes:  Hocking was at third base in place of Corey Koskie.  He went 0-for-3 with a sacrifice fly.

Torii Hunter was 0-for-3 with a walk to drop his average to .314.

Bobby Kielty was 0-for-3 with a sacrifice fly to make his average .311.

Pierzynski raised his average to .310.

Twins starter Mays pitched 5.2 innings and was charged with eight runs on twelve hits and no walks, striking out one.

Kevin Frederick gave up three runs in 1.1 innings, raising his ERA from 2.70 to 5.63.

The bottom three batters in the Kansas City lineup went 10-for-15 with four doubles and scored nine runs.

Kansas City starter Sedlacek pitched 6.1 innings, giving up four runs on eight hits and five walks and striking out two.

After three frustrating one-run losses, two of them in extra innings, one assumes this game must have felt pretty good for the Royals.

This was the only season Shawn Sedlacek had in the major leagues.  For some reason I remember him--maybe it's because I know some people named Sedlacek.  He was born in Cedar Rapids, went to Iowa State, and was drafted by the Royals in the fourteenth round in 1998.  He made fourteen starts.  Four of the first six were fairly good, but the last of those was July 20.  He would win one more game, on August 20 against the Blue Jays, and it was a game kind of like this one--not good, but not so awful that his team couldn't overcome it.  He's the sort of pitcher that a bad team, which Kansas City was in 2002, tends to have--a guy who's decent at AAA (6-5, 3.70), and since the team has holes in its rotation, they decide to bring him up and see what he can do.  Unfortunately, what he could do was not much, and 2002 was the only year he was even decent at AAA.  His lifetime AAA numbers were 26-31, 5.19, 1.46 WHIP.  He really wasn't even all that good at AA:  24-17, 4.05, 1.32 WHIP.  He left the Royals after the 2003 season.  He was in the Cubs and Mets organizations in 2004, with Baltimore, Colorado, and St. Louis in 2005, and also played in the Northern League in 2005.  There was obviously something people liked about him, that so many teams gave him a shot, but I don't know what it might have been other than the fact that he didn't walk very many people.  Maybe it's just that he's a good guy--he and his wife live in Overland Park, Kansas, and have done a lot of work with Royals Charities.  He had his own baseball instructional company, Sed Sports, before joining with Matt Williams and ex-Twin Todd Sears to form Complete Game Baseball, which also gives baseball instruction as well as sponsoring teams and leagues.

Record:  The Twins were 69-44, in first place, leading Chicago by sixteen games.

MINNESOTA 5, KANSAS CITY 4 IN MINNESOTA (10 INNINGS)

Date:  Sunday, August 4.

Batting stars:  Luis Rivas was 2-for-3 with a two-run homer, his third.  Doug Mientkiewicz was 2-for-5.  Torii Hunter was 2-for-5.

Pitching stars:  LaTroy Hawkins pitched two shutout innings, giving up one hit.  J. C. Romero pitched a scoreless inning, giving up one walk.

Opposition stars:  Carlos Beltran was 3-for-5 with a home run (his nineteenth) and a stolen base (his twenty-seventh).  Michael Tucker was 2-for-2 with a triple, a double, three walks, and a stolen base, his seventeenth.  Aaron Guiel was 2-for-2 with a double and a hit-by-pitch.

The game:  Beltran hit an inside-the-park home run in the first to give the Royals a 1-0 lead.  The Twins took the lead 2-1 in the third on Rivas' two-run homer.  Kansas City went back in front in the fourth when Joe Randa singled, Tucker tripled, and Chan Perry singled.  Mientkiewicz delivered an RBI single in the bottom of the fourth to tie it 3-3.  It stayed 3-3 until the seventh, when A. J. Hinch singled and scored from first on a Guiel double.  In the bottom of the ninth Corey Koskie led off with a walk, but was thrown out trying to score from a first on a Rivas single to center.  Rivas took second on the play, however, and scored on an infield single-plus-error by Jacque Jones to tie it 4-4.  The Royals opened the tenth with two walks and drew another walk with two out to load the bases, but Guiel grounded out to end the inning.  In the bottom of the tenth, Hunter and David Ortiz led off with singles and Dustan Mohr walked to load the bases with none out.  Jason Grimsley came on to strike out Mientkiewicz, but Koskie grounded to first base.  Perry tried to touch first and then throw home for the double play, but Hunter beat the throw for the winning run.

