MINNESOTA 13, SEATTLE 5 IN MINNESOTA
Date: Monday, April 20.
Batting stars: Al Newman was 2-for-4 with a double and a walk, scoring twice and driving in two. Gary Gaetti was 1-for-3 with a three-run homer (his third) and a walk. Randy Bush was 1-for-2 with a double and a walk, scoring once and driving in one.
Pitching star: Mike Smithson pitched seven innings, giving up four runs (three earned) on eight hits and a walk with no strikeouts.
Opposition stars: John Moses was 4-for-5 with a run and an RBI. Ken Phelps was 1-for-3 with a home run (his fourth) and a walk, driving in two. Rey Quinones was 1-for-3 with a double and a run.
The game: The Twins scored six runs in the first and never had a lead of less than four after that. Mariners starter Mike Morgan faced six batters and did not retire any of them, giving up RBI doubles to Bush and Kent Hrbek, the Gaetti three-run homer, and a home run to Roy Smalley.
Of note: Newman raised his average to .333...Kirby Puckett was 0-for-3 with a walk and a run, dropping his average to .400...Dan Gladden was 1-for-1 as a reserve and was batting .346.
Record: The Twins were 9-4 and in first place, leading California by one game.
Notes: Newman started the game at shortstop in place of Greg Gagne. Gagne entered the game in the eighth inning to give Gaetti a break, with Newman moving to third base...Bush was again in right and Tom Brunansky in left. Gladden entered the game in the seventh and took over for Puckett in center...Smithson did a lot of pitching from 1982-86, and it appears to have taken a toll on him. He pitched 199.1 innings in 1982 (most in AAA), 223.1 in 1983, 252 in 1984 (his first year with the Twins), 257 in 1985, and 198 in 1986. He led the league in starts in both 1984 and 1985. He did very well 1984, was still decent in 1985, was not very good in 1986, and by 1987 he was done as an effective pitcher. His first two starts in 1987 were good, this one was okay, but it would go downhill from here. He made a couple of starts that weren't bad, but most of them were. He spent part of the season in the minors and would only make one more really good start, on September 5. The Twins released him after the season, he had a couple of poor years with Boston, and then he was done, apparently a victim of overuse. When the old school guys talk about how modern pitchers are "babied", they never mention the Mike Smithsons of baseball, but a guy could find an awful lot of them if he wanted to take the time to look.
Smithson's struggles would plague the Twins all season as they had a hard time finding decent 4th and 5th starters and would lead to them trading for the likes of Joe Niekro and Steve Carlton. Once they got into the postseason, they only used 3 starters. Of course, it was easier when there was only 2 rounds to the playoffs.
This 11 April 1987 UPI piece suggests Smithson was attempting to throw more fastballs after relying on breaking stuff for most of his career. The Neyer/James handbook lists Smithson as throwing only three pitches : a sinking fastball, a slider, and a changeup. Smithson was super lanky (listed at 6'8", 215 lbs), so I wonder if a fastball-heavy repertoire was sustainable for his frame & mechanics. It might not've helped that his pitching coach switched from Johnny Podres to Dick Such.