MINNESOTA 6, TAMPA BAY 3 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Tuesday, April 30.

Batting stars:  Torii Hunter was 2-for-4 with a two-run homer, his ninth.  Bobby Kielty was 2-for-4 with a double.  Brian Buchanan was 2-for-4.

Pitching stars:  Kyle Lohse pitched six innings, giving up two runs on six hits and two walks with three strikeouts.  Eddie Guardado pitched a perfect inning.

Opposition stars:  Jason Conti was 2-for-3 with two doubles.  Ben Grieve was 2-for-4 with a home run, his sixth.  Chris Gomez was 1-for-3 with a double and a walk.

The game:  The Twins scored three in each of the first two innings.  That was all they got, but it was enough.  In the first, Kielty had a leadoff double, went to third on a bunt, and scored on a sacrifice fly by Doug Mientkiewicz.  Buchanan then singled and scored on Hunter's two-run homer to make it 2-0.  In the second, Dustan Mohr doubled, A. J. Pierzynski singled, and Denny Hocking walked to load the bases.  Kielty singled one home, another scored on a ground out, and a third came in on an error, making it 6-0 Twins.  The Devil Rays got on the board in the fifth on a two-run double by Conti.  Grieve homered with two out in the eighth to finish the scoring.

WP:  Lohse (2-1).  LP:  Ryan Rupe (3-2).  S:  Guardado (10).

Notes:  Kielty played left, giving Jacque Jones a day off.  He batted leadoff...Jay Canizaro again played second, going 1-for-2 with a walk...Buchanan was the DH and raised his average to .321...Hunter raised his average to .371.  He couldn't be expected to keep that up, of course, and he didn't, batting .270 the rest of the season...Mohr went 1-for-3 with a walk to make his average .366.  He couldn't keep it up, either, batting .247 the rest of the way...Pierzynski was 1-for-4 and was batting .316...Denny Hocking played short, again replacing Cristian Guzman.  He was 1-for-2 with a walk...Guardado's ERA dropped to 1.38...Steven Kent pitched two shutout innings for the Devil Rays.  This was his only season in the majors.  He was a Rule 5 player and Tampa Bay kept him all year.  He started the season pretty well, and had a 3.77 ERA through June 19.  He didn't do so well after that, though, finishing the season 0-2, 5.65.  Oddly, after keeping him on the roster all season, the Devil Rays waived him in November and he went to Florida.  He eventually went to the Colorado, Atlanta, and Houston organizations, never making it back to the majors.  He had an excellent season in AA in 2004 for Atlanta and did well in AAA in 2006 for Houston, but didn't have much other success.  He started playing independent ball in 2007 and continued to do so through 2012.

Record:  Minnesota was 16-11, in second place, a half game behind Chicago.

MINNESOTA 3, TAMPA BAY 2 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Monday, April 29.

Batting stars:  Dustan Mohr was 2-for-2 with a double and a walk.  Torii Hunter was 2-for-4 with a double.  A. J. Pierzynski was 1-for-2 with a walk.

Pitching stars:  Eric Milton pitched 7.1 innings, giving up two runs on six hits and a walk with three strikeouts.  Eddie Guardado pitched a perfect inning.

Opposition stars:  Randy Winn was 2-for-4 with a double.  Brent Abernathy was 2-for-4.  Joe Kennedy pitched 7.1 innings, giving up three runs on seven hits and three walks with five strikeouts.

The game:  Tampa Bay took the lead in the first on three singles, the last a run-scoring hit by Ben Grieve.  The Twins took the lead in the second.  Hunter led off with a double.  Mohr tied it with a one-out single.  Pierzynski doubled to put men on second and third and Denny Hocking followed with a sacrifice fly to make it 2-1 Twins.  The Devil Rays tied it in the fifth when Russ Johnson led off with a walk, stole second, and scored on Abernathy's single.  The Twins got the lead back in the seventh when Mohr doubled, went to third on a fly ball, and scored on another Hocking sacrifice fly.

