Twins Complete Sweep With 12-1 Rout of Tigers

The good news for the Minnesota Twins is that they’re getting the solid starting pitching they expected and the home runs they didn’t.

The bad news is that they don’t play the Detroit Tigers again until June 22.

Luis Rivas, Tom Prince and Cristian Guzman hit home runs Wednesday night as the first-place Twins kept up their unexpected power surge and defeated the Tigers, 12-1, to complete a sweep at Minneapolis.

Joe Mays (2-0) gave up one run and four hits in eight innings. Mays has a 1.80 earned-run average in two starts.

“They embarrassed us in these games, outplayed us in every aspect,” Tiger Manager Phil Garner said.

The Twins (6-2), who have outscored Detroit, 43-15, in five victories this season, are two games ahead of the Chicago White Sox in the American League Central. They haven’t finished over .500 since 1992.

The Twins, last in the majors in homers in 2000, have hit 13 in eight games. They have five multihomer games this year and hit three for the first time since June 30.

“We got it done with pitching and defense,” Manager Tom Kelly said. “We got an excellent pitching job from Mays. It gave our players a chance to do a little hitting and do a little running.

“We like to have good at-bats. And as a result we might hit one out. To say we don’t like it, isn’t correct. Of course we do. But we’re concerned with getting good swings up there.”

New York 8, Kansas City 5--Alfonso Soriano and Paul O’Neill each had three runs batted in at Kansas City, Mo., as the Yankees completed a sweep of the six-game season series.

It’s the second time in Yankee history they have swept a season series of more than three games in any full season. The other time was 1998 when they were 10-0 against the Royals.

Seattle 3, Oakland 0--Aaron Sele gave up four hits in eight innings to lead the Mariners at Oakland.

Sele (2-0) gave up only two hits through the first seven innings: a leadoff single to Johnny Damon and a second-inning double to Eric Chavez.

Chicago 7, Cleveland 6--Jose Valentin and Tony Graffanino homered as the White Sox built a six-run lead and then held on at Chicago to complete a three-game sweep.

Chicago starter Cal Eldred had to leave the game after two innings because of pain in his surgically repaired right elbow.

Pitching with a five-inch screw in his elbow to prevent another stress fracture, Eldred gave up three hits and a run. His start had been moved back a day because of a sore neck.

Baltimore 5, Boston 4--The Orioles, last in the majors with a .170 batting average entering the game, scored four runs in the first inning at Boston.

The Red Sox, first in the majors with a 1.55 earned-run average, saw that rise as the Orioles had four hits to take a 4-0 lead against Frank Castillo (0-1). Boston’s starters gave up only eight runs in the team’s first seven games.

Tampa Bay 4, Toronto 3--John Flaherty hit a tiebreaking RBI double in the ninth inning at Toronto to help the Devil Rays end a seven-game losing streak.

Jose Guillen singled with one out in the ninth against Toronto closer Billy Koch (0-1) and stole second. Flaherty then doubled into the gap in right center to give the Devil Rays the lead.