CALIFORNIA 5, MINNESOTA 1 IN MINNESOTA
Batting stars: Kent Hrbek was 2-for-5 with two doubles and an RBI. Randy Bush was 2-for-5 with a double and a run.
Pitching stars: George Frazier pitched a scoreless inning, giving up one hit. Jeff Reardon pitched a perfect inning.
Opposition stars: Mike Witt pitched eight innings, giving up one run on nine hits and one walk with three strikeouts. Doug DeCinces was 2-for-5 with a home run (his thirteenth) and two RBIs. Dick Schofield was 3-for-4 with two doubles and an RBI.
The game: The Angels didn't have any big innings, but just sort of eased out to a good lead and held it. George Hendrick singled in a run in the first and DeCinces singled one home in the third. Hrbek hit an RBI double in the bottom of the third, but an RBI single by Gus Polidor and a run-scoring double by Schofield made it 4-1 in the fourth. DeCinces homered in the seventh to round out the scoring. The Twins had their chances but stranded twelve runners, eight of them in scoring position.
Of note: Al Newman replaced Greg Gagne at short and led off...Bush batted second and played right field, with Tom Brunansky in left and Dan Gladden out of the lineup...Kirby Puckett was 1-for-4 with a walk, making his average .320...Gene Larkin was again the DH...Steve Carlton started for the Twins, pitching seven innings and giving up five runs on ten hits and three walks with three strikeouts. Memory is a funny thing, but I seem to recall Tom Kelly doing this a few times--using Carlton against another team's ace. My thought at the time was that TK figured the Twins weren't likely to beat that pitcher anyway, so there was no sense in wasting one of his good pitchers in that game. Carlton would at least be able to give him five or six innings and keep him from having to blow out the bullpen in a game they weren't likely to win.
Record: The Twins were 62-54, in first place, 2.5 games ahead of California.
Player profile: He couldn't sustain it, but there were a few years when Mike Witt was about as good a pitcher as anybody. He was born in Fullerton, California, went to high school in Anaheim, and was drafted by California in the fourth round in 1978. He was in Class A through the middle of 1980, went to AA for the rest of 1980, and despite the fact that he didn't pitch very well there he jumped to the big leagues in 1981 and stayed there the rest of his career, other than some rehab assignments. In his first two seasons, he produced ERAs well under four but only went 16-15. He did finish tied for fifth (with Dave Engle and Shooty Babitt) in Rookie of the Year voting in 1981. After three poor starts in 1983 he was moved to the bullpen, not getting back to the rotation until late July. He came back in 1984 and had three consecutive excellent years. From 1984-86 he went 48-30, 3.28, 1.21 WHIP. He averaged 255 innings in those seasons. The best of them was 1986, when he went 18-10, 2.84, 1.08 WHIP and finished third in Cy Young voting. That year, though, seems to have taken something out of him, because while he remained a rotation starter for three more seasons, and even made the all-star team in 1987, he was clearly not the same pitcher. He never had an ERA under four again and never had a WHIP under 1.3 again. He continued to make every start, though, averaging nearly 250 innings from 1987-89. He started the 1990 season in the Angels' bullpen but was traded to the Yankees in mid-May for Dave Winfield. He went into their rotation, but the change of scenery didn't particularly help him. Injuries got him after that--he made only four starts (two in the minors) in 1991, three minor league starts in 1992, and twelve starts (three in the minors) in 1993, calling it a career after that. His career numbers don't look all that impressive: 117-116, 3.83, 1.32 WHIP. But for a few years there, he could hold his own with anybody.