Angels 6, Twins 4

A 6-4 loss to the Angels aside, six victories righted a faltering start and lifted spirits heading on the road.

By Kent Youngblood, Star Tribune

Last update: April 20, 2006 - 10:27 PM

This is in no way a juggernaut heading east to Chicago.

The Twins have a few too many pesky leaks for that. Their starting pitching is still trying to find its footing. And the Twins, uncharacteristically sloppy in the field and frustratingly inopportune at the plate, lost both a game and a series Thursday with a 6-4 setback to the Los Angeles Angels.

So things aren't perfect. But know this: The ship that limped into port nine games ago is at least seaworthy.

And so the Twins packed for a trip to Chicago feeling a lot better about themselves than they did getting off the plane from Cleveland 12 days ago. They were 1-5 at the time. Since then? A 6-3 homestand that included a sweep of Oakland, taking two of three from the New York Yankees and two exciting walkoff victories.

"Overall, it was a good homestand," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. "We played our tails off. Now we have to go play a very good White Sox team. Hopefully we'll come out and play as hard as we have here, do some damage on the road. Get after games the way we got after 'em here."

That said, the opportunity was there to make a good homestand an outstanding one. Coming off a 10-inning victory over the Angels on Wednesday night in which both teams used a slew of pitchers, the Twins found themselves on Thursday facing Hector Carrasco, a reliever Angels manager Mike Scioscia hoped could go 70 pitches or so.

Carrasco was filling in for Bartolo Colon, a day after the reigning AL Cy Young Award winner was put on the disabled list. Carrasco, who was up with the Twins twice from 1998-2001, was making only his seventh major league start.

The Twins forced Carrasco to throw 37 pitches in the first inning while scoring three runs -- two coming off a Rondell White single, his first RBI since April 5.

That lead didn't stand.

Equal parts of blame for that go to the pitching, the defense and the hitting. Errant throws by second baseman Luis Castillo in the fourth inning helped the Angels score two unearned runs.

Pitching? Scott Baker, so commanding a week ago against the Yankees, labored against the Angels' patient hitters, throwing 99 pitches over five innings, giving up four runs, two earned.

Jesse Crain (0-1) pitched well in relief for 22/3 of his three innings pitched, then gave up three consecutive two-out hits resulting in two runs. The game-winner was Jose Molina's double.

The Twins had ample opportunity to pull off another comeback, but they stranded five runners on base over the final five innings. Kevin Gregg, just called up from the minors, threw four innings and gave up one run to get the victory.

Still, it was a confident bunch of Twins who left the clubhouse.

"[The homestand] gave us confidence," outfielder Michael Cuddyer said. "It was huge. You hate to say you need to do something in early April. But we needed to come in and have a good homestand. Sweep Oakland, two of three from the Yankees. We didn't get this series here. But to play like we did was a big bonus for us."

If that sounds like happy talk from a team a game under .500 (7-8), consider: The team was 1-5 less than two weeks ago, looking at a homestand against three teams with strong playoff expectations. To have bombed at home would have been disastrous for a team that now must play nine games on the road over the next 10 days.

"I think we got our mind clear," said third baseman Tony Batista, who was 12-for-33 on the homestand. "We got out on the road right now to continue to play well. I know we'll win some games."