Oakland ruins Minnesota Twins' home opener

Kevin Correia has found himself right in the middle of Major League Baseball's new replay system early this season. So far, he's not such a big fan.

Correia sat through another long review in the third inning, then gave up six runs on nine hits in 5 2-3 innings of the Minnesota Twins' 8-3 loss to the Oakland Athletics on Monday.

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Correia (0-1) struck out three and walked two, the first of which came after umpires took 4 minutes, 11 seconds to review a possible home run by Jed Lowrie in the third. The call on the field of a foul ball was upheld, but Correia walked Lowrie on the next pitch, then gave up a double to Josh Donaldson and a two-run single to Brandon Moss to fall behind 4-1.

"You don't know when it's going to happen," Correia said. "They're going to have to feel it out and make it as quick as possible.

"I think the hardest part is not the actual replay. I think they'll be able to get that quick. It's just every close play, OK, let's stand around and wait until somebody figures out what to do with it. I think that's going to take too long."

Joe Mauer went 0 for 3 with two strikeouts and two walks for the Twins, who were missing left fielder Josh Willingham (left wrist) and right fielder Oswaldo Arcia (right wrist) because of injuries.

Correia was in the dugout during his first start of the season against the Chicago White Sox last week and was ready to go back out for the seventh inning. But a long replay while the Twins were hitting prompted manager Ron Gardenhire to pull Correia on a cold day.

"I don't like it stopping the game," Gardenhire said. "That's two times we've been involved in one that really stopped the game for a while. I don't really like that part of it.

"Ultimately, the goal is to get them right. We were told that the system is going to work and it's going to be quick. It's not working yet, as far as the quick part of it goes. But we're supposed to get it right."

Athletics starter Scott Kazmir (2-0) wasn't particularly sharp, giving up three runs on six hits with four walks in six innings. But Yoenis Cespedes had two RBIs while playing with a sore heel and Derek Norris hit a solo home run in the sixth to give Kazmir plenty of cushion.

Alberto Callaspo and Josh Reddick also drove in runs for the A's, who played without center fielder Coco Crisp because of a sore left wrist.

A's manager Bob Melvin acknowledged that the review of Lowrie's foul ball seemed to drag on a bit.

"I was sitting right on the line," Melvin said. "Sometimes I do realize, too, that I'm a little one-sided with it.

"That's what it's for, and I appreciate them taking a look. It took a little while, so it must've been close."

But nobody disputed that the call was indeed the correct one.

"Hopefully, like anything else new in any sport, it's just a matter of fine-tuning it and doing it as efficiently as possible," Correia said.

NOTES: Jason Kubel, Kurt Suzuki and Aaron Hicks drove in runs for the Twins. ... Lowrie was hit by a pitch on the lower right leg in the seventh inning and was in too much pain to stay in the game. Nick Punto, who played seven seasons for the Twins, entered as a pinch runner and eventually scored on a balk by Sam Deduno. ... Attendance was announced at 35,837, more than 3,000 below capacity. ... The three-game series resumes Wednesday afternoon, with RHP Jesse Chavez (0-0, 1.50 ERA) pitching for the A's against Twins RHP Phil Hughes (0-0, 7.20 ERA). ... In support of Twins general manager Terry Ryan, who is undergoing radiation treatment for the disease, the teams wore Stand Up To Cancer patches on their uniform, reflecting one of Major League Baseball's top charities.