Most valuable duel won by Morneau

Boston's David Ortiz is a worthy MVP candidate, but the Twins first baseman drove the offense to victory with a career-high five hits.

By Joe Christensen, Star Tribune

Last update: September 20, 2006 - 11:11 PM

BOSTON - The Boston Red Sox drew their 300th consecutive sellout crowd to Fenway Park on Tuesday night, and several thousand diehards braved a steady rain to watch David Ortiz take aim at his 50th home run.

Ortiz surely would relish that moment even more if it comes against the Twins, but with all due respect to Big Papi, his former team has its own MVP-caliber slugger now.

On a night when the Twins' footing was as slippery as their early lead, Justin Morneau delivered a career-high five hits, helping them hold on for a 7-3 victory.

The Twins pulled within a half-game of Detroit for the AL Central lead -- the closest they have been to first place all season -- and stayed 4 ½ games ahead of the White Sox in the wild card race.

By the ninth inning, the chants of "M-V-P! M-V-P!" that accompanied each Ortiz at-bat sounded as empty as Boston's playoff hopes.

Twins closer Joe Nathan ended the game by striking out Ortiz. It was Ortiz's third whiff in an 0-for-5 night.

Meantime, Morneau raised his average to .326, delivering two doubles, scoring two runs and notching his 124th RBI.

"He's my MVP," Twins center fielder Torii Hunter said. "I know he's my teammate, but he's my MVP."

Hunter made that comment from a somewhat awkward position. He and Ortiz had plans to go out after the game.

"I like David, too," Hunter said with a laugh. "Either or, it doesn't matter."

Hunter was in good spirits, despite fouling a ball off his left ankle in the seventh inning.

The ball slammed into the same spot where Hunter broke his ankle while trying to make a leaping catch of an Ortiz drive on July 30, 2005. That was Hunter's last game at Fenway.

"This ballpark and Torii's foot are not a good mix," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said.

Gardenhire replaced Hunter in center field with Lew Ford, but Hunter insisted he'll be back in the lineup tonight.

He lined a two-run homer, his 27th of the season, over the Green Monster in the third inning, extending the Twins' lead to 6-0.

The rain started falling in the fourth, and the Red Sox gradually came back against Twins starter Matt Garza (2-5).

With the score 6-3 in the eighth, the Red Sox brought the tying run to the plate, when Juan Rincon got pinch hitter Jason Varitek to foul out to end the inning.

Then in the ninth, Michael Cuddyer doubled, and Morneau -- who else? -- delivered a run-scoring single, giving the Twins some extra breathing room.

Morneau said he was happy to get his first five-hit game with his father, George, at Fenway for the first time.

"I guess if you want attention, you do it in markets like Boston," Gardenhire said, when asked about the limited national MVP hype surrounding Morneau. "He's given us a chance to get to the playoffs, and he's probably been the biggest part of that. I think that's what an MVP is."

Joe Christensen • jchristensen@startribune.com