Twins outslugged by Indians 11-6

Righthander Kyle Lohse had a superb spring, but he got clobbered when he had to face Cleveland in a game that counted.

By La Velle E. Neal III, Star Tribune

Last update: April 7, 2006 - 11:03 PM

CLEVELAND - The Twins and picher Kyle Lohse continued a recent tradition of falling victim to a power surge during a Cleveland Indians home opener, losing 11-6 on Friday afternoon.

Everyone was worried about rain washing out the game, but it was the fog that rolled in during the game that set an eerie backdrop for the destruction leveled on Lohse and his replacements.

A sellout crowd of 42,445 watched an Indians player hit a grand slam off a Twins pitcher during a Cleveland home opener for the third time since 2002 -- and the second time off Lohse. Cleveland hit three homers, two by Travis Hafner, to beat the Twins for the fourth consecutive time dating to last season. Matt Guerrier and Willie Eyre each gave up a homer to Hafner.

"They swung the bats real well. It wasn't just me, but that doesn't help," said Lohse, who gave up eight runs.

"I didn't have the feel I had in spring training," said Lohse, who lasted 42/3 innings. "Any time the ball came back over the middle a little bit they were killing it."

Lohse proved that spring training statistics are worthless. While going 5-0 with a 2.42 ERA this spring, he hit his spots. He mixed his pitches. He gained confidence. On Friday, Lohse missed his spots. He walked three batters. He gave up 11 hits. He looked nothing like the pitcher who came out of spring training with the most confidence he's ever had.

"It stinks knowing how things were going and you come in here and try not to do anything different," he said. "I was behind a lot of guys, just missing [the plate], then you miss over the plate and they get a hit."

The roof caved in during a five-run Cleveland fifth. After Cleveland loaded the bases, pitching coach Rick Anderson came out to talk to Lohse. Then Blake, a former Twin, hammered a belt-high fastball to left for the grand slam. Lohse was out of the inning because he was out of the game.

"I don't think my pitching coach talked about that one," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. "Throwing it over the middle."

Lohse gave up a grand slam to Hafner during Cleveland's home opener in 2004, which struck him back in the clubhouse as he sorted through the mental debris from his outing.

"I remembered I did it the last time," said Lohse, who's 2-6 with a 7.65 ERA at Jacobs Field. "That's pretty good. I'll try to skip it the next time [a start here] comes up. I'll go have a talk with the manager."

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