Baker Goes 8 Innings As Twins Top Royals

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) _ With plenty of catching up to do and now without their leadoff man and second baseman, the Minnesota Twins still weren't conceding the playoff chase. <br/><br/>Saddened before the

Tuesday, July 31st 2007, 7:48 am

By: News On 6

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) _ With plenty of catching up to do and now without their leadoff man and second baseman, the Minnesota Twins still weren't conceding the playoff chase.

Saddened before the game when Luis Castillo was traded to the New York Mets, the Twins perked up soon after. Scott Baker, Jason Tyner and Joe Mauer got them going right away on Monday night, leading the way to a 3-1 victory over the Kansas City Royals.

Castillo _ along with this three All-Star game appearances, .304 average and three Gold Gloves _ was pulled off the field while the Twins took batting practice to find out he was headed to the Mets for a pair of minor-league prospects.

Once Castillo entered manager Ron Gardenhire's office, Baker stepped out of the clubhouse, took down the lineup card for Gardenhire and disappeared behind the door as teammates and coaches began to tell Castillo goodbye.

``It was tough. I'd be lying to you if we didn't say the morale was down a little bit,'' said Baker, who faced one batter more than the minimum through eight innings.

Effectively spotting his fastballs on into the game's latter stages, Baker (5-4) struck out seven and allowed two hits without a walk. Joe Nathan pitched a perfect ninth for his 23rd save in 25 tries.

Gil Meche (7-8) was nearly as good for the Royals, whose four-game winning streak ended. After giving up three hits and a walk to his first four batters, Meche settled down and allowed two runs through seven innings. He walked one and struck out six.

In other AL games, it was: Tampa Bay 5, Toronto 4; Seattle 2, Los Angeles 0; Detroit 5, Oakland 2.

This was the third win a row for Minnesota (54-51), which moved within six games of wild-card leader Cleveland and remained seven games behind AL Central-leading Detroit. General manager Terry Ryan was insistent that trading Castillo wasn't a give-up move, and center fielder Torii Hunter held out hope that Ryan would acquire another hitter for the stretch run before Tuesday afternoon's non-waiver trade deadline.

``We'll see what happens,'' Hunter said. ``Hopefully we can get something. Somebody.''

For one night at least, Tyner filled Castillo's leadoff role quite capably. He singled right away against Meche and also doubled and tripled, coming home on both of Mauer's run-scoring hits.

``It's a tough situation for us, because he's a great guy and our leadoff guy and he plays the game hard,'' Tyner said. ``He's going to be missed, but I think we have the talent here to step up.''

Mauer, who dropped a double inside the left-field line to drive in two in the first, singled in Tyner in the eighth to make it 3-1.

All Baker gave up was a leadoff double to David DeJesus in the fourth followed by an RBI single from Mark Grudzielanek.

``If we could've got some runs early, it might've been different,'' Royals manager Buddy Bell said. ``But it's not always the negative. I think you have to give him credit.''

Devil Rays 5, Blue Jays 4

Carl Crawford scored the tying run as a pinch runner in the ninth inning and led off the bottom of the 11th with a homer to lift Tampa Bay past visiting Toronto.

Out of the starting lineup for the last three games with a sprained right wrist and homerless in his past 42 games, Crawford hit a full-count pitch from Brian Wolfe (2-1) over the fence in center field for the Devil Rays _ who had lost eight of their last nine.

The All-Star outfielder tied the game at 4 on pinch-hitter Josh Wilson's two-out RBI single off Blue Jays closer Jeremy Accardo, who was charged with his fourth blown save of the season.

Scott Dohmannn (1-0) worked out of a bases loaded, one-out jam in the 11th for the win.

Mariners 2, Angels 0

Ichiro Suzuki had three hits, Miguel Batista allowed four singles in seven innings and host Seattle beat Los Angeles in the opener of a key AL West series to move within three games of the division leader.

Suzuki scored and drove in the other run for the Mariners, who have won four straight. The Angels had won four in a row themselves, including three impressive victories over the defending AL champion Tigers in which they scored 34 runs.

Los Angeles struggled, however, against Batista (11-7), who struck out two and walked none in his first scoreless start this season. Brandon Morrow pitched a scoreless eighth and J.J. Putz needed just six pitches to complete the four-hitter and earn his 31st save in 32 chances.

Suzuki led off the third inning by lining a drive to the right-center field wall against Kelvim Escobar (11-5), who allowed eight hits in his third complete game this season.

Tigers 5, Athletics 2

Curtis Granderson and Placido Polanco both had three hits and an RBI to help visiting Detroit snap a four-game losing streak with a victory over Oakland.

Jordan Tata (1-0), brought up to take the injured Kenny Rogers' spot in Detroit's rotation, allowed two runs and six hits over seven innings in his first major league start. A 16th-round draft pick in 2003, Tata walked two and struck out five, including Nick Swisher three times.

Tata became the first Tigers' starter to win a game since Andrew Miller's beat Minnesota on July 18. Chad Durbin pitched the eighth and Todd Jones worked the ninth for his 28th save in 33 chances.

Joe Blanton (8-8) gave up five runs and nine hits in 6 2-3 innings for Oakland, which lost its fourth straight. He struck out five and didn't walk a batter.