MINNESOTA 7, KANSAS CITY 2 IN KANSAS CITY
Date: Tuesday, September 10.
Batting stars: Shane Mack was 3-for-5 with a stolen base, his tenth. Dan Gladden was 2-for-4 with a double and a walk. Randy Bush was 2-for-5 with a double and two RBIs. Pedro Munoz was 1-for-4 with a two-run homer, his fifth.
Pitching stars: Allan Anderson pitched five shutout innings, giving up three hits and a walk and striking out two. Rick Aguilera pitched a perfect inning and struck out one.
Opposition stars: Mark Gubicza struck out five in five innings, giving up two runs on four hits and two walks. Todd Benzinger was 2-for-4 with a double. Brian McRae was 2-for-5.
The game: Chuck Knoblauch reached third with one out in the first inning but did not score. The Twins got the scoring underway in the third when Gladden hit a two-out double and Knoblauch singled him home. In the fourth Chili Davis doubled and Mack singled him home, making it 2-0.
In the fifth Jorge Pedre led off with a double but nothing came of it. In the bottom of the fifth Mack hit a two-out single and Munoz followed with a two-run homer to give the Twins a 4-0 lead. In the sixth, a single and two walks loaded the bases for the Royals, but Jim Eisenreich struck out to end the inning. In the seventh, Gagne and Gladden led off with singles and Bush hit a one-out double to put the Twins up 6-0.
Kansas City scored both of their runs in the eighth. McRae led off with a single, went to second on a passed ball, and scored on a George Brett double. Brett went to third on Benzinger's double and scored on a ground out to cut the margin to 6-2. That was as much as the Royals would do. The Twins added a run in the ninth when, with two out, Bush singled, Davis walked, and Brian Harper had an RBI single.
Kansas City did threaten in the bottom of the ninth. Two walks and a single loaded the bases with none out. But Aguilera came on to get a short fly ball, a strikeout, and another fly ball to end the game.
WP: Anderson (5-8). LP: Gubicza (8-9). S: Aguilera (39).
Notes: Bush was at first base in place of Kent Hrbek. Kirby Puckett was also given a day off, with Mack moving to center and Munoz playing right.
Scott Leius pinch-hit for Mike Pagliarulo in the eighth, staying in the game to play third base. Al Newman came in to play second base in the eighth, replacing Knoblauch.
Harper was 1-for-5 and was batting. 317. Mack raised his average to .315.
Terry Leach allowed two runs in 1.2 innings to make his ERA 3.10. Aguilera lowered his ERA to 2.19.
I don't know why Anderson was pulled after five innings. He made his next start, so injury is probably not a factor (although it's always possible he felt a slight twinge or something). TK may have started looking at these games as tune-ups for the playoffs, since the Twins already had a big lead, or it could be that he felt like getting five shutout innings out of Anderson was a good thing that shouldn't be pushed. He had thrown just sixty-six pitches, so it seems unlikely that was an issue.
I'm always a little intrigued when I run across a player I've never heard of. This was the second career major league game for Jorge Pedre. His fifth-inning double was the only double of his career. A catcher, he played in ten games in 1991 and in four for the Cubs in 1992. For his career he was 5-for-23, batting.217/.308/.348. He was an eleventh-round draft choice for the Braves in 1986. He hit well in Class A, but not much after that--.249/.303/.373 in AA, .228/.275/.351 in AAA. He looks like your stereotypical good defensive catcher--I don't know how good his defense actually was, but you figure he must've done something to justify his presence on rosters. Wikipedia indicates that he is now working at a refinery on their emergency response team.
The Royals used six pinch-hitters in this game. Sadly, with expanded bullpens and the severe restrictions on September call-ups, this will probably never happen again.
The White Sox defeated Oakland 3-1 to avoid falling farther behind, but time was running out on them.
Record: The Twins were 85-54, in first place in the American League West, 8.5 games ahead of Chicago.
In the East, Toronto led Boston by four games.