WP:  Milton (4-2).  LP:  Kennedy (1-2).  S:  Guardado (9).

Notes:  Jay Canizaro again got the call at second base and also batted second.  He went 0-for-3 with a walk, dropping his average to .175...Matthew LeCroy was again the DH and went 1-for-4, making his average .344...Hocking started at shortstop, replacing Cristian Guzman.  He was 0-for-1, but delivered two important sacrifice flies.  Guzman apparently had a minor injury, as he would not play again until May 4...Jacque Jones was 0-for-4 and was batting .306...Hunter raised his average to .366...Mohr raised his average to .368...Pierzynski was now batting .320...Guardado's ERA fell to 1.50...This was probably Joe Kennedy's second-best major league season as a starter.  He went 8-11, 4.53 with a WHIP of 1.32.  He spent six seasons as a starter in the big leagues and only once had an ERA below 4.50.  For his career, he was 43-61, 4.79, 1.47 WHIP.  Oddly, his best season as a starter came when he was playing in Colorado:  9-7, 3.66.  He had a fine season out of the bullpen for Oakland in 2006, going 4-1, 2.31 in 39 appearances (34 innings, leading one to think he may have often been used as a LOOGY).  It's possible that if he'd remained in that role he might have stuck around a long time, but the Athletics put him back into the starting rotation in 2007 and he went back to pitching the way he had the rest of his career.  He finished 2007 with Toronto and then his career was over.

Record:  The Twins were 15-11, in second place, a half game behind Chicago.

DETROIT 5, MINNESOTA 4 IN DETROIT

Date:  Sunday, April 28.

Batting stars:  Corey Koskie was 2-for-4 with a home run, his second.  Matthew LeCroy was 2-for-5 with two doubles.  Torii Hunter was 1-for-4 with a double and a walk.

Pitching star:  LaTroy Hawkins pitched a perfect inning with one strikeout.

Opposition stars:  Ex-Twin Mark Redman struck out eight in seven innings, giving up one run on seven hits and a walk.  Bobby Higginson was 3-for-5.  Randall Simon was 2-for-4 with a home run, his seventh.

The game:  Simon's RBI single put the Tigers up 1-0 in the first inning.  The Twins tied it in the second on Koskie's run-scoring single.  It stayed 1-1 until the fourth, when Brandon Inge hit a home run to give Detroit a 2-1 advantage.  The Tigers took it to 4-1 in the fifth on Simon's two-run homer.  Minnesota got back into it in the eighth when Koskie hit a two-out two-run homer to cut the margin to 4-3.  In the ninth, Bobby Kielty delivered a pinch-hit leadoff triple and scored on a ground out to tie it up 4-4.  Mike Jackson came on to pitch the ninth.  He retired the first two batters but then gave up a single to Wendell McGee, bringing in J. C. Romero.  Romero walked Robert Fick and then gave up a run-scoring single to Higginson to end the game.

WP:  Julio Santana (1-0).  LP:  Jackson (1-1).  S:  None.

Notes:  LeCroy was again the DH with David Ortiz out.  He raised his average to .357...Brian Buchanan was again in right field rather than Dustan Mohr or Kielty.  He went 0-for-3 with a walk...Tom Prince gave A. J. Pierzynski a day off behind the plate.  He was 1-for-3 to make his average .368...Denny Hocking got the call at second base this time and went 0-for-3.  Gardy appears to have been hoping either Hocking or Canizaro would lay claim to the second base job in the absence of Luis Rivas, but so far neither of them had...Brad Radke pitched seven innings, giving up four runs on eight hits and a walk with one strikeout.  His ERA on the season was now 6.48...Jacque Jones was 0-for-4 to drop his average to .317...Hunter's average went to .361...Redman had a decent season in 2002.  His record was just 8-15, but it was with an ERA of 4.21 and a WHIP of 1.29.  His best year would be 2003, when he went 14-9, 3.59 in helping the Florida Marlins win the World Series...In my memory, Bobby Higginson always killed the Twins.  He did well against them this year, batting .324/.329/.479.  For his career, though, he batted .259/.329/.456, not bad but nothing that exciting.  He did hit twenty home runs against them--maybe I just happened to see the games when he hit one or something.

