Ponson struggles, Twins lose
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Minnesota’s Sidney Ponson delivers a pitch against the Yankees in his Twins debut Monday. Photo by Jim Mone / AP.
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By DAVE CAMPBELL
Monday, April 9, 2007 11:01 PM CDT
AP Sports Writer
MINNEAPOLIS — The New York Yankees thawed out quickly in Minnesota against Sidney Ponson.
Bobby Abreu drove in four runs, Alex Rodriguez homered again and the Yankees beat the Twins 8-2 Monday night.
Abreu went 3-for-5 with a two-run homer, Jorge Posada hit a two-run double, and Derek Jeter had three hits and scored two runs. Johnny Damon had two hits in his first start in a week due to a calf strain.
Perhaps the most promising performance, however, came from Carl Pavano (1-0), who gave up six hits and two runs in seven efficient innings. He struck out two without a walk over 79 pitches to get his first win since May 22, 2005.
Trying to revive his derailed career this year as Minnesota’s fifth starter, Ponson (0-1) hadn’t pitched since March 31, the last day of spring training. He gave up 10 hits and eight runs in 5 2-3 innings.
Five of the runs Ponson allowed came with two outs, and he threw well in stretches. But a handful of bloops and bleeders in the first couple of innings put him behind, and the Twins couldn’t string enough hits together against Pavano to catch up.
After splitting two games and dealing with one postponement themselves over the weekend in Chicago against the White Sox, the Twins also were eager for more comfortable conditions. They took a lot longer to warm up, though.
After an RBI single by Abreu in the first, Jason Kubel misplayed Posada’s slicing line drive for a ground-rule double that scored two for a 3-0 Yankees lead. Michael Cuddyer doubled to start the second, but he wandered too far on a grounder to shortstop by Torii Hunter and was tagged out by Jeter — Cuddyer’s second baserunning mistake in three days including forgetting to tag up on a shallow fly ball against the White Sox.
Ponson, roughed up in three outings for New York in August before being released, was the only Minnesota starter who struggled in his first turn through the rotation. He walked three and struck out two.
After Abreu’s two-run, two-out homer in the second, Ponson allowed only one hit to the next 14 batters he faced until a disastrous sixth. Abreu drove in Jeter with a two-out single, and then Rodriguez followed with a rocket that glanced off the fake glass in front of a luxury suite above right field for an 8-1 lead. Rodriguez leads the majors with five homers and 13 RBIs.
Pavano didn’t even need it.
Kubel drove in a run with a fifth-inning single, and Torii Hunter doubled home Joe Mauer in the seventh, but that was the only damage. After the Yankees set a franchise record when each of their starters failed to reach the sixth in the first five games of the year, Pavano himself pitched through seven innings for the first time since his last major league win. Injuries kept him out for 1½ seasons until returning as the opening-day starter for New York last week.
This was a welcome outing by Pavano for the Yankees, who lost three of their first five games while fighting cold air and bad starting pitching last week.
Notes: Abreu is 9-for-22 with three homers and 10 RBIs in his career against Ponson.
n Six of Luis Castillo’s 10 hits have not left the infield. The Minnesota second baseman led the majors in that category coming into the game.
n Former Twins first baseman Doug Mientkiewicz made a diving stop of Cuddyer’s sharp grounder down the line for an unassisted out to end the third.
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