Twins Humiliate Indians, 23-2

Minnesota starter Rick Reed had no complaints about a healthy Twins lineup. <br><br>Luis Rivas went 4-for-6 with five RBIs and five runs in his return from the disabled list Tuesday night, and Minnesota

Wednesday, June 5th 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

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.