06 Minnesota wins tight 5 game series with 91 Toronto to advance to AL Championship

GM 1 @ Skydome in TORONTO

Boof Bonser vs Jimmy Key

06 Minnesota wins 8-1
WP: Bonser (4-3)
LP: Key (7-3)

HR: Justin Morneau (14), Mookie Wilson (2)
Game MVP: Bonser (7 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 8 K)



Minnesota comes out and jumps all over one of the top regular season starters in Key with 3 singles and a Sacrifice Fly to put 2 runs up in the 1st inning.  Minnesota has relied on a lot of singles from their light hitting little guys (Bartlett,Punto,Castillo,Tyner,Stewart) and timely power by Morneau and Mauer to sccount for their offense all season long.  And this game they definitely followed that game plan with 12 hits, 11 singles and a HR by Morneau.  Bartlett (4-5, 2 RBI) was a pest all day long including a big 2 RBI single in the 6th to push the lead to 7-1.  Bonser was brilliant on the day as he was never really in trouble allowing just the 1 run on a solo shot to Mookie Wilson in the 3rd. 

 

GM 2 @ Skydome in TORONTO

Brad Radke vs Juan Guzman

06 Minnesota wins 6-5
WP: Denny Reyes (2-1)
LP: Mike Timlin (2-2)
SV: Joe Nathan (18)

HR: Torii Hunter (7), Morneau (15), Michael Cuddyer (4), Kelly Gruber (10)

Game MVP: Morneau (2-4, 2 run, 3 RBI, 1 HR)

Toronto jumped out early in this one with 2 runs in the 3rd highlighted by a John Olerud 2 RBI single and then another run in the 3rd thanks to 3 singles by Devon White, Olerud and Kelly Gruber.  The Twins responded with their power game with a 2 run HR by Hunter in the 6th and a 3 run shot by Morneau in the 7th.  The Morneau HR was huge as Mike Timlin retired the 1st 2 batters he faced in the inning but then struggled allowing singles to Jason Tyner and Luis Castillo.  With Duane Ward scrambling to warm up in the bullpen, the Jays were forced to stick with Timlin to face Morneau.  Morneau made them pay by depositing the 3rd pitch he saw into the right field bleachers to give the Twins a 5-4 lead.  Michael Cuddyer would continue the power hitting for Minnesota with another homer in the 8th to push the lead to 6-4.  That run would prove important as Gruber led off the 8th inning with a HR off Pat Neshek.  But that would be the end of the offense for the Jays as Neshek settled down in the 8th and then Joe Nathan retired them in order in the 9th.

GM 3 @ The Metrodome in MINNESOTA

Todd Stottlemyre vs Johan Santana

91 Toronto wins 4-3 in 10 innings
WP: Tom Henke (1-0)
LP: Jesse Crain (1-1)

HR: Cuddyer 2 (6)
Game MVP: Roberto Alomar (2-5, 2 runs, scored GW run)



Toronto had its back against the wall and looked out to the mound and saw the imposing figure of Twins lefty Johan Santana.  And while Santana (7 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 6 K) was on the mound the Jays looked to be intimidated and may have been planning for what to do after the KOD season wrapped up.  The Twins didn't give Santana much offense but the 2 runs they put up, highlighted by a Cuddyer HR in the 4th looked to be plenty.  Then, in what in hindsight looked like a terrible decision, Santana was pulled after the 7th after 102 pitches.  The Jays had put up an unearned run in the 6th after a key error at 3B by Tony Batista, followed by a walk to Olerud and then 2 sacrfices.  Minnesota had relied on its power bullpen all season long and it looked to close out the series the same way.  However, Toronto got a little bit of good luck and capitalized to turn the momentum of the series.  Left specialist Dennys Reyes was called on to start the 8th vs Alomar. Alomar grounded to short but Nick Punto booted the easy play to get the Jays some life.  Reyes then struck out Devon White before giving way to Neshek.  Neshek then induced what should have been an inning ending DP from Joe Carter but Punto, once again, let the ball play him and the Jays had runners at 1st and 2nd with 1 out.  With Dave Parker pinch hitting for Toronto, Carter and Alomar pulled off a double steal to get the Jays 2 runners in scoring position.  Parker then came though in the clutch with a 2 run single to give the Jays the 3-2 lead.  The lead looked like it would hold up but with Henke on to close out the game, Cuddyer smashed his 2nd HR of the game to tie the game up and send the game to extras.  Jesse Crain had pitched a scoreless 9th for the Twins so he was left out to start the 10th.  Alomar again proved to be a pest with a lead off single.  The Twins defense then failed them again, as defensive replacement Jason Castro booted another potential DP play at SS to allow the Jays to get the go ahead run to 2nd with no outs.  Joe Nathan was summoned from the pen to put the fire out but Toronto had other plans.  A ground out by Carter moved the runners up which led to an intentional walk to Parker to load the bases and set up the force.  Nathan, however, tried to bury a fastball in on Gruber but it ran too far in and nailed Gruber in the arm to force home Alomar with the go ahead run.   Henke was given a 2nd chance to close the game out and was up to the task by retiring the Twins 1-2-3 in the bottom of the 10th to preserve the win and extend the series.

