CHICAGO WHITE SOX 8, MINNESOTA TWINS 2 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Sunday, September 22, 2022

Batting stars:  Dustan Mohr was 3-for-5 with a double.  Matthew LeCroy was 2-for-4.  Michael Restovich was 2-for-4.  Luis Rivas was 2-for-5.

Pitching star:  Johan Santana pitched two shutout innings, giving up one hit and striking out one.  LaTroy Hawkins pitched a perfect inning.  

Opposition stars:  D’Angelo Jimenez was 2-for-4 with a three-run homer (his fourth) and two runs.  Frank Thomas was 2-for-4 with a home run (his twenty-seventh) and three RBIs.  Magglio Ordonez hit a home run, his thirty-sixth.  Mark Buehrle pitched six innings, giving up two runs on nine hits and two walks and striking out three.  Antonio Osuna struck out three in two shutout innings, giving up one hit.

The game:  The Twins got singles from Rivas and LeCroy in the first, and a passed ball put men on second and third with two out, but a ground out ended the inning.  In the bottom of the first, Jimenez singled and Thomas hit a two-run homer, making it 2-0 Chicago.

The Twins got on the board in the second.  Michael Cuddyer walked and singles by Restovich and A. J. Pierzynski produced a run.  The Twins still had men on first and second with none out, but Denny Hocking popped up a bunt and a double play ended the inning.  The White Sox got the run back in the bottom of the inning when Jeff Liefer doubled, went to third on a ground out, and scored on a sacrifice fly, making it 3-1.  

The Twins threatened in the third.  Mohr led off with a double, but was thrown out trying to go to third on a fly to center.  They had a chance to score anyway, as LeCroy singled and Corey Koskie walked, but a ground out ended the inning.  Chicago got another run in the bottom of the inning when Jose Valentin walked, went to second on a wild pitch, and scored on a Thomas single, increasing the lead to 4-1.  The White Sox put it away in the fourth.  Joe Crede and Aaron Rowand hit one-out singles, and with two down Jimenez hit a three-run homer.  

The lead was 7-1, and the Twins would not get back into the game.  They did get one more run in the fifth, when singles by Rivas and Mohr put men on first and third with none out and a double play brought a run home, but that was it.  Ordonez rounded out the scoring with a home run leading off the eighth.

WP:  Buehrle (19-11).

LP:  Joe Mays (4-8).

S:  None.

Notes:  LeCroy was at first base in place of Doug Mientkiewicz.  Hocking was at short in place of Cristian Guzman.  Restovich was in left in place of Jacque Jones.  Cuddyer was in right field, with Mohr moving from right to center.  Torii Hunter was the DH in place of David Ortiz.  The Twins had clinched the division at this point.

Pierzynski was batting .304.  He would finish at .300.  Restovich was batting .300.  He would finish at .308 in 13 at-bats.  Javier Valentin, who came in at catcher for Pierzynski late in the game, was batting .667.  He would finish at .500 (2-for-4).

Hawkins had an ERA of 2.18.  He would finish at 2.13, easily his best season in the majors up to this point.  J. C. Romero had an ERA of 1.96.  He would finish at 1.89.

We talked about Mays a few days ago.  He did pitch much better in the second half of 2002, after he came back from injury.  Not great, but his ERA in the second half was 4.52 with a WHIP of 1.30.

Santana made fourteen starts and had thirteen relief appearances in 2002

Jimenez was a future Twin, playing in their farm system in 2010.  Another future Twin, Joe Crede, was 1-for-4.  I always remember him as “Home Run Greedy Crede” because of a Twins radio commercial at the time.

The Twins out-hit Chicago 12-9, but still lost by six runs.  Eleven of the twelve hits were singles.  They stranded nine men and went 1-for-12 with men in scoring position.

Record:  Chicago was 79-77, in second place, 10.5 games behind Minnesota.  They would finish 81-81, in second place, 13.5 games behind Minnesota.

The Twins were 89-66, in first place, 10.5 games ahead of Chicago.  They would finish 94-67, in first place, 13.5 games ahead of Chicago.

Random Record:  The Random Twins are 7-5 (.583).

DETROIT TIGERS 8, MINNESOTA TWINS 1 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Wednesday, July 22, 2005.

Batting star:  Luis Rivas was 2-for-4.

Pitching stars:  Jesse Crain pitched a scoreless inning, giving up one hit.  Juan Rincon struck out two in a perfect inning.  Joe Nathan struck out two and walked two in a scoreless inning.

Opposition stars:  Placido Polanco was 2-for-4 with a double and a walk.  Craig Monroe was 2-for-4 with a double and two runs.  Nook Logan was 2-for-4 with a double.  Omar Infante was 2-for-5 with a home run (his fourth) and three RBIs.  Ivan Rodriguez was 2-for-5.  Nate Robertson pitched a complete game, giving up an unearned run on five hits and a walk and striking out six.

The game:  The Twins scored first, in the first inning.  Rivas reached third on a single-plus-error and scored on a Lew Ford single.  Detroit had a two-out rally in the second to tie it.  Monroe doubled, Chris Shelton walked, and Infante singled to make it 1-1.

From there it was all Tigers.  Polanco led off the third with a double.  With one out, Rondell White walked and a wild pitch put men on first and third.  RBI singles by Rodriguez and Monroe followed, making it 3-1.  Infante led off the fourth with a home run.  Logan walked and scored on a Brandon Inge double.  He was bunted to third and scored when White reached on an error, making it 6-1.  Another run scored in the fifth when White led off with a walk, went to second on a wild pitch, and scored on a pair of ground outs.  Detroit added one more in the seventh when Shelton scored, Logan reached on an error, Inge walked to load the bases, and Polanco singled home a run.

The Twins did nothing on offense after the first inning.  They only once got a man as far as second, and that was on an error.

WP:  Robertson (3-5).

LP:  Joe Mays (3-3).

S:  None.

Notes:  Mike Redmond was behind the plate in place of Joe Mauer.  Matthew LeCroy was at first base in place of Justin Morneau.  Rivas had lost the second base job at this point, but was playing in place of Nick Punto.  Baseball-reference lists Jason Bartlett as the regular shortstop, but Juan Castro actually played more games there, and played in this one.  With LeCroy at first base, Lew Ford was the DH.

The Twins did not have a .300 hitter in 2005, and no one was batting .300 after this game.

Crain had an ERA of 0.85.  He would finish at 2.71.  J. C. Romero had an ERA of 2.22.  He would finish at 3.47.  Rincon had an ERA of 2.87.  He would finish at 2.45.

Mays was in his last year with the Twins and his last year as a rotation starter.  He’d had an excellent season in 2001, and got a mutli-year contract, but had injury problems immediately thereafter and did not have a good season again.  He was easily the worst starter the Twins had in 2005, going 6-10, 5.65, 1.56 WHIP.  He would be replaced in the rotation in September by rookie Scott Baker.

Future Twins Rondell White and Craig Monroe started for the Tigers.  Monroe was 2-for-4 with a double and a walk.  White was 0-for-4 with a walk.

The Random Twins have seen Nate Robertson twice.  He has won one and lost one.

Record:  Detroit was 35-33, in fourth place in the AL Central, 14.5 games behind Chicago.  They would finish 71-9-1, in fourth place, 28 games behind Chicago.

Minnesota was 48-31, in second place, 10 games behind Chicago.  They would finish 83-79, in third place, 16 games behind Chicago.

Random Record:  The Random Twins had their six-game winning streak snapped and are 7-4 (.636).