MINNESOTA 1, KANSAS CITY 0 IN KANSAS CITY
Date: Wednesday, April 3.
Batting stars: Torii Hunter was 2-for-4. A. J. Pierzynski was 2-for-4. Jacque Jones was 1-for-4 with a walk.
Pitching stars: Eric Milton pitched seven shutout innings, giving up two hits and no walks with two strikeouts. Eddie Guardado pitched a perfect inning.
Opposition stars: Dan Reichert struck out eight in seven innings, giving up one run on six hits and two walks. Ex-Twin Dave McCarty was 1-for-3 with a double.
The game: The lone run came in the third inning. Jones led off with a single, went to second on a bunt, took third on a ground out, and scored on a David Ortiz single. The Royals got both of their hits off Milton in the first inning, two-out singles by Carlos Beltran and Mike Sweeney. Milton retired the last nineteen batters he faced. McCarty led off the eighth with a double off J. C. Romero, who came back to strike out the next two batters before walking Carlos Febles. Bob Wells then came in to retire Chuck Knoblauch on a popup. Guardado then retired the side in order in the ninth. The Twins missed some chances to add to their lead, going 1-for-7 with men in scoring position, but as it turned out extra runs were not needed.
WP: Milton. LP: Reichert. S: Guardado.
Notes: Brian Buchanan was once again in right field. In both of the first two games Denny Hocking was his defensive replacement. In this game, however, he may have been injured, as he did not play again until April 19. The last out of the seventh inning (after which he was replaced) was a fly to deep right by Joe Randa, so one suspects he may have been injured making the catch...Ex-Twin Knoblauch went 0-for-4...McCarty's double leading off the eighth was the only extra base hit by either team...Corey Koskie and Cristian Guzman were the only two Twins regulars who did not get a hit in the first two games. Koskie was 0-for-7 and Guzman was 0-for-8...By game scores, this would be Milton's best game of the season. After this game, of course, his ERA was zero. He would not finish a game with an ERA of less than 4.60 the rest of the season.
Record: The Twins were 2-0, in first place by a half game over Cleveland.
I carried that calendar in my wallet all year.
I irrationally liked Brian Buchanan, probably because he often hit homers when I was watching/listening. When he raked in San Diego after the trade I remember thinking like we let one get away. My baseball intelligence was not very high yet.
Spoiler alert!
And his ERA+ still wasn't that bad at 92. A classmate was a big Milton fan in his rookie year. I remember expressing doubt, but can't remember why. I retroactively say he was right up until this season.