Record:  The Twins were 14-11, in second place, a game behind Chicago.

DETROIT 5, MINNESOTA 1 IN DETROIT

Date:  Saturday, April 27.

Batting stars:  Matthew LeCory was 2-for-4 with a double.  Brian Buchanan was 2-for-4.  Torii Hunter was 1-for-3 with a home run (his eighth) and a walk.

Pitching stars:  Tony Fiore pitched four innings of relief, giving up one run on four hits and no walks with one strikeout.  Jack Cressend pitched a perfect inning of relief.

Opposition stars:  Nate Cornejo pitched a complete game, giving up one run on nine hits and a walk with eight strikeouts.  Bobby Higginson was 3-for-4 with a triple.  Randall Simon was 2-for-4 with a home run, his sixth.

The game:  In the first inning, Higginson had an RBI triple and scored on Simon's single to give the Tigers a 2-0 lead.  Hunter hit a one-out homer in the second to cut the lead to 2-1, but Detroit scored two more in the third on Simon's two-run homer to make it 4-1.  The Twins left the bases loaded in the second and left two on in the third and fourth.  They stranded ten for the game and went 1-for-10 with men in scoring position.

WP:  Cornejo (1-2).  LP:  Matt Kinney (1-1).  S:  None.

Notes:  LeCroy was again at DH...Buchanan was in right field, replacing Dustan Mohr...Jay Canizaro got the start at second base and was 1-for-1 with a hit-by-pitch...Jacque Jones was 1-for-5 and was batting .330...Hunter dropped his average to .366...LeCroy raised his average to .348...Buchanan raised his average to .333...A. J. Pierzynski was 0-for-4 to make his average .319...Matt Kinney started and pitched just three innings, allowing four runs on five hits and a walk with three strikeouts...Fiore gave up his first run of the season in ten innings...This was the only complete game and the only win of the season for Cornejo.  He did pitch two complete games the next season, 2003.  In 2002 he would stay in the Tigers rotation through May 20, then was sent to AAA, coming back as a September call-up.  He would be in the rotation for all of 2003, but went 6-17, 4.67.  For his career, he was 12-29, 5.41 in 56 starts.  He wasn't all that good at AAA, either, going 13-8 but with a 4.24 ERA and a WHIP of 1.44.  But the Tigers had terrible teams then, and he'd been a first-round draft choice, so he got his shot.  He stayed in the Tigers organization through 2005, was in AAA with the White Sox in 2006, and then was done.

DETROIT 3, MINNESOTA 2 IN DETROIT (10 INNINGS)

Date:  Friday, April 26.

Batting stars:  Jacque Jones was 3-for-5 with a double.  Matthew LeCroy was 2-for-4 with a double.  Denny Hocking was 2-for-5.

Pitching star:  Rick Reed pitched seven innings, giving up one run on seven hits and no walks with three strikeouts.

Opposition stars:  Bobby Higginson was 2-for-4 with a home run, his fourth.  Robert Fick was 2-for-5 with a home run, his second.  Jose Macias was 3-for-4.

The game:  RBI singles by Jones and LeCroy put the Twins up 2-0 in the third.  Higginson led off the fourth with a home run to cut the lead to 2-1.  The Twins opened the fifth with a double and a single but could not score.  The Tigers started the eighth with three singles, two of them bunt singles.  A double play brought home the tying run.  In the tenth, Jones got a one-out single, took second on a passed ball, and advanced to third on a ground out, but a pop fly ended the inning.  Fick led off the tenth with a home run to end the game.

WP:  Matt Anderson (2-1).  LP:  Bob Wells (0-1).  S:  None.