WP:  Romero (7-1).  LP:  Scott Mullen (3-3).  S:  None.

Notes:  Michael Cuddyer started at third in place of Koskie and went 0-for-3.  Koskie came in as a pinch-hitter in the ninth.

Tom Prince started at catcher and went 1-for-2 with a walk.  A. J. Pierzynski came in as a pinch-hitter in the ninth.

Hunter raised his average to .316.

Twins starter Kyle Lohse pitched six innings, giving up four runs on seven hits and three walks and striking out four.

Hawkins lowered his ERA to 1.49.

Romero lowered his ERA to 1.80.

Rivas hit his second home run in as many days.  He had only one before these two games and would end the season with four.

What a frustrating series this had to be for the Royals.  Swept in a three-game series with each game decided by one run and two of them in extra innings.

This was one of five games in which Chan Perry played in 2002.  He had played thirteen for Cleveland in 2000.  He was 1-for-14 in 2000 and 1-for-11 in 2002, making him 2-for-25 (.080) for his career.  He had no extra base hits and did not draw any walks, so his career line is .080/.080/.080.  His AAA numbers were decent but nothing special:  .280/.326/.419.  He was primarily a first baseman but played a fair number of games in the outfield and a handful at third base.

We hope to return with real player profiles in a couple of days.

Record:  The Twins were 69-43, in first place, leading Chicago by seventeen games.

MINNESOTA 4, KANSAS CITY 3 IN MINNESOTA (10 INNINGS)

Date:  Saturday, August 3.

Batting stars:  Cristian Guzman was 3-for-4 with a stolen base, his eighth.  A. J. Pierzynski was 2-for-4.  Luis Rivas was 1-for-3 with a home run, his second.

Pitching stars:  Brad Radke struck out eight in six innings, giving up three runs on four hits and two walks.  J. C. Romero pitched two perfect innings, striking out one.  Tony Fiore pitched a scoreless inning despite giving up two hits and a walk.

Opposition stars:  Paul Byrd pitched eight innings, giving up three runs (two earned) on eight hits and no walks and striking out four.  Brent Mayne was 2-for-4 with a three-run homer, his second.  Michael Tucker was 2-for-5 with a double.

The game:  The Twins scored two in the first.  Jacque Jones led off with a single and scored on a single-plus-error by Cristian Guzman.  Guzman got all the way to third and scored on a Corey Koskie sacrifice fly.  It stayed 2-0 until the fifth, when Joe Randa was hit by a pitch, Neifi Perez singled, and Mayne hit a three-run homer to give the Royals a 3-2 advantage.  Guzman came through again in the eighth to tie it.  Pierzynski led off with a single, was bunted to second, took third on a fly to right, and scored on Guzman's single, making the score 3-3.  With one out in the tenth, Rivas hit a walkoff home run to win the game for the Twins.  Rivas and Guzman were probably the two weakest bats in the Twins lineup, but not on this day.  One of the many things that makes baseball the greatest sport is that things like this happen.

WP:  Johan Santana (6-2).  LP:  Darrell May (2-8).  S:  None.

Notes:  Torii Hunter was 1-for-3 to keep his average at .315.

Bobby Kielty was 0-for-4 and was batting .316.

Pierzynski raised his average to .308.

Radke made his first start since May 30.  He threw eighty-three pitches.

After seeing him throw eight shutout innings on July 28, the Twins decided to skip Santana's next start and send him to the bullpen.  He would pitch in relief in the next game, too, then come back to start three days later.

Chuck Knoblauch, struggling through his last season, was the Royals' DH in this game.  He went 0-for-4 to drop his average to .194.

