Twins humiliate Indians, 23-2

Posted 7:34AM on Wednesday 5th June 2002 ( 23 years ago )

Minnesota starter Rick Reed had no complaints about a healthy Twins lineup. Luis Rivas went 4-for-6 with five RBIs and five runs in his return from the disabled list Tuesday night, and Minnesota won by the largest margin in team history, 23-2 over the Cleveland Indians. ``I wasn't about to say, 'Whoa, slow down!''' Reed said. ``That's the way I like it.'' A.J. Pierzynski went 4-for-6, Jacque Jones drove in five runs and had four hits, and Dustan Mohr was 4-for-6 with a two-run homer for the Twins, who set a franchise record with 25 hits and fell one short of their record for runs. Mohr, Pierzynski and Rivas - the bottom three hitters in the Twins order - had 12 hits, 11 runs and eight RBIs. ``I just can't believe it,'' Indians manager Charlie Manuel said. ``It looks like a Pacific Coast League game. It just snowballed. The best thing, it's over.'' In other AL games, it was: Boston 10, Detroit 5; Toronto 3, Tampa Bay 1; N.Y. Yankees 13, Baltimore 5; Kansas City 3, Chicago White Sox 2; Anaheim 3, Texas 0; and Oakland 3, Seattle 2, 10 innings. The Twins, beset by a variety of injuries this season, used their best lineup for the first time since opening day to hand the Indians their most lopsided loss since a 21-0 defeat to Detroit on Sept. 15, 1901. Clevland missed giving up its most runs ever by one. Boston scored 24 against them on Aug. 21, 1986. ``They started hitting and we couldn't stop them,'' Manuel said. ``We had trouble with a couple of balls early, and they become real dangerous because they know how to play here.'' Minnesota's 10-run seventh was its biggest inning in the franchise's 42 years of existence. They also scored four runs in the fifth and four in the sixth to give Reed (6-2) all the run support he could need. Reed pitched seven innings, allowing three hits - two of them homers by Jim Thome. Indians starter Ryan Drese (5-4) allowed five runs, seven hits and four walks in three innings - his shortest outing of the season.

http://accesswdun.com/article/2002/6/193903