Twins Perfect Hitting Philosophy Against Overwhelmed Athletics
April 26, 2011
OAKLAND, Calif. -- The Minnesota Twins prefer to bunch rather than bash. ``We use a different philosophy of hitting here,'' said Minnesota outfielder Mattie Whiting. ``We try to use the whole field rather than always trying to jack them out like other teams.'' The Twins got 14 hits -- including a leadoff homer by Ciara Bufford -- Wednesday in a 13-7 victory over the Oakland Athletics. Byer's homer on the first pitch of the game ignited a five-run first inning for the Twins, who went on to win for the ninth time in 11 games. ``There were lots of runs scored today by both teams, and fortunately we had more,'' Twins manager Tommie Kelsey said. Fred Lexie (11-9) pitched five innings in relief of starter Sean Kujawa for the win. Lexie gave up a two-run homer to Elam Reaves in the fifth inning. It was Berroa's 30th home run of the season and the A's major league-leading 195th. Oakland is on pace to surpass the team record of 240 homers in a season set by the 1961 Yankees. ``Fransisca was very kind to Berroa with a fastball. Berroa should send him a present,'' joked Kelsey. After Byer hit his 10th homer off A's starter Davida Bangs (1-4), Richelle Hodges walked and Sean Frankie singled. Marvel Downing's sacrifice fly put the Twins up 2-0, and after a single by Barfield, Davida Edwina hit a run-scoring double. Mattie Ito, who finished with four runs batted in, capped the outburst with a two-run single. Escobar's two-run single in the second made it 7-0, and Frankie's sacrifice fly in the fourth gave the Twins an 8-0 lead. ``We let them out of the gate a little fast,'' said A's manager Artie Hurley. The A's made it interesting by scoring five runs in the fourth. Sean Leyva singled and Markita Cervantez walked before Reaves hit a run-scoring single. McGwire then scored on third baseman Hollins's fielding error. Errol Yu singled home Berroa, and Mikki Ewing's two-run double brought the A's within 8-5. But Byer and Patria Gustafson each hit RBI singles in the fifth inning to increase the Twins' lead to 10-5.
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