The Minnesota Twins used strong pitching and good fielding to take the first game of their playoff series with the New York Yankees. The Twins' 3-1 victory in New York was their first victory over the Yankees in more than two years, and it got them off to a good start in their best-of-five first round series. MPR's William Wilcoxen joins All Things Considered host David Molpus to share details.
DAVID: Minnesota Twins used strong pitching and good fielding to take the first game of their playoff series with the New York Yankees today. The Twins 3 to 1 victory in New York this afternoon was their first victory over the Yankees in more than two years, and it got them off to a good start in their best of five first round series. Minnesota Public Radio's William Willcoxen joins us with more.
WILLIAM WILLCOXEN: David, this was a game in which both teams pitched well, but the Twins also made good plays in the field. And the Yankees did not make so many good fielding plays. It was some sloppy New York fielding that contributed to all three of the Minnesota runs.
That was especially true in the sixth inning, when two of the Twins three runs scored with a runner on base, Torii Hunter, hit a ball into center field, and it rolled past the Yankees outfielder Bernie Williams. By the time he tracked it down, Hunter was headed into third base. And then the relay throw from Alfonso Soriano was way off the mark. And so Hunter came all the way around. And on a play in which really sharp fielding probably could have held him to a single, he went all the way around and two runs scored.
DAVID: So the fielding was one key. What about the pitching?
WILLIAM WILLCOXEN: Well for the Twins, Johan Santana, who started the game, pitched very well, but only for four innings. He had shut down the Yankees, but a leg cramp forced him to leave the game after just the fourth inning. And so Ron Gardenhire had to turn to his relief pitchers earlier than he expected.
He used four relief pitchers in the game. They got the job done. Rick Reed, J.C. Romero, Eddie Guardado all pitched, but it was LaTroy Hawkins who was particularly dominant. He pitched the seventh and eighth innings.
He pitched to seven batters, and he struck out four of them. So he was particularly noteworthy. I should mention, too, in regards to the pitching, that after the game, Gardenhire said he expects Santana will be ready to pitch by Sunday, which is the date for game 4, if that's necessary.
DAVID: Who else played well besides the pitchers?
WILLIAM WILLCOXEN: A couple players who deserve mention, I think, are left fielder Shannon Stewart and shortstop Cristian Guzman. They made key plays both at bat and in the field. And in Guzman's case, on the bases as well, his aggressive baserunning by Guzman is part of what led to the first run that the Twins scored in the second inning.
Stewart reached base three times and made some nice catches in left field in the first and last innings. And in a sense, those two players playing well is emblematic of the mid-season turnaround that we saw with the Twins. Shannon Stewart is the guy who wasn't on the team until mid-season when they got him in a trade. And Cristian Guzman did not play nearly as well in the first half. In fact, the manager benched him for a time because of lackadaisical play, but he really turned his game up in the second half.
DAVID: Obviously, this
was a big win for the Twins going into this after their poor record with the Yankees. What bearing does this game have on the remainder of the series?
WILLIAM WILLCOXEN: Well, on the one hand, it is only one win, and they need three to move on. So it's just a single step. There's still more to do. But it does transfer much of the pressure from the Twins to the Yankees.
The Yankees had beaten the Twins in regular season games 13 times in a row. And the Yankees starting pitcher today, Mike Mussina, had beaten the Twins in his career 20 times and lost only twice. So getting out from under those hexes helps the Twins.
The other thing is the Yankees are expected to win. I mean, their fans expect that of them. The New York press expects them to win, and especially their owner, George Steinbrenner, who spends far more on the Yankee payroll than any other team pays its players, he expects them to win.
And they've won four straight American League championships. But last year, they were upset in the first round. Now, the Yankees know if that happens again, the natives in New York are going to be really restless. And so I think the Yankees are feeling more pressure than the Twins at this point.
DAVID: So was it a hard day's work?
[LAUGHTER]
WILLIAM WILLCOXEN: I had to watch that ball game.
DAVID: Thank you very much for doing it for us, NPR's William Willcoxen.
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