GM 4 @ The Metrodome in MINNESOTA

Tom Candiotti vs Francisco Liriano

91 Toronto wins 5-0
WP: Candiotti (3-3)
LP: Liriano (6-3)

 HR: John Olerud (8)

Game MVP: Olerud (3-3, 2 runs, 3 RBI, 1 HR)

 Toronto fed off the energy they ended game 3 with and rode a great start by Candiotti to force this series back to Toronto.  Candiotti (6 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 5 K) had the knuckler dancing inside the Metrodome and the Twins hitters seemed mesmerized.  Liriano (5.1 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 4 BB, 6 K) was inefficient with his pitches, needing 114 pitches to get 1 out into the 6th.  The Jays patience and timely hitting, led by Olerud, was able to put up single runs in the 2nd, 3rd and 6th innings.  A couple doubles by Alomar and White off Matt Guerrier in the 7th followed by a solo shot by Olerud off of Guerrier in the 8th gave the Jays more than enough cushion.  MikeTimlin and David Wells were perfect in the 7th, 8th and 9th to close out the game and force a game 5.

GM 5 @ Skydome in TORONTO

Boof Bonser vs Jimmy Key

06 Minnesota wins 8-3
WP: Bonser (5-3)
LP: Key (7-4)

HR: Justin Morneau (16)
Game MVP: Michael Cuddyer (4-5, 2 2b, 2 RBI, 3 runs)

 

In a rematch of game 1's seemingly lopsided pitching matchup, the Jays once again handed the ball to their ace Jimmy Key while Minnesota looked for Boof Bonser to match his opening game magic.   This time around the Jays jumped on Bonser (6.2 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 5 K) early with a run in the 1st inning.  However, it could have been more when Gruber singled home Alomar followed by anothher single by Pat Tabler.  But, Torii Hunter cut Tabler's ball of in the gap and threw a strike to Joe Mauer to retire the slow running John Olerud at home to end the inning and limit the Jays to just 1 run.  Minnesota then came back in the top of the 2nd to take the lead thanks to a key double by Cuddyer and an RBI triple by Nick Punto.  The 3rd was more of the same for Minnesota as Morneau continued to smash the ball with another HR and a couple singles and ground out pushed the Twin lead to 4-1.  After a few quiet innings, the Twins offense picked up again in the 5th putting more hits together off Key (5.1 IP, 12 H, 6 ER),  This time it was a Cuddyer double and a Bartlett Sac Fly that drove home the runs and made it 6-1.  Unlike in game 1 however, the Toronto offense would not just lay down.  They would rally for 2 runs in the 7th chasing Bonser from the game.  Jesse Crain was able to keep it from getting any worse by retiring Joe Carter with 2 runners on to end the 7th at 6-3.  With the Twins pen doing its job in the 8th and the Twins extending their lead to 8-3 in the top of the 9th, all that was left to close out the series was another shut down 9th inning by closer Joe Nathan,  Despite it not being a save situation, Nathan was up to the task and retired the Jays to close out the series and eliminate the pesky Jays team. 

 

TOP PERFORMERS

MIchael Cuddyer (MIN) 8-20, 3 HR, 5 RBI, 7 Runs, 6 XBH

Justin Morneau (MIN) 9-24, 3 HR, 7 RBI, 5 Runs

Roberto Alomar (TOR) 8-23, 2 RBI, 5 Runs

Boof Bonser (MIN) 2 wins, 13 2/3 IP, 10 H, 4 R, 13 K