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Minnesota breaks out of three-game losing streak | |||||||||||||
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GAME LOG
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- Minnesota and Oakland pretty much tired each other out in the only scheduled doubleheader in the major leagues this season. Torii Hunter homered twice and hit the game-winning single in the 10th inning to lead the Twins over the Athletics 7-6 Saturday night for a split. In the opener, Frank Menechino scored the tiebreaking run on LaTroy Hawkins' second wild pitch of the 10th inning and the A's held on 5-4. "The guys are tired," Hunter said. "I just want to go to bed." Minnesota stopped its first three-game losing streak of the season and avoided falling 1½ games out of first for the first time this season. "It was a good victory for us, because we'll close our eyes tonight and wake up and be back at the park," Hunter said. "Every team goes through a rut, but what matters is what you do to get out of it." The Twins, trailing 6-4 going into the ninth inning of the second game, tied it on Hunter's homer off Jeff Tam and a run-scoring double by Doug Mientkiewicz off Mark Guthrie, who saved the opener. Hunter had the first multi-homer game of his career, and Mientkiewicz stopped an 0-for-15 skid. "We were one pitch away from a sweep," A's manager Art Howe said. "We were so close to having a great day." Matt Lawton and Chad Allen led off the 10th with singles, chasing Guthrie (3-1). Chad Bradford walked Luis Rivas and Hunter hit a chopper over a drawn-in five-man infield, handing the Athletics their second defeat in 11 games. Hunter was 4-for-5 with three runs and three RBI. His only other four-hit game was last Aug. 2 against Baltimore. Eddie Guadardo (3-0) entered after Olmedo Saenz doubled off Hector Carrasco in the 10th, then got Robin Jennings to pop out and Ramon Hernandez to ground out. After Menechino walked, Guadardo got Jason Giambi to pop out. Oakland's Gil Heredia allowed four runs -- three earned -- and nine hits in 6 1/3 innings. Minnesota's Brad Thomas, brought up Wednesday from Double-A New Britain when Mark Redman was disabled with strained left triceps, allowed four runs, three hits and four walks in 1 2/3 innings. The 23-year-old left-hander had been 5-0 with a 2.79 at New Britain. Lawton's run-scoring single put Minnesota ahead in the first, but Oakland took a 4-1 lead on Saenz's RBI single, a run-scoring wild pitch and Giambi's two-run single. Terrence Long hit a sacrifice fly in the fourth off Johan Santana. Hunter homered in the bottom half, but Oakland made it 6-2 in the sixth on a run-scoring throwing error by second baseman Denny Hocking. Cristian Guzman hit a run-scoring grounder in the seventh and scored on a double by Hocking, which chased Heredia. In the opener, Guthrie escaped a first-and-third, no-out jam after Oakland scored twice in the top of the 10th and got his first save since June 25, 1999. Game notesThe teams wore 1901-style uniforms in the opener. The Athletics wore Philadelphia A's uniforms. The Twins wore the uniforms of the Washington Senators. ... The doubleheader drew 38,047, falling just short of becoming the first non-opener at the Metrodome to break 40,000 since Aug. 2, 1998. ... Giambi was 5-for-8 in the two games and is 8-for-12 for the series. ... Thomas is the second player from Australia in franchise history. Second baseman Joe Quinn played for the Senators in 1901. ... Kelly said he will start Santana rather than Thomas next week, probably Friday at Texas. Santana gave up two runs -- none earned -- in 5 1/3 innings in the second game.  Send this story to a friend
| Wild pitch in 10th lifts Athletics past Twins
RECAPS NY Yankees 12 Cleveland 5
Minnesota 7
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