KOSKIE'S WALK-OFF GIVES TWINS WILD WIN OVER TRIBE
Prince Hits Pair of Homers; Spencer Drives in 5
MINNEAPOLIS, July 3 (AP) - The Twins blew a pair of multi-run leads in the final
three innings, but Corey Koskie homered with two outs in the bottom of the
ninth inning to give Minnesota a 14-13 win over the Cleveland Indians in a wild
game at the Metrodome. The Twins coughed up a 10-6 lead in the seventh
inning and a 13-10 lead in the ninth, but never fell behind at any point in the
game.
The two teams combined for eight home runs, the most in an American League game
since May 14.
Cleveland starter C.C. Sabathia came into the game leading the AL in ERA but was
bombed right out of the shoot. The Twins scored five times in the very
first inning. With one out, Christian Guzman and Koskie hit back-to-back
singles and Torii Hunter followed with a double, scoring Guzman and advancing
Koskie to third. Matthew LeCroy then singled home both baserunners, for a
3-0 Minnesota advantage. Dustan Mohr then launched a home run to left,
scoring LeCroy and capping off the five-run first.
The Indians got a run back in the second off Kenny Rogers when Jody Gerut
tripled with one out and scored on Casey Blake's sacrifice fly. But
Guzman's sacrifice fly in the bottom of the second scored Luis Rivas, who led
off with a single, and the Twins led 6-1 after two.
Cleveland countered with two runs in the third. After Ricky Gutierrez led
off with a single, Rogers induced a double play ball off the bat of Brandon
Phillips. But Rivas, the second baseman, kicked the grounder for an error,
leaving runners at first and second with none out. Coco Crisp then bounced
a single up the middle, scoring Gutierrez to cut the lead to 6-2. Matt
Lawton's base hit to left scored Phillips and left runners at first and
second. But Rogers wiggled out of further trouble, keeping the lead at
6-3.
The Twins seemed take firm control of the game in the bottom of the third,
driving Sabathia from the mound in the process. Mohr doubled to lead off
the inning and, one out later, Tom Prince belted a long home run into the left
field seats to give Minnesota an 8-3 advantage. That ended Sabathia's
day. Billy Traber replaced him and got the final two outs, but the Twins
had regained their five-run lead.
But the Indians wouldn't quit. Gerut led off the fourth with a home run,
cutting the deficit to four runs and when Cleveland picked up two more tallies
on a double off the bat of Milton Bradley and Shane Spencer's single, the
Minnesota lead was only 8-6.
But Prince belted his second two-run homer of the game in the bottom of the
fifth, giving the Twins a 10-6 lead.
Rogers worked through a scoreless sixth but was removed after a shaky outing in
favor of Johan Santana. But things started to go wrong almost immediately
in the top of the seventh. Santana gave up a single to Crisp to open the
frame and then LeCroy kicked Lawton's roller up the first base line for an
error. Bradley then walked to load the bases. Spencer followed by
driving a ball into the football seats in straight away center field for a grand
slam and, improbably, a 10-all tie.
The Twins rallied again in the bottom of the eighth. Facing lefty Alex
Herrera, Guzman led off the inning with his third home run of the season to give
Minnesota the lead. The Twins added a pair of insurance runs, the first on
a single off the bat of pinch hitter Doug Mientkiewicz and the second on Lew
Ford's sacrifice fly.
Eddie Guardado came on to close out the game for the Twins in the ninth and
retired Bradley on a ground ball for the first out of the inning. Spencer
doubled into the right field corner, but Gerut flied out and the game seemed to
be over. But Casey Blake lopped a single to center, scoring Spencer easily
and bringing the tying run to the plate in the form of Martinez who promptly did
his job, belting a ball high over the baggy in right field for a home run,
knotting the score at 13. The Metrodome went dead silent. Guardado
became unhinged walking Gutierrez and Phillips and allowing Crisp to reach on an
infield hit to load the bases. But Lawton grounded out to finally end the
inning.
Danys Baez was working his second inning of relief in the ninth for Cleveland
and retired Bobby Kielty and Guzman to open the inning. But Koskie
unloaded on a 2-2 pitch, driving it into the upper deck in right field to win
the game for the Twins.
7/3/2003, Cle03-Min03, Metrodome 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E LOB DP 2003 Indians 0 1 2 1 2 0 4 0 3 13 16 0 7 0 2003 Twins 5 1 2 0 2 0 0 3 1 14 18 3 8 2 Indians AB R H BI AVG Twins AB R H BI AVG Crisp cf 5 1 3 1 .290 Kielty rf 6 0 2 0 .286 Lawton rf 6 2 2 1 .233 Guzman,C ss 4 2 2 2 .270 Bradley dh 4 2 1 1 .331 Koskie 3b 5 3 3 1 .289 Spencer 1b 5 2 3 5 .264 Hunter,T dh 4 2 1 1 .214 Gerut lf 5 2 3 1 .338 LeCroy 1b 4 1 2 2 .303 Blake 3b 4 1 1 2 .280 Mientkiewicz ph 1 0 1 1 .348 Martinez,V c 4 1 2 2 .300 Mohr lf 4 2 4 2 .268 Gutierrez ss 4 1 1 0 .258 Ford,L cf 4 1 0 1 .308 Sorensen pr 0 0 0 0 .222 Prince c 5 2 2 4 .243 Phillips,B 2b 4 1 0 0 .208 Rivas 2b 5 1 1 0 .213 41 13 16 13 42 14 18 14 Indians INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Sabathia 2.1 10 8 8 0 2 71 46 2.49 Traber 2.0 2 2 2 1 2 27 15 4.50 Mulholland 1.1 3 0 0 0 1 27 17 5.71 Riske 1.1 0 0 0 0 2 21 12 3.25 Herrera 0.0 1 3 3 2 0 15 5 99.99 Baez L 2-3 1.2 2 1 1 1 1 36 23 3.35 8.2 18 14 14 4 8 197 118 Twins INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Rogers 6.0 9 6 5 1 0 87 55 3.38 Santana BS 1 2.0 3 4 3 2 4 45 27 4.45 Guardado BS 4, W 1-1 1.0 4 3 3 2 0 31 19 4.05 9.0 16 13 11 5 4 163 101 Cle: Sorensen ran for Gutierrez in the 9th Sorensen moved to ss in the 9th Min: Mientkiewicz batted for LeCroy in the 8th Mientkiewicz moved to 1b in the 9th E-Guzman,C, LeCroy, Rivas. 2B-Bradley(26), Spencer(5), Kielty(19), Hunter,T(13), Mohr 2(15). 3B-Gerut(2). HR-Spencer(5), Gerut(7), Martinez,V(1), Guzman,C(3), Koskie(6), Mohr(8), Prince 2(4). RBI-Crisp(13), Lawton(35), Bradley(42), Spencer 5(24), Gerut(32), Blake 2(56), Martinez,V 2(4), Guzman,C 2(30), Koskie(34), Hunter,T(47), LeCroy 2(29), Mohr 2(35), Ford,L(7), Prince 4(7), Mientkiewicz(37). SB-Guzman,C(11). CS-Crisp. K-Lawton, Gerut, Gutierrez, Phillips,B, Koskie 2, Ford,L 3, Rivas 3. BB-Crisp, Bradley, Martinez,V, Gutierrez, Phillips,B, Guzman,C, Koskie, Hunter,T, Mohr. SF-Blake, Guzman,C, Ford,L. GWRBI: Koskie Temperature: 70, Wind: none. Attendance: 28,619 Game Time: 3:33