Milton Adds a Twin Gem Against Astros

Eric Milton couldn’t quite match Brad Radke but he did more than enough to help the Minnesota Twins win.

Milton came within three outs of Minnesota’s second consecutive shutout as the Twins defeated the Houston Astros, 3-1, Wednesday night.

Milton (7-3) followed Radke’s 7-0 victory over Houston on Tuesday with another gem. Milton shut down the Astros until Jeff Bagwell’s leadoff home run in the ninth inning.

“I put pressure on myself to help the team out as much as Brad did,” Milton said. “I just tried to do a lot of off-speed stuff and keep them off-balance, and it worked.”

Milton had sharp control, throwing first-pitch strikes to 25 of 33 batters. He gave up six hits, no walks and struck out three in his second complete game of the year.

“We’re not getting our leadoff men on base, and it’s hard to score and get a big inning when two are out all the time,” Houston’s Craig Biggio said.

Shane Reynolds (6-5) matched Milton through five innings, facing only 16 batters and giving up two hits with two strikeouts.

But Minnesota broke through in the sixth inning. Luis Rivas led off with his second triple of the season and scored on a single by A.J. Pierzynski.

“Reynolds pitched a great game, and nobody could hit the ball really well against him,” Pierzynski said. “I was in the hole 0-2 right away all three times I faced him, so I was just trying to hit a ground ball.”

Quinton McCracken followed with a single, and one out later, Corey Koskie hit a two-run double.

“We were fortunate to put an inning together, and that’s all we could do against Reynolds,” Minnesota Manager Tom Kelly said. “He’s a tough pitcher, and he was really nasty against us.”

Reynolds pitched an eight-hitter for his first complete game since Aug. 15, 1999, against Pittsburgh.

Houston had men at first and second with no outs in the third but could not score. After giving up a single in the third, Milton retired the next 11 batters.

“For the first few innings, I was battling with men on base,” Milton said. “If you can get through that, you can usually get on a little roll.”