DETROIT (Ticker) -- Jeremy Bonderman might not have been ready just yet.
Joe Mays pitched five strong innings and Jacque Jones homered and drove in four runs as the Minnesota Twins hammered Bonderman in his major league debut en route to an 8-1 victory over the Detroit Tigers.
Bonderman is one of the most highly touted pitching prospects in baseball and was acquired by the Tigers last season in the three-team trade that sent Jeff Weaver to the New York Yankees.
The 20-year-old righthander was expected to start 2003 in the minor leagues but earned a starting spot with an impressive spring. He became the youngest Tigers' pitcher to make a start since 1979 and was the first Detroit hurler to jump from Class A to the major leagues in 35 years.
"I wasn't nervous. I was excited and I had a lot of adrenaline," Bonderman said. "I'm going to enjoy pitching my first big league game. I'm not going to go home and think, 'I just messed up.' I felt comfortable out there. I made some mistakes and I got hit hard."
But Bonderman could not handle the defending American League Central Division champions, who pounded the rookie for six runs and nine hits in four innings.
"I had high expectations for myself," he said. "I've got 35 more starts. One isn't going to kill me. It's not going to be the last time I give up six runs, plain and simple."
"He wasn't real sharp, but he's a 20-year-old kid who was excited," Detroit manager Alan Trammell said. "I'm sure he had some butterflies. He didn't make quality pitches and it's a learning experience. I don't know that we can really evaluate Jeremy until he makes another couple of outings."
Corey Koskie sparked the rout with an RBI single in the first inning and Jones belted a two-run shot off Bonderman (0-1) in the second.
"It was a pitch, it was up in the zone in, I was looking for it," Jones said. "I was looking for something in, he threw it in, that's a pitch you can't miss and I didn't miss it."
The Twins added three runs in the fourth on Jones' RBI infield single and a two-run triple by Torii Hunter.
Despite his success, Jones had strong praise for Bonderman, who struck out five.
"I thought he had pretty good stuff," Jones said. "His ball moved like crazy. He throws hard, it looked like he was trying to work both sides of the plate. He's got good stuff. I think he's going to be pretty good."
Mays (1-0) allowed just one run and two hits while striking out four. He improved to 10-4 lifetime against the Detroit - his most victories against any team.
It was an encouraging performance for Mays, who had offseason elbow surgery and was taken out after just 69 pitches.
"I had no concerns about it," Mays said of the injury.
"I knew my arm was fine. I was very bitter when they took me out. I really didn't say much. I had a nice rhythm and tempo going. They want to have me for the whole season so I think they're just trying to take me along slowly."
"Joe Mays was fine, he threw about 70 pitches, got about five innings in," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. "It was pretty chilly out there and that was enough. We'd seen enough from him. He felt good and that's a good thing for us."
Johan Santana pitched two scoreless innings and Mike Fetters and LaTroy Hawkins each pitched a perfect inning as Minnesota sealed its 11th straight victory over Detroit.
Mays retired the first six batters he faced and struck out the side in the second inning. He surrendered a leadoff homer to Eric Munson in the third, but retired nine of the next 10 hitters.
The Tigers did not get another runner past first base following Munson's homer and had just two singles and a walk thereafter.
