INDIANS NOTEBOOK From Jacobs Field
Two dingers: Indians left fielder Marty Cordova hit a two-run homer in the second inning and a solo shot in the fourth off Twins ace Eric Milton. It was his second two-homer game of year and sixth of his career. Cordova, who is playing for the major-league minimum salary, also homered twice on April 19 at Baltimore. In his last 13 games, Cordova is 21 for 51 (.412) with five homers and 15 RBIs.
Half mast: The huge American flag that flies in center field flew at half mast in honor of Lou Boudreau, who died last Friday. Boudreau was the player-manager of the 1948 Indians, the last Tribe team to win the World Series. A two-minute video tribute to Boudreau preceded the national anthem.
Better hitters: The Twins' starting lineup had just one hitter (Doug Mientkiewicz) with a batting average above .300. The Indians had five (Roberto Alomar, Juan Gonzalez, Jim Thome, Cordova and Einar Diaz). The only other Twins regular with a high batting average is Cristian Guzman (.308), who is rehabbing a shoulder injury in the Gulf Coast League.
Errors: The Indians' 82 errors has them ranked ninth in the American League. Eighteen of them have come in the past 15 games, but they made none Tuesday. Last season, the team made 72 errors, setting American League records for number and fielding percentage (.987).
Hard slide: Twins catcher A.J. Pierzynski drew an eighth-inning leadoff walk against Bartolo Colon. Luis Rivas hit a hard grounder to second baseman Alomar in the base line, making Pierzynski a dead duck. The Twins baserunner abandoned his course for second and slid hard at Alomar, who tagged him out and completed the double play. Alomar and Pierzynski exchanged heated words as the Pierzynski walked off the field.
Tickets: The Indians say there are 2,500 tickets still available for today's 7 p.m. game against the Twins and 3,000 for Thursday's game. This weekend's series against the Angels is sold out. There are 3,000 seats available for each of the games against the Boston Red Sox from Aug. 28-30.
-- Tom Williams