Darrell May, the loser in this game, is another guy who got chance after chance in the majors without accomplishing much.  In his seven seasons, he had one good year, 2003, when he went 10-8, 3.77, 1.19 WHIP.  Every other year he had an ERA of over five and a WHIP of over 1.4, sometimes well over.  For his career, he was 26-43, 5.16, 1.45 WHIP in 660.2 innings.  He appeared in 161 games, 97 of them starts.  Six teams gave him a chance:  Atlanta, Pittsburgh, the Angels, Kansas City, San Diego, and the Yankees.

Record:  The Twins were 68-43, in first place, sixteen games ahead of Chicago.

MINNESOTA 2, KANSAS CITY 1 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Friday, August 2.

Batting stars:  David Ortiz was 2-for-4 with a double.  Jacque Jones was 1-for-3 with a home run (his eighteenth) and a walk.  Dustan Mohr was 1-for-4 with a triple.

Pitching stars:  Rick Reed pitched six innings, giving up one run on four hits and a walk and striking out four.  Eddie Guardado struck out two in a perfect inning.

Opposition stars:  Jeff Suppan pitched seven innings, giving up two runs on eight hits and a walk and striking out six.  Raul Ibanez was 2-for-4 with a home run, his sixteenth.  Luis Alicea was 1-for-3 with a walk.

The game:  Jones led off the bottom of the first with a home run, giving the Twins a 1-0 lead.  Ibanez led off the top of the second with a home run to tie it 1-1.  Mohr led off the bottom of the second with a triple and scored on an A. J. Pierzynski single to give the Twins a 2-1 lead.  And that was it.  The Royals put men on second and third in the fourth inning and again in the seventh inning, but did not get a hit after Joe Randa singled leading off the seventh.

WP:  Reed (9-5).  LP:  Jeff Suppan (8-10).  S:  Guardado (33).

Notes:  Torii Hunter returned to the lineup, going 1-for-4 to make his average .315.

Michael Cuddyer was at first base in place of Doug Mientkiewicz, going 0-for-3.  Mientkiewicz came in for defense in the eighth.

Denny Hocking played shortstop in place of Cristian Guzman, going 0-for-4.

Pierzynski was 1-for-3 and was batting .306.

J. C. Romero retired both batters he faced and lowered his ERA to 1.89

LaTroy Hawkins pitched two-thirds of an inning to drop his ERA to 1.53.

Guardado had his first save opportunity since July 21.

We hope to be back with player profiles in a few days.  What we hope for and what actually happens are not always the same, of course.

Record:  The Twins were 67-43, in first place, leading Chicago by fifteen games.

MINNESOTA 6, CHICAGO 0 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Thursday, August 1.

Batting stars:  A. J. Pierzynski was 3-for-4 with a double.  Jacque Jones was 2-for-5 with two doubles.  Michael Cuddyer was 1-for-4 with a grand slam, his second homer.

Pitching star:  Eric Milton struck out eleven in a complete game shutout, giving up three hits and no walks.

Opposition stars:  Paul Konerko was 2-for-3.  Royce Clayton was 1-for-3 with a double.  Keith Foulke pitched a scoreless inning, giving up a walk and striking out one.

The game:  The Twins put men on second and third with two out in the first, but could not score.  The Twins broke through in the third, though, scoring five times.  They started the inning with a Jones double and a Cristian Guzman infield single.  Corey Koskie then singled home the first run.  With two out, Doug Mientkiewicz drew a walk to load the bases and Cuddyer unloaded them with a grand slam.  It killed the rally, but it put the Twins ahead 5-0.  The Twins added a run in the eighth on a Jones RBI double.  The White Sox only twice got a man as far as second base, both times with two out.

WP:  Milton (13-7).  LP:  Dan Wright (7-9).  S:  None.

Notes:  Torii Hunter was again out of the lineup, with Bobby Kielty in center and Michael Cuddyer in right.  Hunter would be back in the lineup the next day.

It was easily Milton's best game of the season, as he earned a game score of 92.  He also threw 131 pitches.  He would miss the next month of the season, not appearing again until September 2 due to a knee injury.

