It’s Not Wells, so Twins Get Well

After a day off to ponder being victims of a perfect game, the Minnesota Twins came back with about two games’ worth of hitting.

They pounded out 15 hits in an 8-3 victory over Detroit on Tuesday, and even added three stolen bases in the first inning, a rarity for a Tom Kelly-managed ballclub.

“One of the reasons we got off so well--not that we got embarrassed, but you don’t want somebody to throw a no-hitter or a perfect game against you,” Kelly said. “You want to come out and score some runs. That’s what I was thinking.”

It helped Minnesota to a 4-0 lead and quickly washed away the taste of David Wells’ perfect game, pitched against the Twins on Sunday.

Terry Steinbach, who came into the game hitting .188 with only one RBI in his last 11 games, was three for four with three RBIs.

Matt Lawton and Orlando Merced also had three hits, and Paul Molitor drove in two runs. The Twins had at least one runner in every inning except the seventh.

Steinbach was the only hitter willing to acknowledge that being the victims in a perfect game provided added incentive the next time out.

“It was nice to do this after the New York thing,” he said.

The offense helped Brad Radke (5-3) through a shaky night for his second complete game of the season. He gave up three runs on five hits against a Detroit team that came in hitting .297 and averaging seven runs in its last 16 games.