NEW YORK – Johan Santana and the Minnesota Twins’ dazzling defense had the New York Yankees seeing double.

Santana and the Twins escaped trouble with the help of a record-setting five double plays, Jacque Jones homered in his first start since the death of his father, and the Twins beat the Yankees 2-0 Tuesday night to win their eighth straight opener in a postseason series.

Minnesota’s Soul Patrol outfield twice denied the Yankees with jumping catches – left fielder Shannon Stewart saved one run and possibly two on Ruben Sierra’s shot in the second, and center fielder Torii Hunter pulled in an eighth-inning drive by Alex Rodriguez at the top of the wall.

Hunter also threw out John Olerud at the plate in the second, completing one of the double plays by the Twins, who set a record for twin killings in a nine-inning postseason game.

Brad Radke now starts for the AL Central champions on Wednesday night, trying to take a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five series, which shifts to the noisy Metrodome in Minneapolis starting Friday.

Santana, unbeaten in 16 starts since the All-Star break, allowed eight hits in seven innings, the most off him since May 23. Four of the Yankees’ first six batters reached safely and 10 of the first 24, but Santana kept escaping.

Juan Rincon pitched the eighth and Joe Nathan finished for the save with the Twins’ only 1-2-3 inning of the game. New York, shut out for the second straight time in postseason play, went 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position.

The closest the Yankees came to scoring was in the seventh – after another of the long “God Bless America” renditions that Twins manager Ron Gardenhire dislikes. Sierra hit a drive past the left-field foul pole – left-field umpire Jerry Crawford signaled a home run, but after a huddle by several umpires, the call was correctly reversed to foul, drawing boos from the sellout crowd of 55,749.

Mike Mussina allowed his first run in the third on an RBI single by Stewart.

Cardinals 8, Dodgers 3

ST. LOUIS – Larry Walker and the St. Louis Cardinals turned Game 1 into a slugfest, and that was big trouble for the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Walker homered twice and the Cardinals tied a postseason record by hitting five home runs, overwhelming Odalis Perez and the Dodgers in an 8-3 blowout Tuesday in the opener of their NL playoff series.

Albert Pujols, Jim Edmonds and Mike Matheny also connected. Add in a strong six-inning performance from Woody Williams and the Cardinals looked every bit as dominating as they did in leading the majors with 105 wins.

The Cardinals hammered Perez for three homers in 2 2-3 innings.

Matheny connected off Elmer Dessens in the fourth to make it 7-0, giving the Cardinals a chance to cruise a bit again. After the Dodgers cut the deficit to 7-2, Walker homered again off Giovanni Carrara in the seventh.

The Cardinals are one of four teams to hit five homers in a postseason game, joining the 1984 Cubs (NLCS), the 1928 Yankees (World Series) and the 1989 Athletics (World Series).

A slugest was one thing that Dodgers manager Jim Tracy feared. And Perez, who has complained about the lack of run support, couldn’t complain this time. Two of the biggest hits came on consecutive at-bats from players whose performance dragged at the finish.

Edgar Renteria, 3-for-21 in his last six games, had a two-run double in the five-run third that broke open the game. Edmonds, who entered the postseason in a 1-for-29 slump, followed with a two-run homer to chase Perez.

Walker, who was 1-for-15 against Perez in the regular season, got the two-out, third-inning rally started with his two-out homer on the first pitch. Edmonds also connected on the first pitch.

Perez, making his first career postseason start, faced a tall order since the Cardinals had the three best hitters against left-handed pitching, including Pujols (.379), Scott Rolen (.371) and Renteria (.366). Plus, Pujols was 6-for-10 against him in the regular season with two homers, two doubles and seven RBIs.

Perez’ bottom line, six runs on five hits in 2 2-3 innings, was even worse than his spotty past record against the Cardinals. In four career regular-season starts, none of them this season, he’s 2-1 but with a 9.64 ERA.

Williams was a compromise pick as St. Louis’ Game 1 starter after an injury to 15-game winner Chris Carpenter and season-long inconsistency by opening-day starter Matt Morris made him a risky call.

Carpenter was lost for at least the first round of the playoffs because of to nerve irritation in his right biceps on Sept. 18, and Morris, who had been in line for Game 1, limped in with a 4.72 ERA and lasted only four innings in his final regular season start.

Williams, whose 11 victories trailed the staff in the regular season, labored somewhat and threw 116 pitches with two strikeouts and one walk. The Dodgers scored in the fifth on consecutive doubles by Cesar Izturis and Jayson Werth, and added a run in the sixth on Adrian Beltre’s leadoff single and Alex Cora’s two-out triple.

Tom Wilson hit a two-out homer in the ninth for Los Angeles.

Williams, who is 4-2 with a 2.65 career ERA against the Dodgers, also would pitch in Game 5 if necessary in La Russa’s four-man playoff rotation.

Notes: Among those left off the Dodgers’ roster for the first round were LHP Kazuhisa Ishii and RHP Edwin Jackson. Tracy kept Wilson as a third catcher. … Cardinals Hall of Famer Stan Musial threw out the first pitch with another Hall of Famer, Red Schoendienst, on the receiving end. … Walker is the third Cardinals player to homer twice in a postseason game. Ron Gant did it in the 1996 NLCS against the Braves and Willie McGee did it the 1982 World Series against the Brewers.

AP-ES-10-05-04 1625EDT