A Factor Beyond Lowe’s Control

This might have been the typical Derek Lowe outing, framed for the revealing. There were plenty of ground balls -- three of which were turned into double plays -- and a few strikeouts all wrapped up in a low pitch count.

Lowe, though, just couldn’t navigate around Minnesota’s Justin Morneau, at least until it was too late, in a 5-3 Twin victory Saturday in front an announced sellout of 54,354 at Dodger Stadium.

Morneau, mired in a slump that had dropped his batting average as though rocks were attached, handled Lowe early, with a two-run single and a two-run homer. He gave the Twins a lead they were unable to squander, no matter how they tried.

But three Dodger home runs only served to keep the Twins in sight. When the last 11 Dodger batters went gently into the night -- six on strikeouts -- Lowe was left with a loss on a night he felt his stuff was right.

“I came up two runs short,” Lowe said. “You’ve got to keep pitching your game, and it’s my game to get them to hit the ball on the ground.”

Lowe did his job well, mostly. His sinker was sharp, enough to get those three double-play balls. He struck out five batters in his six innings of work and seeded the infield with plenty of grounders.

But those grounders hurt at times, twice leaving Morneau in the position to do the harm.

Lew Ford led off the game with a roller that went off third baseman Antonio Perez’s glove and was ruled a hit. Luis Rodriguez followed with a double just inside the first-base line. Morneau then grounded a single into center field to score both.

Just three batters in, Lowe (5-6) was down two runs.

“I made a good pitch, he just did a better job with hitting it,” Lowe said.

With two out in the third, Rodriguez hit a grounder under the glove of shortstop Cesar Izturis -- who left the game after the sixth with a strained right hamstring -- that was ruled a hit and extended the inning. Instead of being in the dugout, Lowe was facing Morneau again. This time Morneau drove an 0-2 pitch into the right-field pavilion for a 4-0 lead.

Lowe, though, did not pin the two runs on Izturis.

“No matter what happens behind you, it is my job to get three outs,” he said.

Manager Jim Tracy saw it a little differently.

“We come up with the grounder, the inning is over,” Tracy said. “You can’t give major league hitters another opportunity, an extra at-bat. They are going to hurt you.”

Morneau’s hitting has been missing for a month. The homer was his ninth this season, but only his second since May 8. The two hits were in fact a small awakening for Morneau, who was in a seven-for-52 slump that had dropped his average from .358 to .280. He had driven in only one run in his last 14 games.

Other than Morneau, the only Twin to damage Lowe was Torii Hunter, whose sixth-inning home run gave Minnesota a 5-1 lead.

“I made two mistakes and they hit them both for home runs,” Lowe said.

The Dodger offense suffered from bad timing against Twin starter Carlos Silva (5-3), who went six innings, his shortest outing in 12 starts this season.

Hee-Seop Choi grounded into a double play with runners on first and second in the third. In the sixth, in his next at-bat, Choi unloaded a 458-foot home run, his third home run in two games, that ignited more “Hee-Seop Choi” chants from fans.

The only other noise the Dodgers made came on home runs by Jason Grabowski and Jeff Kent. Both came with the bases empty.