Twins Pound Toronto's Relief

There were butterflies in the beginning and a brief practice session at the end, two predictable signs of the youthful roster the Minnesota Twins brought into the season.

It's what happened in between that proved a welcome relief for the Twins and their largest opening-day crowd in six years.

Getting clutch performances from several rookies, a stellar pitching performance from Brad Radke and a timely pinch-hit triple from Brent Gates, the Twins surprised the Toronto Blue Jays with a 6-1 victory Tuesday night.

That allowed the Twins, who started four of their 10 rookies against a team that could contend for the playoffs, to make a good first impression in this uncertain season. Getting off to a solid start will be important for morale in the clubhouse and in the community.

"Everybody starts to second-guess themselves and stuff like that (if you start slowly)," said Matt Lawton, whose three hits included a two-run double in a six-run seventh inning. "It's going to be pretty crucial for us to have a pretty good April and May. Everybody's not expecting much of us, so if we can have a pretty good April, compete, hang in there, I think we'll go down the stretch and be OK."

Gates' triple highlighted the seventh-inning rally, which included the second double of the night by Doug Mientkiewicz, an RBI single by Torii Hunter and the second single of the game by Chad Allen, three rookies who shook off jitters in their first opening-day starts.

"I thank God it's over, I really do," said Allen, who hit .385 in spring training and singled in his first major-league at-bat.

Among the rookies the Twins used, only shortstop Cristian Guzman struggled. He struck out twice before Gates hit for him with two on and no outs in the seventh after Dan Plesac relieved starter Pat Hentgen.

Gates punched an 0-1 pitch into the right-field corner. That scored Mentkiewicz and Terry Steinbach, who barely slid around Darrin Fletcher's tag.

Hunter followed with a bloop single that scored Gates. Lawton's two-run double should have been the third out of the inning, but Shannon Stewart lost the ball against the roof and it fell in shallow center field. Marty Cordova followed with an RBI double.

That made good on the front-office ploy to "guarantee" a victory. Each of the 45,601 fans would have been eligible for a free ticket to another game if the Twins lost, but they went home happy anyway.

Radke, the Twins' only All-Star last season, took much of the pressure off his young teammates with a strong performance. He allowed only Carlos Delgado's solo homer leading off the second before giving way to Eddie Guardado after seven innings.

Radke scattered eight hits while striking out five and walking one. After getting an average of just 2.6 runs in his 14 losses last season, he seemed to be on the way to a 1-0 loss until the seventh-inning outburst.

"We were able to score a few runs for him finally," said manager Tom Kelly, who put virtually the entire team through a short fielding workout after the game. "I was getting a little worried for a while."

Hentgen, who struggled last season with tendinitis in his right shoulder, allowed two runs and 10 hits in six-plus innings. He struck out two without a walk.

"I thought Hentgen threw the ball extremely well, except for a couple pitches to their first baseman (Mientkiewicz)," said Toronto manager Jim Fregosi. "Otherwise, he was outstanding."

Delgado set a Toronto record for left-handed hitters last season with 38 homers, and he got off to a fast start in his first at-bat, driving a 3-1 pitch from Radke on a line off the facing of the upper deck in right-center field. The 437-foot shot gave Toronto a 1-0 lead to start the second inning.

Radke retired 10 of the next 11 hitters and didn't allow another runner past second.

"Brad was unbelievable," Lawton said. "He kept those guys off-balance all night."

Notes: Paul Molitor, who finished his 21-year career with the Twins last season with 3,319 hits, threw out the first pitch. ... Polite applause was mixed with boos when Gov. Jesse Ventura was introduced during the pregame ceremonies. ... Despite their no-name lineup, the Twins' sold 7,619 season tickets for 1999, surpassing last year's 6,043. The $99 season-ticket deal, which includes an autographed Kirby Puckett bat for every pair of seats, still is available. ... Tuesday marked the 1,800th career game as a manager for Fregosi, who was hired March 17 after controversial Tim Johnson was fired. ... The Blue Jays completed their 25-man roster Tuesday by purchasing the contract of catcher Mark Dalesandro from Triple-A Syracuse.

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