NEW YORK 8, MINNESOTA 2 IN NEW YORK
Date: Sunday, April 20.
Batting stars: A. J. Pierzynski was 2-for-3 with a double. Chris Gomez was 2-for-4.
Pitching stars: Johan Santana struck out two in 1.2 scoreless innings, giving up one hit and three walks. Mike Fetters pitched a scoreless inning, giving up one hit. Eddie Guardado pitched a scoreless inning, striking out one.
Opposition stars: Mike Mussina struck out eight in seven innings, giving up two runs on five hits and three walks. Nick Johnson was 2-for-3 with two walks and two runs. Alfonso Soriano was 2-for-4 with a walk and two runs. Bernie Williams was 2-for-5 with a home run (his fourth), a double, two runs, and two RBIs. Jason Giambi was 2-for-5 with a three-run homer, his fourth. Raul Mondesi was 2-for-5 with a double,
The game: The Yankees jumped on Twins starter Kyle Lohse, scoring three runs before a man was retired. Soriano and Johnson singled and Giambi hit a three-run homer. Williams homered in the third to make it 4-0.
The Twins got on the board in the fourth. Gomez led off with a single and Corey Koskie walked. The next two batters went out, but Bobby Kielty walked and Pierzynski had an RBI single. The Twins missed a chance for more, however, when Koskie was thrown out at the plate. The Yankees responded with three more in the fifth. Soriano and Johnson again singled. Giambi struck out this time, but Williams hit an RBI double and with two out, Jorge Posada hit a two-run double, making the score 7-1 New York.
New York left the bases loaded in the sixth, but added one in the seventh on doubles by Mondesi and Hideki Matsui. The Twins got their last run in the seventh when Pierzynski doubled and scored on a pair of wild pitches.
WP: Mussina (4-0). LP: Lohse (2-2). S: None.
Notes: Gomez was at short in place of Cristian Guzman. Michael Cuddyer was in right field. Bobby Kielty was the DH.
Matthew LeCroy went behind the plate in the eighth in place of A. J. Pierzynski. Dustan Mohr went to center in the eighth in place of Torii Hunter. Denny Hocking pinch-hit for Doug Mientkiewicz in the ninth.
Gomez raised his average to .474. Kielty was 1-for-3 and was batting .366. Jacque Jones was 0-for-4 and was batting .333.
Mohr was 0-for-1 and was batting .107. Hocking was 0-for-1 and was batting .143. Hunter was 0-for-3 and was batting .172.
Lohse lasted 4.1 innings, allowing seven runs on ten hits and a walk while striking out two. By game scores this was his third-worst game of the season at 16. He had a 13 (July 8) and a 12 (July 26).
Santana and Fetters each had an ERA of zero. Guardado's ERA was 1.17. Tony Fiore gave up a run in one inning and had an ERA of 8.00.
Randy Choate pitched an inning for the Yankees. He went to spring training for the Twins in 2007.
This was a four-game wrap-around series, so the Twins had one more chance to avoid a series sweep.
Record: The Twins were 9-9, in third place in the American League Central, 5.5 games behind Kansas City.