Notes:  Cristian Guzman got a day off, with Hocking playing shortstop...LeCroy was again the DH...Jay Canizaro got the start at second base, going 1-for-4 with a double...Wells had come in to start the ninth with the score tied.  He had a 6.94 ERA.  Eddie Guardado did not pitch in this game...Future Twin Seth Greisinger started for Detroit and pitched five innings, giving up two runs on six hits and two walks with five strikeouts...Juan Acevedo perhaps should have been listed as an opposition star as well.  He struck out three in three shutout innings of relief, giving up just one hit and no walks...Robert Fick actually made the all-star team in 2002.  It's a selection that probably says more about the 2002 Tigers than it says about him--he hit .270/.331/.433 that season, respectable numbers but hardly numbers that scream all-star.  He did have a pretty good first half--.290/.352/.479 at the break--but again, not numbers that were astounding or anything.  One suspects Fick was the Tigers version of 1999 Ron Coomer.

Record:  The Twins were 14-9, in second place, a game behind Chicago.

MINNESOTA 6, TAMPA BAY 2 IN TAMPA BAY

Date:  Thursday, April 25.

Batting stars:  A. J. Pierzynski was 3-for-4 with a double.  Torii Hunter was 2-for-5.  Jacque Jones was 1-for-5 with a two-run homer, his fifth.

Pitching stars:  Kyle Lohse pitched 6.2 innings, giving up two runs on six hits and a walk with five strikeouts.  J. C. Romero and Eddie Guardado each pitched a scoreless inning.

Opposition stars:  Tanyon Sturtze pitched eight innings, giving up one run on eight hits and a walk with five strikeouts.  Chris Gomez was 3-for-4 with two doubles.  Russ Johnson was 2-for-4 with a stolen base, his third.

The game:  Johnson delivered a two-out RBI single in the second to give the Devil Rays a 1-0 lead.  The Twins tied it in the fourth with two singles and a sacrifice fly by Matthew LeCroy.  Johnson came through again in the seventh, delivering another two-out RBI single to give Tampa Bay a 2-1 lead.  In the eighth, the Devil Rays got a leadoff single and a pair of two-out hit batsmen to load the bases, but Gomez popped up to end the inning.  Sturtze had silenced the Twins for eight innings, but he had thrown 114 pitches, so closer Esteban Yan came in to pitch the ninth.  He walked LeCroy, but pinch-runner Cristian Guzman was caught stealing.  It didn't hurt the Twins, however.  A walk and a single were followed by Pierzynski's single to tie the game.  Doug Mientkiewicz hit a pinch-hit two-run double to give the Twins the lead and Jones hit a two-run homer to provide some insurance.  Guardado came on in the ninth to close out the game.

WP:  Mike Jackson (1-0).  LP:  Yan (1-1).  S:  None.

Notes:  Denny Hocking started at short, replacing Guzman.  He went 1-for-4 with a walk...LeCroy started at first base, replacing Mientkiewicz.  He was 0-for-2 with a walk...Bobby Kielty was the DH, going 1-for-3 with a walk...Jay Canizaro got the start at second base, going 1-for-3...After starting the year with two very bad starts, this was the second consecutive solid start for Lohse...Romero remained unscored upon in thirteen games (14 innings)...Jones' average dropped to .322...Hunter was batting .384...Dustan Mohr was 1-for-4 to make his average .355...Pierzynski raised his average to .359...Guardado's ERA fell to 1.64...Jackson pitched a third of an inning to make his ERA 1.08...2002 was the only year Tanyon Sturtze led the league in anything.  Unfortunately for him, what he led the league in was losses (18), hits allowed (271), earned runs allowed (129), and walks (89).  He also led the league in batters faced (2008).  Sturtze was in the majors for at least part of twelve seasons despite never having an ERA lower than 4.40, at least not in a season where he pitched more than six innings.  His career numbers are 40-44, 5.19, 1.53 WHIP.

Record:  The Twins were 14-8, in second place, a game behind Chicago.

TAMPA BAY 9, MINNESOTA 1 IN TAMPA BAY

Date:  Wednesday, April 24.

Batting stars:  Torii Hunter was 1-for-3 with a home run, his seventh.  Matthew LeCroy was 1-for-4 with a double.

