Angry indians split historic three-team doubleheader

Torii Hunter hit a game-tying, two-run single, and Jacque Jones drove in the go-ahead run off Bob Wickman in the eighth inning as the Minnesota Twins beat Cleveland, 4-3, in the nightcap of an historic, three-team doubleheader.

With just six games remaining, the Indians may need to win them all to get the AL wild card.

"We're running out of games," Indians manager Charlie Manuel said. "We're kind of at the point now where we can't lose."

In the day game, Dave Burba got his 16th win in Cleveland's 9-2 victory over the Chicago White Sox.

It was only the second three-team doubleheader in the majors since 1900 and first since Sept. 13, 1951, when the St. Louis Cardinals played host to the New York Giants and Boston Braves at Sportsman's Park.

The Indians had kicked and screamed about having to play the doubleheader – their third in six days – when the AL announced that a Sept. 10 rainout with Chicago would have to be made up.

Cleveland was worried its worn-out pitching staff might not hold up, and relievers Paul Shuey (4-2) and Wickman couldn't close out the sweep.

Manny Ramirez homered for the Indians, who missed a chance to gain any ground on the Oakland Athletics in the wild-card race.

"This burns pretty bad right now," said Shuey, who before giving up three runs in 12/3 innings, had been unscored upon in his last eight appearances. "Hopefully, we can come back tomorrow."

Shuey allowed the Twins to load the bases with two outs in the eighth. Wickman got ahead, 0-2, on Hunter, who fouled off two pitches before lining a breaking ball into left-center to tie it at 3.

Jones followed with a bloop RBI single to left, helping the last-place Twins improve to 7-3 against the Indians this season. This was the fifth time Minnesota has rallied to beat Cleveland.

Travis Miller (2-3) pitched two scoreless innings of relief, and LaTroy Hawkins got three outs for his 13th save in 13 tries.

With history being made, the Indians said they would send a ball from each game, signed by the starting pitchers, along with tickets and the lineup cards to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y.

They ought to throw in a towel autographed by Cy Buynak, the visiting clubhouse manager, who moved the White Sox out and the Twins in without a noticeable problem.

In fact, the White Sox and Twins didn't even see each other.

Indians second-game starter Steve Woodard allowed one run and four hits in 51/3 innings.

Ramirez hit a two-run homer, his 34th, in the first off Matt Kinney to put the Indians up, 2-0.

Despite missing 44 games, Ramirez has 116 RBIs in 415 at-bats.

David Segui's sacrifice fly in the third gave the Indians a 3-0 lead.

The Twins got a sacrifice fly from Anthony Pierzynski in the fifth, and had runners at first and third in the sixth before Steve Reed struck out Hunter to end the inning.

Burba (16-6) allowed seven hits in seven innings, and Roberto Alomar and Ramirez had two RBIs each for the Indians.

Minnesota 4, Cleveland 3

cw 1 29.8656m;cw 2 29.8656m;cw 3 29.8656m;cw 4 29.8656m;cw 5 29.8656m;cw 6 29.8656m;cw 7 29.8656m;cw 8 29.8656m;hr 1;fr 1;fc 0;lc 0;MinnesotaABRHBIBBSOAvg.Hocking 1b412010.305Rivas 2b511000.300Lawton rf401011.311DOrtiz dh500001.288Koskie 3b311010.301THunter cf412201.273JJones lf402101.285Pierzynski c300101.303CGuzman ss401000.246Totals36410435 cw 1 29.8656m;cw 2 29.8656m;cw 3 29.8656m;cw 4 29.8656m;cw 5 29.8656m;cw 6 29.8656m;cw 7 29.8656m;cw 8 29.8656m;hr 1;fr 1;fc 0;lc 0;ClevelandABRHBIBBSOAvg.Lofton cf410010.277Vizquel ss512000.289RAlomar 2b402000.302MRamirez rf311211.352Segui 1b301101.3331-DRoberts pr000000.200Perry 1b000000.091Thome dh401002.265Fryman 3b400001.324Branyan lf303000.239JolCabrera lf000000.262a-BSelby ph101000.238SAlomar c300000.292Totals34311325 cw 1 29.8656m;cw 2 29.8656m;cw 3 29.8656m;cw 4 29.8656m;cw 5 29.8656m;cw 6 29.8656m;cw 7 29.8656m;cw 8 29.8656m;hr 0;fr 0;fc 0;lc 0;Minnesota000010030–4101Cleveland201000000–3110a-singled for Cabrera in the 9th.1-ran for Segui in the 8th.E–Kinney (1). LOB–Minnesota 9, Cleveland 8. 2B–RAlomar (40). 3B–Hocking (4), Branyan (2). HR–MRamirez (34) off Kinney. RBIs–THunter 2 (38), JJones (75), Pierzynski (10), MRamirez 2 (116), Segui (102). CS–DRoberts (1). S–SAlomar. SF–Pierzynski, Segui. Runners left in scoring position–Minnesota 6 (Hocking, DOrtiz 2, THunter, Pierzynski 2); Cleveland 3 (Vizquel, Thome, SAlomar). Runners moved up–Rivas, Lawton, Lofton.

cw 1 29.8656m;cw 2 29.8656m;cw 3 29.8656m;cw 4 29.8656m;cw 5 29.8656m;cw 6 29.8656m;cw 7 29.8656m;cw 8 29.8656m;cw 9 29.8656m;hr 1;fr 0;fc 0;lc 0;MinnesotaIPHRERBBSONPERAKinney563323875.45TEMiller230002314.06(W 2-3)BWells110000143.18Hawkins110000133.43(S 13) cw 1 29.8656m;cw 2 29.8656m;cw 3 29.8656m;cw 4 29.8656m;cw 5 29.8656m;cw 6 29.8656m;cw 7 29.8656m;cw 8 29.8656m;cw 9 29.8656m;hr 1;fr 0;fc 0;lc 0;ClevelandIPHRERBBSONPERAWoodard5 1/341111685.77Rincon1/310001102.04SReed1/30000154.53Shuey1 2/323311313.47(L 4-2)Wickman1 1/330011233.38Inherited runners-scored–Rincon 1-0, SReed 2-0, Wickman 3-3. IBB–off Wickman (Lawton) 1, off Kinney (MRamirez) 1. PB–SAlomar. Umpires–Home, Crawford; First, DiMuro, Mike; Second, Danley; Third, Everitt. T–3:12. A–42,853 (42,865).