1991 Rewind: Game One Hundred Ten

MINNESOTA 5, SEATTLE 2 IN SEATTLE

Date:  Friday, August 9.

Batting stars:  Shane Mack was 2-for-3 with a triple.  Brian Harper was 2-for-4.

Pitching star:  David West pitched eight innings, giving up one run on five hits and a walk and striking out three.

Opposition stars:  Ken Griffey was 3-for-4 with a home run (his fourteenth) and a double.  Randy Johnson pitched six innings, giving up four runs (two earned) on six hits and a walk and striking out four.  Calvin Jones pitched two shutout innings, giving up a hit and a walk and striking out two.

The game:  Mack hit a two-out triple in the second but did not score.  The first run of the game came in the fourth, when Griffey led off with a home run.  In the fifth the Twins loaded the bases with none out, as Harper reached on an error and Mack and Kent Hrbek singled.  A pair of ground outs plated two runs to give the Twins a 2-1 lead.  In the sixth Chuck Knoblauch was hit by a pitch, went to second on a wild pitch, and scored on a Kirby Puckett single.  With one out Harper singled to move Puckett to third, and a sacrifice fly made the score 4-1.  They added one more run in the ninth when Scott Leius singled and scored on a Dan Gladden triple.

The Mariners did not go away quietly, though.  With one out Tracy Jones singled and Alonzo Powell walked.  A force out put runners on first and third and Alvin Davis singled to make it 5-2.  That brought the tying run to the plate, but Scott Bradley struck out to end the game.

WP:  West (3-2).  LP:  Johnson (10-8).  S:  Rick Aguilera (30).

Notes:  Greg Gagne was apparently dealing with a minor injury.  He last played August 6 and would not play again until August 11.  Al Newman was at shortstop in his place.

Puckett was 1-for-4 and was batting .326.  Harper raised his average to .312.

Randy Johnson was still not fully Randy Johnson yet in 1991.  He was 13-10, 3.98, but with a 1.50 WHIP because he led the league in walks with 152.  Against the Twins that season he was 1-2, 4.50, 1.65 WHIP.

You can be forgiven if you don't remember Calvin Jones.  Apart from having a pretty common name, he only pitched in the majors for two seasons.  This was his first one, and he was pretty good:  2-2, 2 saves, 2.53, 1.34 WHIP, 42 strikeouts in 46.1 innings.  In 1992, however, he was not good:  3-5, 5.69, 1.57 WHIP in 61.2 innings.  He then pitched in the minors for a few years and in Mexico and in the Atlantic League through 2002.  He later became a scout for the Dodgers, and is credited with signing Clayton Kershaw.

By game scores this was nearly West's best game of the season, second only to his seven shutout innings on July 4.  He would have only one more game score higher than fifty (53 on August 28) and would be out of the rotation by early September.

The White Sox won yesterday, when the Twins were idle, and won again on this day, defeating Baltimore 7-4.

Record:  The Twins were 66-44, in first place in the American League West, two games ahead of Chicago.