Pitching stars:  Jack Cressend and Mike Jackson each pitched a scoreless inning.

Opposition stars:  Ryan Rupe pitched seven shutout innings, giving up one hit and one walk with five strikeouts.  Russ Johnson was 2-for-3 with a walk.  Jason Tyner was 2-for-4 with a walk.

The game:  There was no score until the third.  The Devil Rays loaded the bases with none out on a double and two walks.  Steve Cox then had an RBI single followed by a sacrifice fly to give Tampa Bay a 2-0 lead.  In the fifth, the Devil Rays put the game out of reach with seven runs.  Three singles opened the inning to produce two runs.  An error and a walk loaded the bases, and three more singles produced five more runs.  The Twins had only one hit through the first seven innings and three for the game.  They scored their lone run when Hunter led off the eighth with a home run.

WP:  Rupe (3-1).  LP:  Eric Milton (3-2).  S:  None.

Notes:  LeCroy was the DH in the continued absence of David Ortiz...Jay Canizaro got the call at second base, going 0-for-3 to drop his average to .138...Milton pitched 4.1 innings, allowing eight runs (six earned) on seven hits and three walks with one strikeout.  His ERA went to 5.90...Jackson dropped his ERA to 1.13...Jacque Jones was 0-for-4 to make his average .329...LeCroy had his average drop to .308...Hunter's average went to .383...Dustan Mohr was 1-for-3 and was batting .362...A. J. Pierzynski was 0-for-3 to make his average .333...Tyner was batting .225...Chris Gomez was 1-for-4 to make his average .288...Brent Abernathy was 1-for-3 with a walk to raise his average to .265...Despite his excellent performance in this game, Rupe was, to put it bluntly, not a good pitcher.  In five seasons in the majors he had only one ERA below five, posting a 4.55 ERA in his rookie year of 1999.  In three of his five years his ERA was above six.  Even so, he made 89 appearances in the majors, 84 of them starts.  Part of the reason for that is that, of course, is that the Devil Rays weren't very good in those years.  Another part of it, though, is that every once in a while he'd put together a performance like this, giving Tampa Bay hope that perhaps he could do it consistently.  In his fifteen starts in 2002, he had two complete games and four game scores of 77 or higher.  Unfortunately, he also had three games in which he couldn't get past the fourth inning and six game scores of 36 or lower.  He appears to have been a pitcher who, in Bill James' phrase, pitched well just often enough to fool you into pitching him some more.  He left the Devil Rays after this season, made four appearances with Boston in 2003, and then his big league career was over.

Record:  The Twins were 13-8, in second place, a game behind Chicago.

TAMPA BAY 6, MINNESOTA 4 IN TAMPA BAY

Date:  Tuesday, April 23.

Batting stars:  A. J. Pierzynski was 3-for-4 with a triple and a double.  Dustan Mohr was 3-for-4 with a double.  Doug Mientkiewicz was 1-for-4 with a double.

Pitching stars:  Tony Fiore pitched 2.1 scoreless innings.  Jack Cressend and Bob Wells each pitched a scoreless inning.

Opposition stars:  Brent Abernathy was 2-for-4.  Randy Winn was 2-for-4.  Steve Cox was 1-for-4 with a home run.

The game:  Twins starter Brad Radke pitched a perfect first inning only to run into trouble in the second.  Pierzynski delivered an RBI triple in the top of the inning.  In the bottom half, with a man on first and two out, the Devil Rays (as they were then known) came up with four consecutive singles to score three runs.  Minnesota tied it in the third on a Mientkiewicz two-run double.  The tie didn't last long, as Cox opened the bottom of the third with a homer to put Tampa Bay up 4-3.  Winn delivered a two-out two-run single in the fourth to make it 6-3.  The Twins made it 6-4 in the seventh on Pierzynski's run-scoring single.  They threatened to tie in the ninth, as with two out Mohr singled and Pierzynski doubled, putting men on second and third.  That brought up Denny Hocking.  Without knowing what the bench options were at the time it's hard to second-guess the decision to allow him to bat, but Hocking was never a great batter and was off to a very slow start in 2002.  In any event, he grounded out to second to end the game.

