2004 American League Division Series
Teams
Team (Wins) Manager Season New York Yankees (3) Joe Torre 101–61, .623, GA: 3 Minnesota Twins (1) Ron Gardenhire 92–70, .568, GA: 9
Dates	October 5 – 9
Television	Fox (Games 1, 4) ESPN (Games 2–3)
TV announcers	Joe Buck,Tim McCarver (Game 1) Jon Miller,Joe Morgan andGary Miller (Games 2–3) Josh Lewin,Steve Lyons (Game 4)
Radio	ESPN
Radio announcers	Dan Shulman,Dave Campbell
Umpires	Charlie Reliford Mark Wegner Brian Gorman Mike Everitt Jerry Crawford Paul Nauert
Teams
Team (Wins) Manager Season Boston Red Sox (3) Terry Francona 98–64, .605, GB: 3 Anaheim Angels (0) Mike Scioscia 92–70, .568, GA: 1
Dates	October 5 – 8
Television	ESPN
TV announcers	Chris Berman,Rick Sutcliffe,Tony Gwynn andKyle Peterson
Radio	ESPN
Radio announcers	John Rooney,Buck Martinez
Umpires	Larry Young Jerry Meals Brian Runge Gary Cederstrom Ed Montague Kerwin Danley
← 2003 ALDS 2005 →

The2004American League Division Series (ALDS), the opening round of the2004American League playoffs inMajor League Baseball’s (MLB) 2004 postseason, began on Tuesday, October 5, and ended on Saturday, October 9, with the champions of the three AL divisions—along with a "wild card" team—participating in two best-of-five series. They were:

• (1)New York Yankees (Eastern Division champion, 101–61) vs. (3)Minnesota Twins (Central Division champion, 92–70): Yankees win series, 3–1.
• (2)Anaheim Angels (Western Division champion, 92–70) vs. (4)Boston Red Sox (Wild Card, 98–64): Red Sox win series, 3–0.

^[1]

The New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox went on to meet in theAL Championship Series (ALCS). The Red Sox became the American League champion, and defeated theNational League championSt. Louis Cardinals in the2004 World Series for their first World Championship since1918.

New York won the series, 3–1.

Boston won the series, 3–0.

Yankee Stadium (I) inBronx, New York

Pitching dominated in Game 1 asMike Mussina facedJohan Santana. The Twins got on the board first whenShannon Stewart singled homeMichael Cuddyer, who singled to leadoff and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt. Then in the sixth,Jacque Jones hit a solo home run to make it 2–0. The Yankees got nine hits and numerous walks, but never capitalized on Santana,Juan Rincón, or closerJoe Nathan, hitting into five double plays (including a strikeout-caught stealing play in the second and fly ball-out at home play in the third). This was the last postseason game won by the Twins until their win over Toronto in Game 1 of the2023 American League Wild Card Series.^[9]

Yankee Stadium (I) inBronx, New York

Brad Radke of the Twins facedJon Lieber of the Yankees in Game 2. In the top of the first,Justin Morneau doubled in Torii Hunter to give the Twins a 1–0 lead. In the bottom of the first,Derek Jeter's leadoff home run tied the score. A single byMichael Cuddyer with two on and sacrifice fly byHenry Blanco made it 3–1 Twins, butGary Sheffield tied the game with a two-run homer in the bottom of the third.Alex Rodriguez gave the Yankees the lead in the bottom of the fifth with a solo home run. He added in another run in the seventh by singling homeMiguel Cairo, who drew a leadoff walk and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt, to make it 5–3 Yankees.Jacque Jones reached first on a strike three wild pitch fromTom Gordon, then Torii Hunter singled to put runners on first and second in the eighth.Mariano Rivera came in but, a single by Morneau and a ground-rule double byCorey Koskie scored a run each, tying the game, but with the go-ahead run at third, Rivera retiredJason Kubel andCristian Guzmán to end the inning. The game went into extra innings and in the top of the 12th,Torii Hunter hit the go-ahead solo home run offTanyon Sturtze. The Twins were on the verge of putting the Yankees down two games to none, heading home, but Twins managerRon Gardenhire left closer Joe Nathan in for a third inning of work, despite having two solid relievers still yet to be used in the game. Nathan got the first out, but then walked Cairo and Jeter on four pitches each, after which Gardenhire still chose to leave Nathan in despite his clearly having nothing left and Alex Rodriguez coming up. Rodriguez promptly hit a ground-rule double that tied the game. Then, after Sheffield was intentionally walked,Hideki Matsui hit the game-winningsacrifice fly that scored Jeter offJ.C. Romero.Paul Quantrill earned a win by retiring the last hitter of the top of the 11th as the Yankees tied the series heading to Minnesota.

Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome inMinneapolis, Minnesota

Yankees starterKevin Brown faced Twins hurlerCarlos Silva in the crucial Game 3. The Twins grabbed the lead in the bottom of the first whenJacque Jones hit his second home run of the series, but with two outs in the second, five straight singles gave the Yankees a 3–1 lead. Then, as the night wore on, the Yanks blew the game open in the sixth.Bernie Williams hit a two-run homer after Matsui singled to lead off the inning. After a single, walk, sacrifice bunt and strikeout fromJ.C. Romero,Derek Jeter added a two-run single offJesse Crain to make it 7–1 Yankees. Brown hurled six innings, whileHideki Matsui's home run in the seventh inning to make it 8–1 Yankees. The Twins, however, did not go quietly. Two consecutive hit-by-pitches to lead off the bottom of the ninth inning byFélix Heredia was followed by two singles offTanyon Sturtze, the second of which byMichael Cuddyer scored a run.Mariano Rivera relieved Sturtze and allowed a groundout byJose Offerman and sacrifice fly byShannon Stewart before Jones grounded out to end the game as the Yankees' 8–4 win gave them a 2–1 series lead.

Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome inMinneapolis, Minnesota

Javier Vázquez of the Yankees went againstJohan Santana of the Twins, who were on the board first with a sacrifice fly byTorii Hunter in the first after back-to-back singles. But the Yankees tied it in the third whenDerek Jeter hit a leadoff single, moved to second on a groundout, and scored on an RBI single byHideki Matsui. A walk and double in the fourth was followed byCorey Koskie's sacrifice fly that put the Twins back in front 2–1.Henry Blanco led the bottom of the fifth off with a home run to make it 3–1 Twins. Two two-out singles and a hit-by-pitch loaded the bases before a two-run double byLew Ford extended the Twins' lead to 5–1. However, the Twins squandered the lead in the top of the eighth with Juan Rincón pitching in relief. Bernie Williams would single home Gary Sheffield after a single and wild pitch. With Matsui and Williams on base and one out,Rubén Sierra hit the game-tying three-run home run.Joe Nathan would come on in relief and get the next two outs. The game went into extra innings and Alex Rodriguez doubled, stole third, and scored onKyle Lohse'swild pitch in the top of the 11th to put the Yankees up 6–5.Mariano Rivera got the win with two shutout innings as he retired the Twins 1–2–3 to end the series in the bottom of the 11th.

2004 ALDS(3–1):New York Yankees overMinnesota Twins

Angel Stadium of Anaheim inAnaheim, California

Game 1 pitchedCurt Schilling againstJarrod Washburn. The Red Sox struck first whenDavid Ortiz singled homeManny Ramírez, who doubled with two outs. In the fourth, the Red Sox blew the game open. After Ortiz walked to open the inning,Kevin Millar homered to make it 3–0. Then the Red Sox loaded the bases with one out.Johnny Damon would reach on an error by Chone Figgins that scored two unearned runs to make it 5–0.Scot Shields relieved Washburn and afterMark Bellhorn struck out, Manny Ramírez hit a three-run home run to make it 8–0 Red Sox.Troy Glaus' home run in the bottom of the inning put the Angels on the board. In the seventh,Darin Erstad homered off Schilling with one out.Garret Anderson reached on Schilling's throwing error before scoring on Glaus's double, butAlan Embree andMike Timlin held them scoreless for the rest of the game while the Red Sox added run in the eighth onDoug Mientkiewicz's RBI single with two on offRamon Ortiz.

Angel Stadium of Anaheim inAnaheim, California

Pedro Martínez of the Red Sox facedBartolo Colón of the Angels. Abases-loaded walk toManny Ramirez for the Red Sox in the second put them ahead 1–0. However, the Angels would tie it in the bottom half with an RBI single byDallas McPherson after a leadoff walk and single. The Angels would take their only lead in the series whenVladimir Guerrero, the eventual MVP, singled homeJose Molina andDavid Eckstein with the bases loaded. The Red Sox immediately responded whenJason Varitek hit a two-out, two-run homer to tie the game in the sixth. The Sox would take the lead on a sacrifice fly by Manny Ramírez in the seventh offFrancisco Rodriguez, then padded their lead in the ninth offBrendan Donnelly. Ramirez doubled with one out and after an intentional walk, scored onTrot Nixon's single. After a two-out intentional walk loaded the bases,Orlando Cabrera cleared them with a double.Keith Foulke retired the Angels in order in the bottom of the inning as the Red Sox's 8–3 win gave them a 2–0 series lead.

Fenway Park inBoston, Massachusetts

Kelvim Escobar of the Angels andBronson Arroyo of the Red Sox faced off in the clincher. The Red Sox once again struck first with runners on second and third whenTrot Nixon's single andKevin Millar's groundout made it 2–0 in the third. The Angels cut the lead in half whenTroy Glaus hit a home run in the fourth. In the bottom of the inning, a single, error and walk loaded the bases beforeManny Ramirez's sacrifice fly made it 3–1 Red Sox.Scot Shields relieved Escobar and allowed an RBI double toDavid Ortiz. After an intentional walk loaded the bases, another Angel error allowedMark Bellhorn to score to make it 5–1 Red Sox. Ramirez's RBI single with two on next inning increased the lead to 6–1. It appeared as if the Angels were down and out, but they loaded the bases in the top of the seventh thanks to two walks and a single. After Chone Figgins struck out,Darin Erstad walked to force in a run that made it 6–2.Mike Timlin then threw to Vladimir Guerrero, who hit a grand slam to right that evened the score at 6–6 and stunned the Fenway crowd. The game went to extra innings and, in the bottom of the tenth, Johnny Damon led off with a single. AfterPokey Reese forced him and Ramirez struck out,Jarrod Washburn relievedFrancisco Rodríguez andDavid Ortiz hit the series-winning two-run home run over theGreen Monster to send the Red Sox to the ALCS for the second straight year.

2004 ALDS(3–0):Boston Red Sox overAnaheim Angels

• NYY vs. MIN at Baseball-Reference
• BOS vs. ANA at Baseball-Reference

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