PITTSBURGH PIRATES 6, MINNESOTA TWINS 1 IN PITTSBURGH

Date:  Friday, June 5, 1998

Batting stars:  None.

Pitching star:  Mike Morgan pitched six innings, giving up three runs on eight hits and a walk and striking out four.

Opposition stars:  Jermaine Allensworth was 2-for-2 with a walk, two runs, and two RBIs.  Kevin Young was 2-for-3 with a walk.  Kevin Polcovich was 2-for-4 with a double and two RBIs.  Jose Guillen was 2-for-4 with a double.  Jason Kendall was 2-for-4.  Jose Silva pitched a complete game, giving up one run on five hits and striking out seven.  He threw 110 pitches.

The game:  Pittsburgh got three singles in the first inning, but a double play and a pickoff kept them off the scoreboard.  The Twins actually scored first, in the third inning.  Morgan, batting because the game was being played in a National League park, hit a one-out single.  With two out, Brent Gates and Paul Molitor singled, giving the Twins a 1-0 lead.

It stayed 1-0 until the fifth.  Allensworth and Guillen led off with singles, putting men on first and third, and a force out tied the score.  The Pirates went ahead in the sixth.  With two out, Al Martin and Kendall singled and Young walked, loading the bases.  Allensworth followed with a two-run single, making the scored 3-1 Pittsburgh.

The Pirates put the game out of reach in the eighth with another two-out rally.  Young singled and Allensworth walked.  Guillen hit a run-scoring double, Aramis Ramirez walked, and Polcovich hit a two-run single.  Pittsburgh led 6-1, and that’s how it would end.  The Twins got only one hit after the third inning, a single by Javier Valentin in the seventh.

WP:  Silva (6-3).

LP:  Morgan (2-2).

S:  None.

Notes:  Valentin was behind the plate in place of Terry Steinbach.  As there was no DH, Molitor played first base, moving David Ortiz to the bench.  Gates was at third in place of Ron Coomer.

Morgan was batting .500.  He would finish at .625.  Todd Walker was batting .347.  He would finish at .316.  Eddie Guardado had an ERA of 2.78.  He would finish at 4.52.

Mike Morgan, 1998 notwithstanding, was not a particularly good batter.  For his career, he hit .109/.132./.119 in 497 at-bats.  This was his only season with the Twins, and it was only a partial season, as he was traded to the Cubs on August 25 for a player to be named later, who turned out to be named Scott Downs.

I really thought Jose Guillen was going to be a star.  It never happened, although he had a solid major league career.  He batted .267 with 14 home runs as a 21-year-old rookie in 1997, finishing seventh in Rookie of the Year voting.  He had an incredibly similar year in 1998:  in 1997 he batted .267/.300/.412; in 1998 he batted .267/.298/.414, again with 14 home runs.  He bounced around after that, going to Tampa Bay in 1999, then to Arizona and Cincinnati in 2002.  He had his best year for Cincinnati in 2003, batting .337 with 23 home runs before being traded to Oakland at the July deadline.  He had solid years for Anaheim and Washington in 2004 and 2005, respectively, and another good year for Seattle in 2007.  For his career, he batted .270/.321/.440 with 214 home runs in fourteen major league seasons.

Record:  Pittsburgh was 30-30, in fourth place in the NL Central, 5.5 games behind the Cubs and Houston.  They finished 69-93, in sixth (last) place, 33 games behind Houston.

The Twins were 26-32, in second place in the AL Central, 8.5 games behind Cleveland.  They would finish 70-92, in fourth place, 19 games ahead of Cleveland.

Random Record:  The Random Twins are 14-12 (.538)

OAKLAND ATHLETICS 10, MINNESOTA TWINS 9 IN MINNESOTA (10 INNINGS)

Date:  Friday, April 8, 1994.

Batting star:  Kirby Puckett was 5-for-6 with a double and four RBIs.  Rich Becker was 3-for-5 with a double and two runs.  Alex Cole was 3-for-5 with a walk and two runs.  Chuck Knoblauch was 2-for-4 with a double, a walk, two runs, and three RBIs.  Kent Hrbek was 2-for-5 with a walk.

Pitching star:  Carl Willis struck out two in two perfect innings.

Opposition stars:  Brent Gates was 2-for-2 with a home run (his first), a walk, two runs, and three RBIs.  Mark McGwire was 2-for-4 with a home run (his first) and two RBIs.  Troy Neel was 2-for-5 with a double and two RBIs.  Ruben Sierra hit a home run, his first.  Terry Steinbach hit a home run, his second.  Bob Welch pitched six innings, giving up one run on five hits and three walks and striking out three.

