Milton stops Yankees with 4-hitter in series opener
Eric Milton: 'I was throwing strikes all night, but I didn't have my best stuff.'
NEW YORK (AP) -- Eric Milton stood on the Yankee Stadium mound trying to finish off his former team on a night he didn't have his best stuff.
Then something kicked in.
"In the eighth and ninth innings, I got the adrenaline going," Milton said after pitching a four-hitter in the Minnesota Twins' 2-0 victory over the New York Yankees on Tuesday night. "I guess just the chance to shut out the Yankees, you find a little bit extra."
Milton (4-2) struck out seven and walked two in his third career shutout, and his first since a no-hitter over Anaheim on Sept. 11, 1999.
"I was throwing strikes all night, but I didn't have my best stuff," Milton said. "I was just locating my pitches and changing speeds."
The left-hander, acquired by Minnesota along with Cristian Guzman, Brian Buchanan and Daniel Mota from New York for Chuck Knoblauch in February 1998, snapped a personal two-game losing streak with his sixth career complete game.
"Eric pitched a terrific game -- an understatement," Twins manager Tom Kelly said. "I can't say enough about the young man. Eric kept it under control."
And so did the Yankees fans.
There were no acts of retaliation by the crowd after Twins fans in the Metrodome's left-field stands pelted Knoblauch with quarters, golf balls, hot dogs and plastic beer cups during New York's series in Minnesota last week,
The normal number of security personnel was around the stadium, and Kevin Hallinan, executive director of security for the commissioner's office, was in attendance. There were no reported incidents as the Yankees' four-game winning streak was stopped with their first shutout loss of the season.
"I didn't expect any kind of retaliation from the other day," Yankees manager Joe Torre said. "I can't say I'm proud of the New York fans because I expected it."
Orlando Hernandez (0-4), who has lost six straight regular-season decisions -- the longest losing streak of his career -- pitched six innings and allowed two runs, eight hits, struck out four and walked three.
"The main thing is that I'm healthy and I want to do better than I'm doing now," Hernandez said through an interpreter.
The Yankees were shut out for the first time since Cleveland's Bartolo Colon blanked them last Sept. 18, and they fell to 6-14 against teams over .500. They are 13-0 otherwise.
The Twins, who won their second straight, went ahead 1-0 in the third on Guzman's leadoff homer.
"It's a big game every time we play the Yankees," Guzman said.
Minnesota, which at 22-8 moved 14 games over .500 for the first time since the end of the 1992 season, added another run in the fifth on a bases-loaded walk to Doug Mientkiewicz.
"I think with all of our starters, if we give them a couple of runs, then they'll make it tough for the other team to work their way back," Minnesota's Jacque Jones said.
Notes: Mientkiewicz went 1-for-2 to improve his AL-leading batting average to .406. He came in second in the AL to Boston's Manny Ramirez, who went 1-for-3 against Seattle and is hitting .403. ... The Twins' 22-8 start is their best since opening the 1979 season 22-8. ... The Yankees failed to steal a base for the first time in 18 games. It was the longest streak in the AL since the 1976 Oakland Athletics also stole a base in 17 straight.