MINNESOTA 4, ANAHEIM 2 IN MINNESOTA
Date: Saturday, June 1.
Batting stars: Jacque Jones was 3-for-4. Cristian Guzman was 2-for-4 with a two-run homer, his third. Torii Hunter was 2-for-4 with a double.
Pitching stars: Kyle Lohse pitched seven innings, giving up one run on eight hits and a walk with no strikeouts. J. C. Romero pitched a perfect inning, striking out one.
Opposition stars: Tim Salmon was 3-for-4 with a home run (his ninth) and a double. Garret Anderson was 2-for-4 with a double. Scott Spiezio was 2-for-4 with a double.
The game: Back-to-back doubles by Anderson and Brad Fullmer led off the second inning and gave the Angels a 1-0 lead. The Twins threatened in the third putting men on first and second with one out and loading the bases with two out, but Corey Koskie struck out to end the threat. In the sixth, Hunter delivered a two-out RBI double to tie the score 1-1. In the seventh, A. J. Pierzynski doubled with one out and scored on a two-out single by Jones to give the Twins their first lead. Guzman followed with a two-run homer to give the Twins some insurance runs. It was still 4-1 going to the ninth. Eddie Guardado came in and immediately gave up a home run to Salmon, a double to Spiezio, and a single to Bengie Molina, making the score 4-2 with men on first and third and none out. Benji Gil then struck out and Adam Kennedy hit into a double play to end the game.
WP: Lohse (5-3). LP: Kevin Appier (5-3). S: Guardado (17).
Notes: Denny Hocking remained at second base, going 1-for-3. Luis Rivas would return to the lineup in a few days...Lohse threw just 92 pitches in his seven innings...Appier pitched 6.2 innings, giving up four runs on nine hits and two walks while striking out four. Jones got his average back over .300 at .301...Hunter raised his average to .313...Bobby Kielty was 0-for-3 to drop his average to .309...Pierzynski was 1-for-3 to make his average .322...Romero's ERA fell to 0.56...Kevin Appier was a fine pitcher for many years. Never a superstar, but he pitched in sixteen seasons. He had double-digit wins in ten of those seasons, posted an ERA under 4.00 in ten of them, and had an ERA under 3.00 three times, leading the league in ERA in 1993 at 2.56. He pitched over 200 innings eight times and over 180 eleven times. He made the all-star team in 1995 and was third in Cy Young voting in 1993. It's arguable that he had a better year than the two pitchers who finished ahead of him, Jack McDowell and Randy Johnson, but McDowell won 22 games to Appier's 18 and Johnson struck out 308 batters to Appier's 186. He was drafted by Kansas City in the first round in 1987, made his major league debut in 1989, finished third in Rookie of the Year voting in 1990 (behind Sandy Alomar and Kevin Maas. Nobody paid attention to WAR back then, but b-r.com says Appier had 5.3, compared to 2.4 for Alomar and 1.2 for Maas), and was with the Royals until the end of July of 1999, when he was traded to the Mets. 2002 was his first year with the Angels and he was still an effective pitcher, going 14-12, 3.92, 1,35 WHIP, 4.28 FIP. It would be his last good year, though. He was released by the Angels at the end of July of 2003 and went back to Kansas City. He was with them through 2004, missed 2005, tried to come back with Seattle in 2006, but then ended his playing career. He ended 169-137, 3.74, 1.29 WHIP, 3.81 FIP. Again, never a superstar, but for over a decade he was a pitcher you were quite happy to have on your team. He had retired to Paola, Kansas, but moved to Michigan a year ago to be closer to his wife's family.
Record: The Twins were 32-24, in first place by 3.5 games over Chicago.