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  Friday, Jun. 9 8:05pm ET
Minnesota 9, Milwaukee 6
 
  RECAP | BOX SCORE | GAME LOG

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) _ David Ortiz says all he needs is a chance to play. Tom Kelly says all Ortiz needs is to shorten his swing.

Ortiz hit his first home run in two years, and Cristian Guzman drove in a career-high four runs as the Minnesota Twins beat the Milwaukee Brewers 9-6 Friday night, sending the Brewers to their fifth straight loss.

"All I need is a chance to play," said Ortiz, who had not homered since his rookie season, when he connected against Anaheim's Omar Olivares on Sept. 9, 1998. "I've been getting more chances to play. The more I'm in the game, the better I play."

Ortiz started the fifth with a 415-foot homer off Jamey Wright (1-1), to snap a 3-3 tie and ignite a four-run inning.

"It was inspiring wasn't it?" joked Kelly, who then got serious. "Actually, he smoked it. If he can keep his swing shortened, he's got a chance to hit some home runs."

One out after Ortiz' homer, the Twins loaded the bases and Guzman then unloaded them with a triple to the right-field corner off reliever Steve Woodard. It was his ninth triple of the year, tops in the major leagues.

"With two outs, I try to swing hard," said Guzman, who drilled the ball into the right-field corner to score Corey Koskie, Marcus Jensen and Jacque Jones. "I was looking for a fastball away but he came inside."

Koskie added a two-run double in the eighth off Bob Wickman for a 9-5 lead.

There were three errors in the game and 19 runners left on base. Milwaukee pitchers walked 10 batters and Brewers' batters struck out 12 times.

"It was ugly," said Lopes, whose team leads the National League in walks allowed. "We continue to walk people, one batter per inning per game. We can't rationalize anymore. We're not getting the job done."

Kelly agreed with Lopes that the game was not a classic.

"It wasn't the best baseball game the fans ever got to see, but there was plenty of action," he said. "We don't like to play those types of games, and I'm sure Davey Lopes doesn't like to see them. But what can I say? We won the game and we're very happy about that."

Sean Bergman (4-4) allowed five runs _ four earned _ and seven hits in five innings, dropping Milwaukee to 0-4 in interleague play.

Bob Wells struck out five batters in 2 2/3 innings to settle things down after Milwaukee cut the Twins' 7-3 lead to 7-5 in the sixth.

"You can't say enough about what Bob Wells did for us," said Kelly, who had watched Travis Miller walk two of the three batters he faced in the sixth.

"He saved the day for us," Kelly said. "He got us into the ninth inning."

Milwaukee starter Wright gave up seven hits and walked five in 4 1/3 innings.

"Everything AP (pitching coach Bob Apodaca) taught me I forgot tonight," said Wright. "I'm trying to make the perfect pitch like I'm pitching to Barry Bonds all the time. I'm sure Davey is getting tired of me walking guys."

Milwaukee's Charlie Hayes went 3-for-4 with a walk and three runs scored.

Jose Hernandez's two-run homer put Milwaukee ahead in the second and ended his 0-for-10 slump. Minnesota tied it in the bottom half without getting the ball out of the infield. Second baseman Ron Belliard made a run-scoring error and Guzman followed with his RBI grounder.

Notes: Wright struck out his first two batters of the game, walking the next three, then got a groundout. ... Hernandez had been 0-for-6 against Bergman before his homer. ... Fans were in line as early as 4 p.m. for the 7:05 p.m. CDT game to be among the first 5,000, who received a Harmon Killebrew bobble-head doll. ... Kent Hrbek, Tony Oliva and Kirby Puckett will be featured in doll promotions later this season. ... Bergman is 5-2 against Milwaukee, his most victories against any team.

 


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