Chicago starter Dan Wright pitched struck out eight in six innings, but gave up five runs on seven hits and three walks.  He pitched well other than in the third inning.

I know I said no player profiles for a week or so, but Wright's career was relatively short.  He was drafted by the White Sox in the second round in 1999 and reached the majors in 2001.  He had not pitched above AA, although he had done very well there in 27 starts.  He came up in late July and pitched well at times, but his numbers were 5-3, 5.70, 1.75 WHIP.  He was in the Chicago rotation all of 2002, his only full season in the majors, and went 14-12, but with an ERA of 5.18.  2003 was worse--he missed a month due to an elbow injury, lost his spot in the starting rotation, and then went to AAA.  His major league numbers that year were 1-7, 6.15. In 2004, he made only four starts with the White Sox and two in AAA before missing the rest of the year due to Tommy John surgery.  He later said he hurt his shoulder trying to compensate for the elbow injury.  He was released after the season and signed with Seattle, but never really came back from the injury.  He missed all of 2005 and made just four AAA appearances in 2006 before being released.  His career big league numbers, all with the White Sox, are 20-26, 5.65. 1.53 WHIP.  He appeared in 70 games, 64 of them starts.  He became a scout and has worked for Seattle and Philadelphia.  I'm sure the injuries didn't help him, but he really hadn't been all that good before.  I know I've said this many times before, but it fascinates me how some guys never really do anything and get chance after chance, while others dominate in AAA and have to fight to get a brief trial.

Record:  The Twins were 66-43, in first place, fifteen games ahead of Chicago.

MINNESOTA 2, CHICAGO 1 IN MINNESOTA (10 INNINGS)

Date:  Wednesday, July 31.

Batting stars:  Corey Koskie was 2-for-4 with a double and a walk.  David Ortiz was 1-for-2 with three walks.  Luis Rivas was 1-for-4 with a double.

Pitching stars:  Joe Mays pitched 7.1 innings, giving up one run on five hits and two walks and striking out one.  LaTroy Hawkins retired all five men he faced, striking out two.  J. C. Romero pitched a scoreless inning, giving up a walk and striking out one.

Opposition stars:  Jon Garland pitched six innings, giving up one run on three hits and four walks and striking out five.  Aaron Rowand was 1-for-3 with a walk.

The game:  Willie Harris led off the game with a single, went to second on a walk, took third on a double play, and scored on a wild pitch to give the White Sox a 1-0 lead.  In the third, Jacque Jones singled and scored from first on a Koskie double to tie it 1-1.  And there things stayed, with no one scoring and hardly any threats until the tenth.  Rivas led off the tenth with a double and went to third on a bunt.  With one out and the bases loaded, Ortiz lined a single to right to win the game.

WP:  Romero (6-1).  LP:  Antonio Osuna (5-2).  S:  None.

Notes:  Bobby Kielty was 0-for-3 with a walk to make his average .327.

A. J. Pierzynski was 0-for-3 and was batting .300.

Torii Hunter was again out of the lineup, with Kielty playing center, and Dustan Mohr in right.  Hunter would return to the lineup August 2.

This was Mays' best start of the season to this point.  He would have two better ones, at least according to game scores.  He actually pitched fairly well in September, but overall it was not a good season for him.

Hawkins lowered his ERA to 1.55.

Romero lowered his ERA to 1.92.

We hope to resume player profiles in a week or so.  Of course, we don't always get what we hope for.

Record:  The Twins were 65-43, in first place, leading Chicago by fourteen games.

CHICAGO 3, MINNESOTA 0 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Tuesday, July 30.

Batting stars:  Bobby Kielty was 2-for-4.  Corey Koskie was 1-for-3 with a double and a walk.  David Ortiz was 1-for-3 with a walk.

Pitching stars:  Kyle Lohse pitched 6.2 innings, giving up three runs on six hits and four walks and striking out three.  Bob Wells retired all four men he faced.  Kevin Frederick pitched a scoreless innings, walking one.

