DETROIT (AP) — Craig Monroe thought that his mental
mistake had cost the Detroit Tigers a victory.
- From the AP
- Rondell White greets teammate Carlos Pe
Fortunately for him, he got a chance to redeem himself.
Monroe hit a game-winning single in the 10th to give the Tigers
a 6-5 victory over the Minnesota Twins yesterday.
In the eighth, Monroe made a throwing error from left field that
helped the Twins tie the game and send it into extra innings.
“I felt terrible because I knew it was not smart
baseball,” said Monroe, who threw a ball into the dugout
while trying to double a runner off first. “This year, Tigers
baseball is about playing like professionals.”
Rondell White walked with one out in the 10th, and pinch-runner
Andres Torres stole second. Monroe followed with a line-drive
single to left off Joe Roa (1-1) to give the Tigers their fifth win
in six games.
Detroit started last season 0-9 en route to an AL-record 119
losses. It took the Tigers 30 games to get their fifth victory in
2003.
“Obviously, no one expected us to start 5-1, but here we
are,” Tigers manager Alan Trammell said. “We just hope
this good feeling continues for a while. We aren’t calling
ourselves World Series contenders yet — we know we have a
long way to go — but we are enjoying this.”
Roa blamed himself for starting the winning rally by walking
White.
“That’s one of my strengths, throwing strikes, then
to throw four balls,” he said. “That’s not the
way you want to go out there like that, walk a guy in that
situation.”
Steve Colyer (1-0) got his first major league win with an inning
of scoreless relief. Minnesota used seven pitchers while Detroit
used six.
Minnesota starter Johan Santana allowed three runs on five hits
in five innings, but needed 94 pitches.
“I felt pretty good — I was just trying to throw the
ball over the plate, trying to put the ball in play,” he
said. “They hit the ball. They fouled many pitches and made
me throw a lot of pitches. That’s why it forced me to come
out of the game.”
Tigers starter Mike Maroth gave up three runs in 6 1-3
innings.
“I didn’t get the win, but we did, and that’s
all that matters,” said Maroth, who lost 21 games last year
to become the first pitcher to reach 20 losses since 1980.
“This year, we are expecting to win games like this —
we think we have a chance every day. Last year, after we lost so
many games early, we went out there with the attitude of waiting
for something bad to happen, but that’s gone now.”