By By BRUCE HIXON Sports Editor
The Twins and the Blue Jays were both first-round winners in the Brewton Babe Ruth Tournament Monday.
The Twins, who finished in a three-way tie for second place during the regular season, ambushed the Tigers 18-1 in just four and one-half innings.
Meanwhile the fourth-seeded Blue Jays held on for a 6-5 decision over the third-seeded Red Sox.
Play continued Tuesday when the Blue Jays and Twins squared off in the winners' bracket, while the Tigers and Red Sox collided in the elimination bracket.
The tournament continues Thursday where the top-seeded Orioles will see their first action of the tournament at 7:30 p.m. against Tuesday's Twins-Blue Jays winner. An elimination game will precede that contest at 5:30 p.m.
Twins 18, Tigers 1
The Twins scored 14 unanswered runs over the first three innings in their rout of the Tigers.
Seth Holland's RBI double and Stephen Warren's two-run single fueled a five-run first inning for the winners. The Twins tacked on six more runes in the second inning with the big blow being Jake Smith's grand slam.
Holland had three singles, a double and an RBI to pace the Twins, while Smith had a two-run double to go along with his grand slam and seven total RBIs on the evening. Warren had a pair of singles and three RBIs, while Matt Madden added a single.
Corey Williams started and hurled three scoreless innings for the win.
The Tigers got an RBI single from Kyle Baggett plus singles from Justin Payne, Chase Crosby and Walter Smith.
Blue Jays 6, Red Sox 5
The Blue Jays scored in each of the first four innings and never trailed although they had to fend off Red Sox scoring threats in both the sixth and seventh innings.
The Blue Jays got a single, a triple, an RBI and two runs scored from Mabry Cook. Jake Hunsinger and Jamar Travis both had a single. Brent Odom had a single and an RBI.
James Hamric went the first three innings for the win.
The Red Sox got a double and an RBI from Chris Griffin. Will Waters had a triple. Grant DeFrancisco had a single. Sam Sharpe had a single and scored two runs.