The Twins sent Tim Hudson (12-16, 3.43) to the mound against the Orioles and Carlos Zambrano (20-6, 3.75).
Baltimore had the first good scoring chance of the game when Huff and Delgado sandwiched singles around a groundout by Edgar Renteria, leaving runners at first and third with one out. Twins ace Tim Hudson came through striking out both cleanup hitter Brian Giles and Geoff Jenkins looking.
The Twins opened the scoring in the second inning. With one out, Carlos Zambrano hit Vernon Wells to bring up catcher Keith Osik. Osik sent a grounder to third baseman Vinny Castilla who bobbled the ball for a 2-base error and put two runners in scoring position with one out. Adam Dunn struck out and brought Raffy Furcal up in the clutch. Furcal lined a single to score two unearned runs against Zambrano.
Both pitchers settled down and cruised through the next three innings. In the top of the 6th, Vernon Wells smacked a HR to give the Twins a 3-0 lead. The Orioles answered quickly in the bottom half of the inning. Lead-off man Aubrey Huff singled and, after a Renteria strike out, moved to second base after a walk to Carlos Delgado. With one out, Brian Giles grounded out while moving the runners to second and third. Coming up in the clutch, Geoff Jenkins drilled a single scoring Huff and Delgado and cutting the Twins lead to 3-2.
With a mounting pitch count, Curt Leskanic came in for Zambrano and opened up the eighth inning by getting Larry Walker to fly out. Joe Nathan came in to face Twins righties Scott Rolen and Vernon Wells, and the wheels started falling off for the Orioles when Nathan walked both batters. Dan Plesac came in to face J.D. Drew and the Twins brought in pinch hitter Joe Vitiello who flied out. Plesac then hit Adam Dunn to load up the bases. Plesac walked in a run as Raffy Furcal took a free base. Mike Koplove came in and promptly walked in two more runs as PH Adam Melhuse and Milton Bradley took the free RBIs. The Twins scored three runs on 5 walks and a hit batsman to take a 6-2 lead.
The O�s tried to mount a comeback in the bottom of the eighth, getting runners on first and second with one out in the eighth. After getting the first out, Hudson gave up a single to Renteria and the Twins brought in Damaso Marte to pitch to Carlos Delgado. Marte hit Delgado, but managed to strike out PH Junior Spivey. Lew Ford came in to pinch hit with two out and ripped a clutch double to score one run and put runners on 2nd and 3rd for Shannon Stewart. The Twins brought in LaTroy Hawkins who got Stewart to line out and retired the side in the ninth to secure a 1-0 series lead for the Twins.