MINNESOTA 18, CHICAGO 3 IN MINNESOTA
Date: Friday, May 16.
Batting stars: A. J. Pierzynski was 4-for-4 with two doubles and two runs. Doug Mientkiewicz was 3-for-5 with a home run (his third), a double, a walk, two runs, and two RBIs. Bobby Kielty was 2-for-4 with a home run (his sixth), a walk, three runs, and five RBIs. Cristian Guzman was 2-for-4 with a walk, two runs, and two RBIs. Luis Rivas was 2-for-4 with two runs. Torii Hunter was 2-for-5 with a home run (his sixth), two runs, and four RBIs. Corey Koskie was 2-for-5 with a walk and two runs. Tom Prince was 1-for-1 with a home run.
Pitching stars: Brad Radke pitched seven innings, giving up three runs on nine hits and no walks and striking out three. Tony Fiore pitched two perfect innings of relief.
Opposition stars: Carlos Lee was 2-for-4 with a double. Sandy Alomar was 2-for-4.
The game: The White Sox took the early lead. In the second Magglio Ordonez singled and scored from first on Lee's double. Lee then scored on a sacrifice fly-plus-error to give Chicago a 2-0 lead. The Twins got one back in the bottom of the inning when Dustan Mohr doubled, went to third on Pierzynski's single, and scored on a ground out, cutting the margin to 2-1.
The Twins took the lead in the third. Guzman walked, Koskie hit a one-out single, and Kielty hit a three-run homer, making it 4-2 Twins.
The Twins took control in the fourth. The first five batters reached, with two singles and an error loading the bases, Guzman delivering a two-run single, and a walk loading the bases. With one out Kielty singled home two more and Hunter hit a three-run homer to make the score 11-2.
The Twins kept adding on. In the sixth two walks, and a Hunter single brought home a run, Pierzynski doubled home another, a ground out scored a third and Rivas singled home another to make it 15-2. Jose Valentin homered in the seventh to make it 15-3. Prince led off the eighth with a home run and Mientkiewicz hit a two-run homer later in the inning to bring the final to 18-3.
WP: Radke (5-3). LP: Mark Buehrle (2-7). S: None.
Notes: Mohr was in left field, with Denny Hocking in right and Kielty as the DH. Apparently, Ron Gardenhire didn't think much of Kielty's defense, as he was seemingly playing everyone else in the outfield while keeping Kielty at DH.
Chris Gomez went to short in the seventh, replacing Guzman. Prince replaced Pierzynski behind the plate in the eighth.
Prince was batting .313. Hocking was 1-for-5 to get his average up to triple digits at .107.
Radke lowered his ERA to 5.60. Fiore's ERA was 5.57.
Mark Buehrle started for Chicago. He pitched 3.1 innings and allowed ten runs (nine earned) on ten hits and two walks and struck out none. Buehrle had an awful May, going 0-4, 7.16 in five starts. I don't know if it was an injury, a mechanical problem, or just bad luck. In four of the other six months his ERA was under four, and the other month (August) it was at 4.50. For the season he was 14-14, 4.14.
This was the most runs the Twins would score in a game in 2003.
Record: The Twins were 23-18, in second place in the American League Central, 1.5 games behind Kansas City.