The game:  Oakland dominated early on.  Sierra hit a two-out homer in the first to give the Athletics a 1-0 lead.  In the second, Rickey Henderson led off with a walk and Stan Javier singled.  A ground out moved them to second and third with two out and Gates delivered a two-run single to make it 3-0.  

The Twins got on the board in the third when Pat Meares singled, Cole walked, and Puckett hit an RBI single.  But Oakland got the run back with interest in the fifth.  Henderson singled and McGwire and Gates hit back-to-back home runs, giving the Athletics a 6-1 advantage.  It went to 7-1 in the sixth when Steinbach homered.

The Twins came back, though.  In the seventh, singles by Becker and Cole put men on the corners with one out.  Knoblauch hit a sacrifice fly, Puckett singled, and Kent Hrbek walked to load the bases.  Dave Winfield then doubled to bring the Twins within three at 7-4.

Oakland got an insurance run in the eighth when Gates walked and scored on Neel’s RBI double.  But in the bottom of the eighth, Chip Hale walked, Becker singled, and Cole singled to load the bases with one out.  Knoblauch drove in two with a double, Puckett drove in two more with a single, and the game was tied 8-8.  Neither team scored in the ninth, so the game went to extra innings.

In the tenth, Geronimo Berroa led off with a double and went to third on a bunt. Neel singled to score him, went to second on a ground out, and scored himself on a Scott Brosius single, putting the Athletics up 10-8.  In the bottom of the tenth, Knoblauch led off with a single and scored on a Puckett double.  The tying run was on second with none out.  He went to third on a ground out, but the next two batters were retired and the victory went to Oakland.

WP:  John Briscoe (1-0).

LP:  Larry Casian (0-1).

S:  Billy Taylor (1).

Notes:  Hale was at third in place of Scott Leius.  Becker began the season as the regular center fielder, but was soon replaced by Shane Mack.  Mack usually played left, with Cole, who was in left in this game, moving to center.  Pedro Munoz also saw significant time in left.

This early in the season, of course, the batting averages are skewed.  Jeff Reboulet was batting .500.  He would finish at .259.  Becker was batting .417.  He would finish at .265.  Knoblauch was batting .412.  He would finish at .312.  Puckett was batting .400.  He would finish at .317.  Hrbek was also batting .400.  He would finish at .270.  Cole was batting .333.  He would finish at .296.  Dave Winfield was batting .313.  He would finish at .252.

As you probably realized, there were three Oakland players who would eventually finish their careers with the Twins.  Gates played for the Twins in 1998-1999.  Sierra came in 2006.  Steinbach played for them from 1997-1999.

This was the only year as a rotation starter for Pat Mahomes.  He had an eleven year career, which is pretty good for someone who was only able to put up an ERA below five in four of those years.  

This was the only save Billy Taylor would get in 1994.  It was the first save of his career and only his third major league appearance.  He would go on to have some fine years as the Oakland closer, but in 1994 they still had Dennis Eckersley.  Eckersley was used as the closer in this game, but blew the save in the eighth.

Troy Neel was a first baseman/DH.  He played for them from 1992-1994, and finished seventh in Rookie of the Year voting in 1993.  He was actually a very good batter:  in 758 at-bats, he batted .280/.263/.475 with 37 home runs.  Unfortunately for him, the Athletics had Mark McGwire at first base and Geronimo Berroa to DH, so they really didn’t have a spot for him.  You’d think someone else would’ve wanted him, but instead he went to Japan, where he had a long career for the Orix Blue Wave.  

John Briscoe split six seasons between Oakland and AAA from 1991-1996.  A reliever, he was 5-5, 5.67, 1.81 WHIP in 100 games (139.2 innings).  He was not that good in AAA, either:  11-14, 4.87, 1.73 WHIP.  He’s one of the many pitchers who might have been good if he could have found the strike zone.  He averaged 5.8 walks per nine innings in AAA and 8.3 walks per nine innings in the majors.  His “stuff” was obviously good enough for him to keep getting chances, but he simply could not throw enough strikes.  He did go on to pitch for five seasons for Somerset in the Atlantic League.

Record:  Oakland was 1-2, tied for second with Texas in the AL West, a half game behind California.  They would finish 51-63, in second place, one game behind Texas.

Minnesota was 1-3, tied for third with the White Sox in the AL Central, 2.5 games behind Cleveland and Milwaukee.  They would finish 53-60, in fourth place, 14 games behind the White Sox.

Random Record:  The Random Twins are 14-11 (.560)..