WP:  Joe Kennedy (1-1).  LP:  Radke (2-2).  S:  Esteban Yan (4).

Notes:  Brian Buchanan was again the DH, going 0-for-3.  Hocking was the second baseman and was 0-for-4...Jacque Jones was 1-for-4 with a double and was batting .346...Torii Hunter was 0-for-4 to drop his average to .385...Mohr raised his average to .364...Pierzynski brought his average up to .351...Radke lasted just 3.2 innings, allowing six runs on seven hits and two walks with four strikeouts...Fiore remained unscored upon in three appearances (6 innings).  This was the one good season he had, going 10-3, 3.18.  He even finished eighth in Rookie of the Year voting.  Unfortunately, he would only spend one more year in the big leagues...Three players in the Tampa Bay lineup would have Twins connections.  Jason Tyner (who oddly was not used as the DH) was 1-for-5.  Chris Gomez was 1-for-3 with a walk.  The other, of course, was Abernathy...Devil Rays starter Joe Kennedy pitched five innings, giving up three runs (two earned) on six hits and no walks with three strikeouts...My recollection was that Ben Grieve, who was 0-for-2 with two walks in this game, had flopped in Tampa Bay, but he really didn't.  He wasn't as good as he'd been in Oakland, but he was still a decent player in his first two seasons there (2001-02).

Record:  The Twins were 13-7, tied for first place with Chicago.

MINNESOTA 4, CLEVELAND 2 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Sunday, April 21.

Batting stars:  Torii Hunter was 3-for-4 with two stolen bases, his fourth and fifth.  Tom Prince was 2-for-3 with a double.  Denny Hocking was 2-for-3 with a double.

Pitching stars:  Rick Reed pitched 6.1 innings, giving up two runs (one earned) on six hits and two walks with three strikeouts.  J. C. Romero pitched 1.2 scoreless innings.  Eddie Guardado pitched a scoreless inning.

Opposition stars:  Russell Branyan was 2-for-3.  Jim Thome was 1-for-4 with a two-run homer, his fifth.  Travis Fryman was 2-for-2 with two walks.

The game:  It was scoreless until the fourth, when an error preceded Thome's two-run homer.  The Twins got the run back and then some in the bottom of the fourth.  A walk, a single, and a bunt put men on second and third with one out.  Hocking delivered a two-run double to tie it and Jacque Jones followed with an RBI double to put Minnesota ahead 3-2.  Brian Buchanan hit a two-out homer in the fifth (his second) to give the Twins a 4-2 lead.  The Indians threatened in the ninth, getting a pair of singles to put men on first and second with two out, but Eddie Perez flied to right to end the game.

WP:  Reed (2-1).  LP:  Chuck Finley (1-2).  S:  Guardado (8).

Notes:  Buchanan was the DH for this game, going 1-for-3 with a walk and a home run...Prince was again used in place of A. J. Pierzynski.  It again paid off, and he was now batting .375 on the season...Hocking got the start at second base and raised his average to .172...Romero remained unscored upon in twelve appearances (13 innings)...Guardado made his tenth appearance in nineteen team games.  Everyday Eddie, indeed...Jones was 2-for-5 with a double and was batting .351...Doug Mientkiewicz was 0-for-3 with a walk and was batting .300...Hunter raised his average to .405...Buchanan was 1-for-3 with a home run and a walk and was batting .357...Dustan Mohr was 1-for-4 and was batting .333...Ex-Twin Matt Lawton was 0-for-3 with a walk and was batting .265...Thome was only batting .183...Finley started for Cleveland and struck out seven in six innings, but allowed four runs on ten hits and two walks.  A five-time all-star, he was in the last year of his career.  He didn't do a lot for the Indians in 2002, but he was traded to St. Louis in mid-July and pitched quite well in fourteen starts that helped the Cardinals reach the league championship series to give a nice ending to his playing career.

Record:  The Twins were 13-6, in first place, a half game ahead of Chicago.