TEXAS 9, MINNESOTA 8 IN TEXAS
Date: Wednesday, May 29.
Batting stars: Denny Hocking was 3-for-5. Doug Mientkiewicz was 2-for-3 with two walks. A. J. Pierzynski was 2-for-4 with a double.
Pitching stars: LaTroy Hawkins retired all seven batters he faced, striking out one. Mike Jackson pitched a scoreless inning, giving up a walk.
Opposition stars: Mike Lamb was 3-for-4 with a home run (his third) and scored three runs. Gabe Kapler was 3-for-3 with a walk and a stolen base, his fifth. Todd Greene was 3-for-5.
The game: With two out and none on in the second, Pierzynski doubled, Hocking singled, Jacque Jones walked, and Cristian Guzman and Mientkiewicz each singled, producing four runs and a 4-1 Twins lead. The Rangers came back with three in the bottom of the second to tie it up, with two of them scoring on Lamb's two-run homer. Juan Gonzalez led off the third with a home run and Kapler had an RBI single, putting Texas up 6-4 after three. A sacrifice fly made it 6-5 after four. In the fifth, a bases-loaded walk and a bases-loaded hit batsman, put the Twins up 7-6. They lost a good chance to take control of the game, though, as they still had the bases loaded with none out. Anthony Telford came in to strike out Hocking and Jones and retire Guzman on a ground out. The missed opportunity would come back to haunt the Twins, as the Rangers scored two in the bottom of the fifth to re-take the lead at 8-7. The Twins tied it in the eighth when Mientkiewicz scored from first on Hunter's double. The Twins brought in J. C. Romero, who had been incredible so far in the season, to pitch the ninth. He was not incredible in this game. He failed to retire a batter, giving up singles to Rafael Palmeiro and Juan Gonzalez, giving an intentional walk to Carl Everett, and surrendering a single to Greene that ended the game.
WP: Hidecki Irabu (2-3). LP: Romero (3-1). S: None.
Notes: Hocking was again at second base. This game gave him a seven-game hitting streak in which he went 12-for-27 and raised his average from .210 to .260...Neither starting pitcher got much accomplished. Rick Reed lasted just 1.1 innings, giving up two runs on three hits. It seems like an awfully quick hook--one wonders if he wasn't feeling well. Texas starter Rob Bell pitched four innings, surrendering seven runs on eight hits and three walks while striking out two...Jackson lowered his ERA to 0.84...Romero's ERA nearly doubled, going from 0.31 to 0.61...I don't know if Gardy was criticized for leaving his closer in the bullpen, but as well as Romero had pitched up to this point it's hard to argue that he made a mistake by going to him...This was the second appearance of the season for Anthony Telford, who was in his last year in the majors. He was drafted by Baltimore in the third round in 1987 but made just twenty appearances for them spread out over three seasons. He didn't get to the majors to stay until he was thirty-one, with Montreal in 1997. He had four solid seasons for them out of the bullpen, pitching 78-96 innings and posting ERAs in the threes. He struggled in early 2001, however, was sent to the minors, and went to Texas for 2002. He got off to a good start for them, going unscored upon in his first three appearances, but by mid-June his ERA was over four and by mid-July he was in AAA, never to return to the majors. He pitched one more season, in 2007 in the independent South Coast League, and then was done. At last report, he was living in Odessa, Florida.
Record: The Twins were 30-23, in first place by two games over Chicago.