TEXAS 6, MINNESOTA 5 IN MINNESOTA
Date: Wednesday, May 22.
Batting stars: Denny Hocking was 2-for-3 with a walk. Cristian Guzman was 2-for-5 with a triple. Tom Prince was 1-for-3 with a triple and a walk.
Pitching star: Jack Cressend struck out two in two shutout innings, giving up only a walk.
Opposition stars: Mike Lamb was 2-for-2 with a home run (his second), a double, and a walk, scoring three times and driving in three. Herbert Perry was 3-for-4 with a double. Kenny Rogers pitched seven innings, giving up three runs on six hits and two walks while striking out two.
The game: Gabe Kapler's RBI single in the second put the Rangers up 1-0. Prince led off the third with a triple and scored on a ground out to tie it 1-1. In the fourth, Lamb hit a three-run homer to put Texas ahead 4-1. The Twins came back with two in the bottom of the fourth on Hocking's two-run single. It stayed 4-3 until the ninth, when Rusty Greer's two-run single made it 6-3. The Twins came back in the ninth, as Guzman had an RBI triple and scored on a wild pitch, but they never got the tying run on base.
WP: Rogers (5-2). LP: Kyle Lohse (3-3). S: Hideki Irabu (11).
Notes: Brian Buchanan was in right field, going 1-for-3...Gardy appeared to have settled on Jay Canizaro at third and Denny Hocking at second until Corey Koskie and Luis Rivas came back...Prince took A. J. Pierzynski's place at catcher and kept his average at .333...Torii Hunter was 1-for-4 and was also batting .333...Lohse pitched six innings, giving up four runs on seven hits and a walk with five strikeouts...Closer Eddie Guardado was brought in to pitch the ninth with the Twins trailing by a run. He gave up two runs on two hits and a walk...This was the last of four career triples for Prince. He never had more than one in a season...Hideki Irabu came to the majors from Japan with great fanfare, but never lived up to the hype. His contract was sold by the Chiba Lotte Marines to San Diego, but Irabu said he would play only for the Yankees. Eventually he was traded to New York, a classic case of needing to be careful what you wish for. He made a handful of minor league starts, then came to the majors for the second half of 1997 and was not very good, posting an ERA over seven in 53.1 innings. He was fairly good in 1998, going 13-9, 4.06 with a 1.30 WHIP, but he was hyped as an ace, not as "fairly good". He went 11-7, 4.84, 1.34 WHIP in 1999 and the Yankees had seen enough. They traded him to Montreal, where he had two poor years and was released. Texas signed him for 2002. He made two starts and then, oddly, was made their closer. He did quite well in that role at first and had eleven scoreless appearances going into this game. The Twins, of course, ended that string here, but he still got the save, his eleventh in twelve chances. This game was the beginning of the end for him as closer, however, as it started a string of seven games in which he allowed a total of sixteen runs. He was moved to middle and setup relief for a handful of games, then was put back into the closer role after a couple of weeks. He was okay, but nothing special, in that role through the middle of July, then missed the rest of the year due to injury. That was the last of Hideki Irabu in the majors, as he went back to Japan. He pitched there through 2004, made ten starts for independent Long Beach in 2009, and then was done pitching. Sadly, he committed suicide in July of 2011.
Record: The Twins were 26-21, tied for first with Chicago.