Twins 13, Blue Jays 4 Twins 13 at Blue Jays 4 April 5th, 2006 at 9:04 pm

By Kris Richardson

The Blue Jays didn’t have a pitcher that could shut down the Twins’ bats tonight. After falling behind 4-0 early in the game, the Twins batters came back with 13 unanswered runs.

Brad Radke had his usual rough first inning in which he gave up a double to Frank Catalanotto and then back-to-back homeruns to Troy Glaus and Lyle Overbay. Radke settled in after that giving up only 1 run through the next 5 innings.

The Twins bats got going in the 4th inning when they matched Toronto’s run total with 4 runs. Luis Castillo and Joe Mauer started off the inning with singles. Torii Hunter began his 6 RBI night with a single, driving in Castillo. Morneau and Kubel followed with singles.

Shannon Stewart’s second homerun of the season, a solo shot, put the Twins in the lead in the 5th. In the 7th Castillo led off the inning with a walk, and Mauer singled advancing Castillo to 3rd on aggressive baserunning. Rondell White drove in Castillo with a sacrifice fly, his second of the season. Hunter hit a double to drive in Mauer and then crossed the plate later in the inning on a wild pitch by Vinnie Chulk.

With an already comfortable lead the Twins added 4 more in the 8th. Stewart, Castillo and Mauer loaded the bases to set up a 2-out Torii Hunter grand slam.

Luis Rodriguez added the final run of the night in the 9th inning in a pinch-hit situation for Tony Batista. The Twins ended the night with 13 runs on 16 hits, 4 walks, and 2 Toronto errors. Torii Hunter was the star of the night with 6 RBIs; no one else on the team had more than 1. Tony Batista was the only starter to go hitless for the Twins; he struck out twice and walked once in 4 plate appearances.

Fransisco Liriano relived Radke in the 7th inning and he was pretty dominant on the mound. He went 2 innings and gave up 2 hits, no walks and no runs. Matt Guerrier pitched the ninth inning and gave up 2 hits but no runs. Carlos Silva and Gustavo Chacin will face off in tomorrow night’s rubber game.