MINNESOTA 1, BOSTON 0 IN MINNESOTA
Date: Wednesday, May 1.
Batting stars: Dan Gladden was 2-for-4 with a home run, his second. Kent Hrbek was 0-for-1 with three walks.
Pitching star: Scott Erickson pitched a complete game shutout, giving up two hits and one walk and striking out seven.
Opposition star: Greg Harris pitched seven shutout innings, giving up three hits and two walks and striking out six.
The game: It was a pitchers' duel, as you probably guessed from the score. Neither team got a man on base until the bottom of the third, when Greg Gagne hit a two-out double. Gladden then reached on an error, but Chuck Knoblauch grounded out to end the inning. The Red Sox got men to first and second with two out in the fourth on an error and a walk, but nothing came of it. Boston got its first hit in the sixth on a two-out single by Jody Reed, but he remained at first base. Gladden got to third in the sixth when he led off with a single, took second on a ground out, and advanced to third on a fly ball, but that was as far as he got. Tom Brunansky had a two-out double int he seventh but did not advance. In the bottom of the seventh, Gene Larkin led off with a single, went to second on a ground out, and took third with one down on a pickoff error, but Mike Pagliarulo fanned and Gagne popped up to end the threat.
Finally, in the bottom of the eighth, Gladden led off with a home run. The Red Sox went down in order in the ninth, and in fact did not get a baserunner after Brunansky's double.
WP: Erickson (3-2). LP: Jeff Gray (1-2). S: None.
Notes: Larkin was again in right field, with Puckett in center. Shane Mack came in to play center in the ninth, with Puckett moving to right. Al Newman replaced Pagliarulo at third base in the ninth inning. Junior Ortiz was once again Erickson's catcher.
Larkin was 1-for-3 and was batting .382. Puckett was 0-for-4 to go to .325. Knoblauch was 0-for-4 and was batting .316. Gagne was 1-for-3 to go to .304. Erickson had an ERA of 1.58. He threw 125 pitches.
Gladden finally got above the Mendoza line at .205. Hrbek was batting .179. Pagliarulo was 0-for-3 and was batting .188.
Erickson was in his first full season and was twenty-three years old. In his first five starts, he averaged 115 pitches per start and had exceeded 120 three times. It's safe to say that would not happen today.
The two teams combined to go 0-for-9 with men in scoring position.
By game scores this was Erickson's best game of the season with a score of 89. His next best was against the Yankees on June 24, when he had an 88. His line scores were nearly identical: nine innings, two hits, no runs, one walk. The only difference is that he struck out seven in this game and six in the game in June.
I hadn't remembered that Larkin played so much right field in 1991. He made 39 starts there. When you're batting .382, they find ways to get you in the lineup. He obviously didn't do that all season, but he still had a fine year.
Hrbek wasn't hitting, but the Red Sox clearly still respected him. They walked him three times, once intentionally.
After their 2-9 start, the Twins had now won eight of ten.
Record: The Twins were 10-11, tied for fourth place in the American League West with California, four games behind Oakland.
Erickson was the first Twin to throw back-to-back shutouts since Frank Viola on 1988.
Pinch-hitter Steve Lyons said Erickson had "the best stuff anyone's had all season." Hitting the ball, to Lyons, "was like hitting a rock."
The Twins were hitting .181 on the road and .322 at home. They were averaging 2.0 runs/game on the road and 5.8 at home.
Erickson struck out Jack Clark to end the game. Erickson repeatedly shook off the catcher during the at bat, and Clark stepped out of the box several times. "I shook off Junior [Ortiz] five or six times," Erickson explained. "I know that I confused Clark because I only have three pitches."
This was also the day Nolan Ryan pitched his final no-hitter.
Roger Clemens was serving a suspension during this series for his antics during the 1990 ALCS.