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10/01/2002 7:58 pm ET
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A's let Game 1 slip away
Oakland's bullpen can't hang on, Lilly takes loss
By Mychael Urban / MLB.com
OAKLAND, Calif. -- A's utilityman Olmedo Saenz suffered a ruptured Achilles tendon Tuesday. So did the A's as a whole.
Saenz's injury, suffered in the eighth inning, will cost him the rest of his season. The blow the A's took cost them Game 1 of the American League Division Series.
Visiting Minnesota made three errors to help the A's take a four-run lead after two innings, and the 34,853 day-trippers at Network Associates Coliseum were all set to party. But Oakland's suspect bullpen, which was supposed to be bolstered by the two starters left out of the three-man playoff rotation, gave up four runs in the sixth and seventh innings as the Twins roared back for a 7-5 win.
A's starter Tim Hudson was less than sharp, allowing four runs on eight hits -- including two homers -- over 5 1/3 innings. But he left with a one-run lead, and he left with nobody on and one out in the sixth. Five batters later, the A's trailed 6-5.
"They bunched a few hits together after he left and that was it," said A's manager Art Howe.
The key hits were surrendered by left-hander Ted Lilly, who served as Oakland's No. 5 starter after he was picked up in a midseason deal. He spent a month on the disabled list late in the season, but he showed Howe enough in the season's final weeks to earn a spot on the playoff roster. On Tuesday he gave up two singles, a double and a walk during Minnesota's three-run sixth inning on the way to taking the loss.
"It's not like that's the first time I've come out of the bullpen in my life," said Lilly, who had made 18 career relief appearances before making his playoff debut Tuesday. "I just made some mistakes. I didn't execute the pitches I needed to make. I let the team down."
Cory Lidle, Oakland's No. 4 starter in the regular season, gave up a run in the seventh, and the Twins bullpen did what Oakland's couldn't. Minnesota starter Brad Radke survived five ugly innings for qualify for the win, and lefties Johan Santana, J.C. Romero and Eddie Guardado teamed on four shutout innings to nail it down.
The Twins will try to take a commanding lead in the best-of-five series when they send Joe Mays to the mound Wednesday for Game 2 opposite Mark Mulder. Game 3 is Friday in Minnesota.
"Last year we won the first game [of the ALDS against New York] and ended up losing; the year before we won the first game and ended up losing," said Howe. "So hopefully we can bounce back together."
To do that, they'll have to quickly erase the memory of the proverbial one that got away. Much was made of the A's edge in playoff experience before the series started, and the Twins indeed seemed a little anxious in the early going.
Minnesota's first two errors, a walk and RBI singles by Eric Chavez and David Justice helped the A's take a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first. A double by Ray Durham, another Twins error, a popup that fell between four infielders, and another RBI single by Chavez made it 5-1 in the second.
But Hudson never found the groove that gave him an eight-game winning streak to end the regular season, and the Twins chipped away before busting loose on Oakland's bullpen.
Michael Cuddyer's double down the left-field line opened the scoring for Minnesota in the second inning, and Corey Koskie's two-run homer made it 5-3 in the third. Doug Mientkiewicz made it a one-run game with a leadoff homer in the sixth, and Howe lifted Hudson after Cuddyer grounded to third for the first out of the inning.
"I just thought he wasn't as sharp as he could be," Howe explained. "A couple of home runs, that's not healthy. And we had our left-handers ready to come in."
Enter Lilly, who held left-handed hitters to a .083 batting average this year, to face lefty-swinging A.J. Pierzynski, right-handed Luis Rivas and lefty Jacque Jones. Single, single, game-tying double. A walk to switch-hitting Cristian Guzman loaded the bases with one out, and Koskie, another lefty, gave the Twins the lead with an RBI groundout to first.
"It just didn't work out the way we wanted it to," Howe said.
Lidle worked the seventh and gave up Pierzynski's fourth hit of the day, an insurance RBI triple with two out, but Lilly shouldered the blame as the A's clubhouse cleared.
"They brought me into an ideal situation. I was confident," he said. "I expect to succeed in that situation, and I didn't do the job. I can accept that, and I will. Now I just have to try to forget it and be prepared for tomorrow."
Mychael Urban covers the Oakland A's for MLB.com and can be reached at murban@oaklandathletics.com. This story was not subject to approval by Major League Baseball or its clubs.
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