Opposition stars:  Mark Buehrle pitched a complete game shutout, giving up five hits and two walks and striking out four.  Aaron Rowand was 2-for-4 with two doubles.  Magglio Ordonez was 1-for-4 with a three-run homer, his twenty-third.

The game:  There was no score, and not even much of a threat to score, until the sixth.  With one out Rowand doubled, Carlos Lee walked, and Ordonez hit a three-run homer.  That was pretty much that.  The Twins threatened in the ninth, as Koskie led off with a double and went to third on an Ortiz single.  A wild pitch moved Ortiz to second.  Kielty then hit into a fielder's choice, as Koskie was thrown out at the plate.  Michael Cuddyer then hit into a double play to end the game.

WP:  Buehrle (14-7).  LP:  Lohse (10-6).  S:  None.

Notes:  Jacque Jones was out of the lineup, with Dustan Mohr in left, Kielty moving to center, and Cuddyer in right.  Luis Rivas batted leadoff and went 0-for-4.

Tom Prince caught in place of A. J. Pierzynski and was 0-for-3.

Kielty raised his average to .332.

This was Frederick's first appearance in ten days.  He would make two more appearances, go back to the minors, and come up to play two games in September.

Wells had now pitched 5.2 scoreless innings since coming back from injury.  He would not give up a run until August 22.

Due to a lack of time on my part, there will probably be no player profiles for at least a week or so, unless I happen to see someone who really interests me.

Record:  The Twins were 64-43, in first place, leading Chicago by thirteen games.

MINNESOTA 4, TORONTO 0 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Sunday, July 28.

Batting stars:  Torii Hunter was 3-for-4 with a double and a home run, his twenty-fourth.  David Ortiz was 2-for-4.  Corey Koskie was 1-for-4 with a double.

Pitching stars:  Johan Santana struck out thirteen in eight shutout innings, giving up two hits and three walks.  Eddie Guardado struck out two in a scoreless inning, giving up one hit.

Opposition stars:  Carlos Delgado was 2-for-4 with a double.  Shannon Stewart was 1-for-4 with a triple.  Scott Eyre retired all four batters he faced.

The game:  Doubles by Cristian Guzman and Koskie gave the Twins a 1-0 lead in the first inning.  It stayed 1-0 until the sixth, when the Twins loaded the bases with one out and a Michael Cuddyer sacrifice fly and an A. J. Pierzynski singled made it 3-0.  Hunter added a home run in the eighth to round out the scoring.  The Blue Jays twice got a man to third base but did not score.

WP:  Santana (5-2).  LP:  Esteban Loaiza (4-6).  S:  None.

Notes:  Cuddyer started at first base, with Doug Mientkiewicz on the bench.  He was 0-for-2 with a walk and a sacrifice fly.

Denny Hocking was 1-for-3 in place of Luis Rivas.

Hunter raised his average to .315.

Bobby Kielty was 0-for-2 with two walks to make his average .328.

Pierzynski was 1-for-4 and was batting .303.

This was the best start of the season for Santana, at least by game scores.  He would then make two relief appearances before making his next start on August 6.

As you may have noticed, I kind of like checking out the careers of guys I don't remember.  Today it's Scott Cassidy, who pitched the last inning for Toronto in this game.  This was his rookie year.  He'd signed as a free agent with the Blue Jays in 1998.  He did well in a 2001 split between AA and AAA and started 2002 in the Toronto bullpen.  He appeared in 58 games and had a fine WHIP, 1.27, but posted an ERA of 5.73.  He gave up 12 home runs in 66 innings, which probably contributed to that.  He then spent the next two years in the minors, and when he got back to the big leagues it was with Boston in 2005.  He was called up in July appeared in one game, and was traded to San Diego.  He was sent back to AAA, but got a September call-up with the Padres.  He didn't do much, but he started 2006 with San Diego and did quite well, posting a 2.79 ERA in 37 appearances.  Then in mid-July, for no apparent reason, he was sent back to AAA, not coming back until September.  Still, his numbers that year were 6-4, 2.53, 1.36 WHIP, and it appeared that age thirty Scott Cassidy had finally figured it out.  Instead, he never got back to the majors again.  He appeared in forty games in AAA in 2007, then his career was done.  It seems like there must be more to the story than that, but a quick google search did not reveal it.  Scott Cassidy is currently the head baseball coach at LeMoyne College in Syracuse.

