MINNESOTA 11, MILWAUKEE 7 IN MILWAUKEE
Date: Monday, July 15.
Batting stars: Mike Pagliarulo was 3-for-4 with a double and a walk. Chuck Knoblauch was 2-for-4 with a double, two walks, and two runs. Kirby Puckett was 2-for-6 with two RBIs. Shane Mack was 1-for-5 with a home run (his ninth), two runs, and three RBIs. Greg Gagne was 1-for-4 with a three-run homer (his sixth) and a walk.
Pitching star: Steve Bedrosian pitched three shutout innings, giving up four hits and striking out two.
Opposition stars: Paul Molitor was 2-for-5. B. J. Surhoff was 2-for-5. Greg Vaughn was 1-for-4 with a home run (his seventeenth), a walk, and two runs. Franklin Stubbs was 1-for-4 with a grand slam (his sixth homer).
The game: In the first Knoblauch walked, went to second on an error, took third on a wild pitch, and scored on a ground out, giving the Twins a 1-0 lead. Pagliarulo led off the second with a single and Mack followed with a two-run homer to make it 3-0. Vaughn homered leading off the bottom of the third to cut the lead to 3-1, but the Twins built the lead still farther in the third. Kent Hrbek, Chili Davis, and Pagliarulo all walked to start the inning. A fielder's choice scored one run and Gagne delivered a three-run homer to make the score 7-1 Twins. Back-to-back two-out doubles by Hrbek and Davis increased the lead to 8-1 in the top of the fourth.
It looked like the Twins would cruise, but the Brewers came back in the bottom of the fourth. Walks to Darryl Hamilton and Greg Vaughn and Gary Sheffield getting hit by a pitch loaded the bases, and Stubbs unloaded them with a home run, cutting the lead to 8-5.
No worry. Knoblauch doubled with one out in the sixth and Puckett got an RBI single. A ground out moved him to second and Pagliarulo's RBI double made the score 10-5. Milwaukee got one back in the bottom of the sixth when Sheffield doubled and Willie Randolph singled, cutting the lead to 10-6. They scored one more on a double play in the seventh to make it 10-7, but that was as close as they would come. The Twins tacked on one more in the ninth when Jarvis Brown singled, went to second on a balk, and scored on a Puckett single.
WP: Mark Guthrie (6-5). LP: Jim Hunter (0-3). S: Bedrosian (4).
Notes: Mack was still in left field in place of Dan Gladden, with Randy Bush in right. Junior Ortiz was once again behind the plate in place of Brian Harper. Bush was the leadoff batter. Brown pinch-hit for him in the sixth.
Puckett's average was .319. Scott Erickson started and pitched just four innings, allowing five runs on four hits and four walks and striking out one--his ERA was 2.13.
Brown was 1-for-3 and was batting .182.
Bush was batting just .221, but he did have an OBP of .323, which was better than four of the Twins other starters in this game. That makes his use in the leadoff spot a little more understandable. He went 1-for-3.
This was Erickson's first start since June 29. The rest does not seem to have cured him.
Bedrosian would go on to get two more saves, making six for the season. Three of them were of the three-inning variety, and another was 2.2 innings.
Milwaukee starter Jim "not Catfish" Hunter pitched three innings, allowing seven runs (six earned) on five hits and four walks and striking out two. This was his only season in the majors. He would go 0-5, 7.26, 2.00 WHIP. He was in eight games (six starts) and pitched 31 innings. There was not a lot in his minor league record to indicate he could pitch in the majors. He did okay in AAA in 1991 before being called up, but nothing special, and he was twenty-seven by then. He continued to pitch in the minors through 1995. Wikipedia tells me that he became a high school teacher in Suwanee, Georgia after his baseball career ended.
Texas lost to Detroit 8-7, so the Twins' lead increased by a game.
Record: The Twins were 51-37, in first place in the American League West, three games ahead of Texas.