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Sunday, Aug. 6 1:05pm ET
Twins take 2 of 3 from Tigers | |||||
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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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GAME LOG
DETROIT (AP) -- J.C. Romero planned to give his mother a very special gift Sunday night. The ball from his first major league victory. Romero overcame a shaky start to pitch six strong innings and Torii Hunter had three RBI Sunday as the Minnesota Twins beat the Detroit Tigers 7-3. "It's very exciting now," Romero said. "I'm trying to enjoy it now." Denny Hocking and Corey Koskie drove in two runs each for the Twins, who have won 10 of their last 16. Romero (1-1), a 24-year-old left-hander making his second career start, allowed one run and six hits in six innings, struck out four and walked two. Afterward, he had a game ball and manager Tom Kelly's original lineup card in his locker, and he planned to give both to his mother Sunday night in Tampa, Fla., where the Twins play the Devil Rays starting Monday. His mother was flying to Tampa from Puerto Rico. "I just want to continue to improve like that and hopefully get a few more wins later on," Romero said. Half the hits off him came in the first inning, when the Tigers scored on Juan Gonzalez's sacrifice fly. With the bases loaded and one out, Romero struck out Wendell Magee and retired Juan Encarnacion on a comebacker. "He pitched out of that with only one run. That might've been the turning point of the game," Kelly said. "That was special there. A couple of line drives to start the game, then a misplay, and it looked like it was going to get ugly. But he got out of it." The Tigers only got one runner as far as second base the rest of the way against Romero, who said he was able to settle down. "In the first inning I was a little nervous," Romero said. "After that I was less pumped." It didn't hurt that the Twins scored five runs for him over the next two innings. "They took care of me," Romero said. "I just tried to execute my pitches after that." The Tigers, coming off a 4-3 swing through Texas and Anaheim, lost two of three to the Twins. "We had a terrible series, a really bad series," Garner said. "We had home runs that won the ballgame yesterday, but it was a bad series. Today was the capper." Asked if it was time for a clubhouse meeting, Garner said, "I'm not going to have a meeting because I'm afraid of what I might say. We try hard. Sometimes we just try too hard, trying to go outside of ourselves and not concentrating on the things we need to do." Jeff Weaver (6-10) lost his third straight decision, giving up seven runs _ six earned _ and eight hits in 4 1-3 innings. He is 1-3 with a 10.69 ERA in four career starts against Minnesota. "There's something about Minnesota and me," Weaver said. "They seem to get the key hits with two outs, and that's what they did today." Weaver, who struck out a career-best 12 in his last start Monday at Anaheim, fanned five this time. "I felt pretty good. I've felt good the second half," Weaver said. "I felt as good as I did my last start, but they started making contact and putting the ball in play." Hocking, who made a throwing error in the first, hit a two-run single in the second. Minnesota got help in the inning when catcher Brad Ausmus was called for interference on batter Jacque Jones. Koskie's two-run double and Hunter's sacrifice fly made it 5-1 in the third. Hunter blooped a two-run single for a 7-1 lead that finished Weaver in the fifth. "Torii Hunter had a good day and Koskie hit the ball good," Kelly said. "It wasn't always pretty, but we did some things to score some runs." Detroit got a pair of runs in the eighth off Jason Ryan on Encarnacion's RBI double and Deivi Cruz's run-scoring grounder. Game notesMinnesota's Cristian Guzman was stranded after hitting his major league-leading 15th triple with one out in the first. Guzman is one shy of Rod Carew's Minnesota season record for triples, set in 1977. ... The series drew 113,627 fans to Comerica Park, including sellout crowds Friday and Saturday. ... The Twins are 4-3 against the Tigers this year and 3-3 after the first two legs of a 10-game, three-city trip. ... The Tigers have lost their last two home series. | ALSO SEE Baseball Scoreboard Minnesota Clubhouse Detroit Clubhouse RECAPS Kansas City 3 Boston 1
Minnesota 7
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