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MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- Brad Radke showed why the Minnesota Twins made him the franchise's highest-paid player.
Radke won at home for the first time in almost a month, and Jacque Jones hit a two-run homer as the Minnesota Twins defeated the Chicago Cubs 5-1 on Thursday night.
Jones' team-leading 14th homer in the second inning gave
Minnesota the lead for good, and Radke (6-10) gave up five hits and
one run in six innings to earn his first Metrodome win since June
16.
Radke, who signed a four-year, $36 million extension with the
Twins last Monday, walked two and struck out three. LaTroy Hawkins,
the sixth Twins pitcher, got the final out for his fifth save in as
many chances.
"I felt all right thanks to the three days off for the All-Star
break," Radke said. "We played well and hit the ball well, and
made some nice plays when we had to. And I hung in there and made
some decent pitches."
Twins third base coach Ron Gardenhire was the manager of record,
as Minnesota skipper Tom Kelly missed the game to be in Florida
with his ailing father. After the game, Gardenhire spoke to Kelly
by phone and learned that Joe Kelly survived open heart surgery
performed in the evening.
"TK's going through a really hard time right now with his dad,
so that's where all of our thoughts are," Gardenhire said. "I've
been with him for 10 years, so it's a little hard to concentrate on
baseball right now. His father is doing fine, but a lot still has
to happen, so it's a struggle."
Cubs starter Ismael Valdes (1-3) worked into the sixth inning,
when Minnesota made it 3-1 on Ron Coomer's leadoff double, a walk,
and Chad Allen's RBI single.
"He hit a high pitch -- in and high," Valdes said of Jones'
home run. "It's not so much he's a power hitter as he is a mistake
hitter. He took advantage of my mistake."
Allen made the game's key defensive play as well. With Chicago
trailing 2-1, slugger Sammy Sosa led off the sixth with a walk.
Allen, playing his first game at right field in the Metrodome, made
a leaping catch at the wall to rob Henry Rodriguez of an extra-base
hit and hold Sosa at first.
"That ball looked like it was going over my right shoulder, and
it ended up going to my left," Allen said of the catch. "It
looked bad, but thank God I caught it."
Sosa extended his hitting streak to six games with a bloop
single in the eighth to finish 1-for-3, much to the dismay of many
in the crowd of 24,161 who came to see the fan favorite.
Chicago's only run came in the fourth. Mark Grace drew a leadoff
walk and advanced to second on Radke's wild pitch. Sosa struck out
swinging after being ahead 3-0 in the count, but Rodriguez's single
scored Grace. After the game, the Cubs admitted frustration at
their inability to score.
"I thought that in this ballpark we could break out
(offensively)," said Cubs manager Don Baylor, who played for the
Twins during their run to the 1987 World Series title. "Early in
batting practice the ball was going out well. One run is not
acceptable."
Minnesota added another run in the seventh off Cubs reliever
Steven Rain. Jay Canizaro singled with one out, advanced on a
single by Matt Lawton and scored on Coomer's single.
Cristian Guzman added a two-out RBI single in the eighth off
former Twins closer Rick Aguilera.
Game notes
It wasn't exactly the three tenors, but Minnesota baseball
legends Kent Hrbek and Tony Oliva joined Governor Jesse Ventura to
sing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" during the seventh-inning
stretch. Ventura performed the song at Wrigley Field earlier in the
season. ... Lights were low as the Twins and Cubs took batting
practice Thursday night. With temperatures near 90 in Minneapolis
and power use at a peak because of all the air conditioners
running, the city asked the Metrodome to keep the lights down until
gametime in an effort to conserve energy. ... Aguilera was honored
before the game for becoming the 13th pitcher to reach the 300-save
plateau. Aguilera, who spent 10 seasons in Minnesota, has 306
career saves _ 254 with the Twins. ... After winning two in a row
heading into the All-Star break, the Cubs failed to equal their
season-best winning streak. Chicago has won three in a row three
times this season.
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