Twins hit 3 more HRs in 10-1 rout over Angels

Published 4:04 am Friday, April 9, 2010

Jim Thome feels he’s in the right place at the right time to make another run at a World Series title, and possibly win one this time after two close calls with the Cleveland Indians.

The Minnesota Twins feel the same way, now that they’ve added his bat to their already powerful lineup. Thome drove in three runs with his 565th career home run, Brendan Harris hit a tiebreaking two-run shot and Delmon Young added a three-run homer in the ninth, leading the Twins to a 10-1 rout of the Los Angeles Angels on Thursday night.

“To be a part of this is hopefully going to be very special,” Thome said. “But it’s hard to say after four games how the season is going to play itself out because there’s some good teams in our division. It all boils down to health. These guys have had some wonderful teams. So for me, it’ll be fun to kind of learn and go about this process — because they definitely play the right way and they’ve played the right way for years.”

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The Twins took three of four in their season-opening series against the three-time defending AL West champions, whose 1-3 start is their worst since starting 1992 at 0-4. Minnesota hasn’t won a season series against the Halos since 2002, the year they lost to them in the AL championship series.

“We had a good series here. You come out here against this club and win three out of four, that’s a nice way to start a season,” manager Ron Gardenhire said. “That’s a great baseball team over there. It has been for a long time, and it’s no different now. They’ve got a lot of good players over there and of weapons, so you know they’re always going to be there.”

Young capped a four-run ninth against Fernando Rodney with the ninth home run of the season for the Twins, who have homered in each of their first four games for the first time since 1997.

“As a pitching staff, it’s certainly encouraging to know that we’re going to score runs,” winning pitcher Kevin Slowey said.