Record:  The Twins were 64-42, in first place, leading Chicago by fourteen games.

MINNESOTA 5, TORONTO 4 IN MINNESOTA (10 INNINGS)

Date:  Saturday, July 27.

Batting stars:  Corey Koskie was 2-for-4 with a double and a walk.  Cristian Guzman was 2-for-4 with a double and a walk.  Torii Hunter was 1-for-3 with a double, a walk, and a stolen base, his seventeenth.

Pitching stars:  Eric Milton struck out six in six innings, giving up two runs on five hits.  Bob Wells struck out two in two shutout innings, giving up a hit and a walk.  J. C. Romero pitched 1.1 scoreless innings, giving up two walks and striking out one.

Opposition stars:  Shannon Stewart was 2-for-5 with two doubles.  Josh Phelps was 2-for-4.  Dave Berg was 1-for-4 with a double.

The game:  The Twins scored four in the third to take a 4-0 lead.  Guzman had an RBI double, Koskie brought him home with a single, and Hunter delivered a two-run double.  The Blue Jays missed a chance in the fifth, stranding two runners, but broke through in the sixth on a Jose Cruz double and a run-scoring ground out.  LaTroy Hawkins, who was having an outstanding season, came on in the seventh and gave up consecutive singles.  He retired the next two batters on ground outs, one of which scored a run, but Stewart doubled to send home the tying run.  Berg led off the ninth with a double but did not advance past second.  In the tenth, Bobby Kielty led off with a single and was bunted to second.  Guzman was intentionally walked, but Koskie came through with a double to deep right-center to bring home the winning run.

WP:  Wells (1-1).  LP:  Kelvim Escobar (5-5).  S:  None.

Notes:  Kielty was used as a pinch-hitter for Luis Rivas, who had gone 0-for-3.  Dustan Mohr started in right.

Hunter raised his average to .311.

Mohr went 0-for-4 and was batting .303.

Despite giving up two runs, Hawkins still had an ERA of just 1.59.  He had not given up a run since June 12.

Romero brought his ERA down to 1.95.

Kelvim Escobar was used as both a starter and a reliever at various points in his career.  He came up to the Blue Jays in 1997, a year which he began in Class A.  He made 27 appearances with Toronto, posting an ERA of 2.90 but a WHIP of 1.52, largely due to the fact that he walked 5.5 batters per nine innings.  He struck out 10.5, though.  He started 1998 in the Blue Jays bullpen but was pretty awful, and so he went down to AAA to get used to starting again, the role he had filled in his minor league career.  He came back in August to make ten starts and did pretty well.  He was in the Blue Jays' rotation for most of 1999-2000 and did not do well, however, so he started 2001 back in the bullpen.  He did fairly well as a setup man and was moved back into the rotation in August, where he did even better.  2002 found him installed as the Blue Jays' closer, and while he had 38 saves his other numbers were not good:  5-7, 4.27, 1.53 WHIP.  He was back starting in 2003, was not all that good there either, and after the season Toronto allowed him to become a free agent.  He signed with the Angels and had his best years there.  From 2004-2007 he went 43-35, 3.60, 1.26 WHIP.  The main difference seems to have been his control, as he went from walking 4.2 batters per nine innings before 2005 to walking just 3.0 after.  He missed much of 2005 and all of 2008 due to injury.  He tried to come back in 2009, but was able to make just one start.  He tried again in 2013, going to spring training with Milwaukee, but did not make the team.  He pitched in Mexico that season, but then his playing career was over.  He was still hoping to make a comeback in 2014, but could find no takers.  He was up and down, but overall his numbers are okay--101-91, 4.15, 1.38 WHIP.  He is a cousin of Alcides Escobar and Edwin Escobar.  At last report, Kelvim Esocbar was living in the Miami area.

