MINNESOTA TWINS 6, OAKLAND ATHLETICS 2 IN MINNESOTA
Date: Thursday, July 12, 2007.
Batting stars: Michael Cuddyer was 4-for-4 with a triple and a double. Garrett Jones was 2-for-4 with a double.
Pitching stars: Scott Baker pitched six innings, giving up two runs on five hits and a walk and striking out three. Matt Guerrier retired all four men he faced. Joe Nathan struck out two in a perfect inning.
Opposition star: Shannon Stewart was 2-for-4 with a double.
The game: The Twins took advantage of wildness by Oakland starter Chad Gaudin to score two in the first inning. Luis Castillo walked. With one out, Joe Mauer walked and Cuddyer delivered an RBI single. A passed ball put men on second and third, leading to an intentional walk to Justin Morneau. An unintentional walk to Torii Hunter followed, and the Twins led 2-0.
The Twins added a couple more in the second. Jones led off with a single and Nick Punto followed with a double. A ground out scored one and a Jason Bartlett single plated another, making the score 4-0 Twins.
Oakland had only two hits through the first four innings, but came to life in the fifth. Bobby Crosby hit a one-out double. The Twins had him picked off, but an error on Baker moved Crosby to third. Stewart drove him in with a double and scored on Mark Kotsay’s RBI single, cutting the lead to 4-2.
The Twins got one back in the fifth. Mauer walked, Cuddyer hit an infield single, and Morneau singled in the run to make it 5-2. The Twins had men on first and third with none out, but could do no more. They got one more in the seventh, however, as Cuddyer tripled and scored on a Hunter single.
And that was it. The Athletics had just five hits, and none after the fifth inning.
WP: Scott Baker (4-3)..
LP: Chad Gaudin (8-4).
S: None.
Notes: Garrett Jones was the DH in this game. The Twins didn’t have a regular DH in 2007. Jason Kubel had the most appearances there with 36. He also had the most appearances in left field, with 84.
Mauer was batting .306. He would finish at .293. Castillo was batting .301. He would finish at .304. Hunter was also batting .301. He would finish at .287.
Guerrier had an ERA of 1.66. He would finish at 2.35. Nathan had an ERA of 2.11. He would finish at 1.88.
Shannon Stewart, of course, played for the Twins from 2003-2006. This was his only year in Oakland and his last year as a regular. He would play one more year, as a part-time player for Toronto.
It’s a long time since I thought about Garrett Jones. This was his first year in the majors and his only year with the Twins. The Twins would let him become a free agent after the 2008 season and he would sign with Pittsburgh. He had a couple of very good years for the Pirates, finishing seventh in Rookie of the Year voting in 2009 and hitting 27 home runs in 2012. For his eight-year career he batted .251/.312/.445 with 122 home runs. Not exactly Hall of Fame numbers, but still a very respectable career.
Oakland used pitcher Kiko Calero in the seventh inning. I have zero memory of him, but he was actually a pretty good reliever for four years. From 2003-2006, with St. Louis and Oakland, he appeared in 195 games, pitched 197.1 innings, and went 11-5 with six saves, an ERA of 3.10 and a WHIP of 1.13. He had a poor year in 2007, spent most of 2008 in the minors, but rebounded to have another excellent season with Florida in 2009, going 2-2, 1.95, 1.00 WHIP. Oddly, that was his last season in the majors. He became a free agent, signed with the Mets, was released in May, signed with the Dodgers in June, and was released in July. He did not pitch well in AAA, leading one to wonder if he might have been injured.
Record: Oakland was 44-45, in third place in the AL West, 9.5 games behind the Angels. They would finish 76-86, in third place, 18 games behind the Angels.
Minnesota was 46-43, in third place in the AL Central, 7 games behind Detroit. They would finish 79-83, in third place, 17 games behind Cleveland.
Random Record: The Random Twins are 13-10 (.565).