Twins Steal the Thunder of Blue Jays : AL: Minnesota takes advantage of Candiotti’s slow pitches to swipe four bases in the first three innings. It then holds on to win Game 1, 5-4.

So much for scouting reports, for the notion that the Blue Jays’ speed would hasten the Twins’ exit from the American League championship series.

Minnesota stole the Blue Jays’ strategy by stealing four bases in the first three innings Tuesday, taking advantage of pitcher Tom Candiotti’s fickle and slow-traveling knuckleball. Three of those runners scored, enabling the Twins to outlast the Blue Jays, 5-4, and win their playoff opener before 54,766 at the Metrodome.

“We were running all over the place,” center fielder Kirby Puckett said. “(Manager) Tom Kelly was giving the steal sign all the time. It’s tough to catch a knuckleball, as I’m sure (Toronto catcher) Pat Borders will tell you.”

The Twins knew Candiotti starts out certain hitters with curveballs instead of his knuckler, and they read him perfectly Tuesday. He gave up five runs in 2 2/3 innings, in contrast to his regular-season earned-run average of 2.65.

“They hit the first pitch a lot, especially curveballs,” Candiotti said. “You’ve got to give them credit. They had a good approach to the game.”

Their approach was unquestionably aggressive, and it worked well enough to give starter Jack Morris a 5-0 lead.

“He kept their guys off base, which helped a lot,” said Twin designated hitter Chili Davis, who drove in Minnesota’s first two runs with a single to left field.

“You can’t steal unless you’re on base. By keeping them off base, he gave us a chance to take it to ‘em.

“This is going to be a very exciting series because you have two very evenly matched ballclubs, two aggressive teams. Roberto Alomar told me at second base, ‘I don’t care who wins or loses. This is so much fun it doesn’t matter.’ ”

The Twins remained unbeaten in seven postseason games at the Metrodome in part because of a baserunning blunder by Alomar.

Skilled baserunning enabled the Twins to score twice in the first inning. Consecutive singles to left field by Dan Gladden and Chuck Knoblauch put runners on first and second, and after Kirby Puckett took a knuckleball for a third strike, Gladden tagged and took third when Kent Hrbek flied to center. Knoblauch put himself in scoring position by stealing second on Candiotti’s 2-and-2 pitch to Davis, and Knoblauch scored easily behind Gladden when Davis looped a single to center.

The Twins stole two more bases in the second inning and pulled to a 4-0 lead. Shane Mack led off with a liner that appeared to strike Candiotti’s foot as it ricocheted off the mound and rolled to the right side too slowly for Candiotti to retrieve. Mack stole second, took third on Mike Pagliarulo’s fly to right and scored on Greg Gagne’s single to center.

Gagne moved to second on Gladden’s single to center and scored on Knoblauch’s single to right. Knoblauch stole second and took third when Borders’ throw bounced into center field, but Knoblauch was stranded when Puckett grounded to shortstop.

The Twins’ fourth steal produced their fifth run, in the third inning. Davis walked with one out, stole second with Brian Harper at bat and scored when Joe Carter misjudged Mack’s drive to right. Carter misjudged the ball, and it sailed over his head to the right-field fence.

The Blue Jays stirred in the fourth, when Alomar singled to left and Carter doubled to the gap in right-center field. Alomar slowed as he neared third but accelerated when third base coach Rich Hacker waved him in. Puckett, however, had made a strong throw to shortstop Gagne, whose relay home was in time for catcher Harper to put a sweeping tag on Alomar.

“Robby didn’t know if the ball was going to be caught, so he wasn’t running from the get-go,” said Carter, who took third on the throw and scored on John Olerud’s groundball to second. “If he was running from the get-go, he’s safe.

“We have to take those kind of chances. That’s how we got here, with daring baserunning. We don’t want to become complacent and become a station-to-station kind of ballclub.”

Station-to-station play put the Blue Jays back into the game in the sixth. Five successive singles produced three runs, as well as a share of the AL playoff record for singles in an inning and most consecutive hits in an inning.

Former Angel Devon White touched off the flurry with a single to left, and Alomar reached on a pop-up that was misjudged by Knoblauch and Puckett, who stood helplessly as the ball fell.

Carter loaded the bases with a single to right, and Olerud’s single to right scored White. Gruber drove in two more runs when he lined an 0-and-2 pitch to left.

Carl Willis relieved Morris and retired all seven he faced before yielding to Rick Aguilera, who saved Minnesota’s third consecutive postseason victory.