Record:  The Twins were 63-42, in first place, leading Chicago by fourteen games.

MINNESOTA 10, TORONTO 5 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Friday, July 26.

Batting stars:  Jacque Jones was 2-for-5 with two home runs (his sixteenth and seventeenth) and three RBIs.  Torii Hunter was 2-for-5 with a triple and a double.  Doug Mientkiewicz was 2-for-3 with three RBIs.

Pitching stars:  Tony Fiore struck out four in two perfect innings.  LaTroy Hawkins pitched a scoreless inning, giving up a walk and striking out one.  Eddie Guardado pitched a perfect inning and struck out one.

Opposition stars:  Vernon Wells was 2-for-4 with a home run, his fifteenth.  Carlos Delgado was 1-for-2 with two walks and a home run, his twenty-first.

The game:  Vernon Wells hit a two-run homer in a four-run wecond that gave the Blue Jays a 4-0 lead.  Hunter tripled and scored on a Mienkiewicz sacrifice fly in the bottom of the second to cut the lead to 4-1, but Delgado homered in the third to put it back up to four runs at 5-1.  The Twins got three consecutive singles in the fourth, the last an RBI hit by Luis Rivas, to make the score 5-2.  The Twins opened the fifth with four hits, a single by Corey Koskie, a double by David Oritz, a two-run double by Hunter, and an RBI single by Mientkiewicz, to tie the score 5-5.  The Twins then scored four in the sixth to take control of the game.  Jones hit a two-run homer and Ortiz and Mientkiewicz had RBI singles, giving the Twins a 9-5 advantage.  Jones closed out the scoring with another home run in the eighth.  Toronto did not get a hit after the third inning.

WP:  Tony Fiore (9-2).  LP:  Luke Prokopec (2-8).  S:  None.

Notes:  Hunter raised his average to .311.

Bobby Kielty was 1-for-3 with a walk to keep his average at .328.

A. J. Pierzynski was 3-for-4 to raise his average to .304.

Joe Mays started for the Twins and pitched five innings, giving up five runs on six hits and two walks and striking out four.  He actually lowered his ERA slightly, from 9.17 to 9.13.

This was the third time Fiore struck out four in a game, but the only time he did so in just two innings.

Hawkins lowered his ERA to 1.31.

The Blue Jays had two future Twins in their lineup, Shannon Stewart and Orlando Hudson.  Stewart was 0-for-3 with a walk.  Hudson was 1-for-4.

Toronto starter Steve Parris pitched four innings, giving up five runs on ten hits and two walks and striking out five.  I have no memory of Steve Parris, but he was in the majors for at least part of eight seasons.  He had been drafted by Philadelphia, picked up on waivers by the Dodgers, picked up on waivers by Seattle, and released before he came up with Pittsburgh in July of 1995.  He was in their rotation the rest of the season.  He didn't get a whole lot accomplished, but on the other hand he had come up from AA.  But on the other hand, he was already twenty-seven at this point.  He was apparently injured part of 1996, was released, and signed with Cincinnati.  He was in the minors for all of 1997 but gave the Reds two good seasons from 1998-1999, going 17-9, 3,60 in thirty-seven starts.  He struggled in 2000, however, and was traded to Toronto after the season.  he was with the Blue Jays for 2001-2002, going 10-11, 5.17.  He went to Tampa Bay for 2003 but was released in mid-June, ending his career.  His career numbers were 44-49, 4.75 in 129 starts.  Nothing remarkable, but he did have two good seasons for Cincinnati.  Plus, you have to give him marks for persistence.  A number of teams gave up on him, but for a long time there was always somebody who wanted him, too.  He was born in Joliet, Illinois and apparently has returned there, as we found a couple of recent articles about personal appearances he has made and clinics he has participated in around that area.

Record:  The Twins were 62-42, in first place, leading Chicago by fourteen games.