Angels are not up to speed

MINNEAPOLIS -- Speed killed the Angels on Monday night. Or was it a lack of speed?

The fleet feet of Minnesota center fielder Carlos Gomez and the soft tosses of Twins right-hander Livan Hernandez combined to spoil the Angels’ season opener and Torii Hunter’s homecoming.

Gomez, the 22-year-old who has the daunting task of replacing Hunter, had two hits and a walk, stole two bases and scored two runs, and Hernandez gave up only two runs and seven hits in seven innings to lead the Twins to a 3-2 victory over the Angels.

A crowd of 49,596, which braved freezing temperatures and heavy snow to trek to the Metrodome, greeted Hunter with a pair of lengthy standing ovations, one during pregame introductions, which Angels starter Jered Weaver said “sent chills down my spine,” and one when the former Twins star came to bat in the second inning.

Fans unfurled a huge banner in left field that read “Welcome Back Torii,” causing Hunter, who spent nine years with the Twins before signing a five-year, $90-million deal with the Angels in November, to grapple with his emotions.

“Man, I can’t even explain what was going through my mind out there,” Hunter said. “That was tough. After walking through this dome all those years, and coming back here . . . it was weird being on the other side. It felt like everything was in reverse.”

Except for Gomez, who was in fast-forward mode. Acquired from the New York Mets in the Johan Santana trade, the leadoff batter doubled in the first inning and scored on Joe Mauer’s single, and singled and stole second in the third.

In the top of the fifth, after the Angels scored twice to tie the score, the equalizer coming on Chone Figgins’ two-out, run-scoring single, Gomez raced far into the gap in right-center field to catch Gary Matthews Jr.’s long fly ball to end the inning.

Then in the bottom of the fifth, Gomez drew a leadoff walk, stole second and scored on Michael Cuddyer’s single for a 3-2 lead.

“He’s no Torii Hunter,” Weaver said of Gomez, “but he’s all right.”

Hunter, who was hitless in four at-bats, was also impressed.

“I tell you what, Carlos Gomez looks good, man,” Hunter said. “He’s fast, he stole two bases, he closed in the outfield. . . . I’m impressed with his athletic ability.”

Few would describe the 6-foot-2, 255-pound Hernandez as “athletic,” but the 33-year-old has plenty of ability, if not velocity.

Signed two days before spring training to be the Twins’ ace, Hernandez baffled the Angels with breaking balls, off-speed and way-off-speed pitches, including a 59-mph curve that Napoli swung through in the third inning and a 60-mph pitch that Howie Kendrick tapped back to the mound for an out in the seventh.

“It’s like slow-pitch softball,” Kendrick said. “You see the ball up there really good, your eyes light up, and you want to swing, but you’re better off not swinging if you have less than two strikes, because if you swing, you’re going to hit it off the end of the bat.”

The Angels had a chance to do some serous damage in the fifth, loading the bases with none out on singles by Casey Kotchman, Kendrick and Napoli, but Hernandez got Maicer Izturis to ground into a double play on a 2-and-0 pitch, scoring Kotchman.

Figgins added his two-out, run-scoring single to tie the score, 2-2, but the double play “went a long way toward minimizing damage,” Angels Manager Mike Scioscia said.

Weaver gave up three runs and eight hits in 6 1/3 innings, striking out five and walking two, in a losing effort.

Twins set-up man Pat Neshek struck out slugger Vladimir Guerrero on a full-count slider with a runner on second to end the eighth, and closer Joe Nathan struck out Hunter on a nasty slider in the ninth inning on his way to the save.

“It’s a lot of fun watching Nathan from center field,” Hunter said, “not from the plate.”

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mike.digiovanna@latimes.com