Twins win as sparks fly

By Allen LaMountain
ASSTISTANT SPORTS EDITOR
alamountain@starhq.com

   A popular song in 1977 was the Pat Matheny Group's hit "Boom, Boom (Out go the lights)", and on Sunday night the lights went out with a resounding boom-boom at Joe O'Brien Field.
   What was scheduled to be a double-header turned out to be a single Twins win, with a suspended game tacked on as two transformers outside the park blew up in the top of the fourth inning with 'Betsy leading 11-0.
   Elizabethton won the opener 4-1 behind a solid pitching performance by lefty Ricky Barrett (2-1, 2.69), who hurled six innings -- despite a 30-minute rain delay -- to record his second win of the season.
   Barrett's numbers for the game were one run on four hits with six strikeouts and three walks, but a rain cloud seems to be following him around, especially at home.
   "It seems like the last few times I have pitched at home we have had rain," joked Barrett, who was rained out in his last home appearance against the Bristol Sox. "I only got to pitch one inning against Bristol, and if the delay had gone on much longer tonight I was worried that I wouldn't get to go back out there."
   Barrett's only mistake was a high curveball that Princeton catcher Bud Woodruff took over the fence in left field to cut 'Betsy's lead to 3-1 shortly after the rain delay.
   In the last of the first the Twins gave Barrett all the run support he would need as 'Slammin' Sam Taylor ripped a two-run homer -- following a Trent Oeltjen leadoff single -- that gave 'Betsy a 2-0 lead.
   One out later Dusty Gomon continued his hot streak with a titanic blast to left-centerfield that gave Barrett another run to work with, but it looked to be all for naught as the rains came with the Twins on top 3-0 after one frame.
   "I'm getting some good pitches to hit and I'm making good contact," said Gomon. "(Princeton) has some young pitchers that maybe lack experience."
   In the last of the fifth Garret Guzman hit his first homer of the season to stake Barrett to a 4-1 lead.
   In the nightcap the Twins had it all going their way as they scored five runs in the second and added six more in the third to chase both starter Felix Rodriguez and reliever Cole Smith before Joe Yarbrough was able to put the fire out.
   Then in the top of the fourth with two away and a runner on first for the Devil Rays, the transformer above the fence in rightfield sparked and one in the parking lot exploded, plunging Joe O'Brien into total darkness.
   "It's weird," said Twins manager Ray Smith. "I haven't seen anything like this. The way we were hitting the ball everyone couldn't wait for their next at bat. Princeton has got some boppers over there though, so we'll wait and see what happens."
   E-Twins notes: The suspended game will be played as part of a doubleheader tonight with game time at 6.