MINNESOTA TWINS 6, MILWAUKEE BREWERS 1 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Saturday, September 20, 1997.

Batting stars:  Pat Meares was 2-for-3 with a home run (his tenth) and a walk.  Chuck Knoblauch was 2-for-3 with a walk and two runs.  Brent Brede was 2-for-3 with two walks.

Pitching star:  LaTroy Hawkins pitched six innings, giving up one run on two hits and five walks and striking out four.  Mike Trombley struck out two in a perfect inning.  Greg Swindell struck out two and walked one in two shutout innings.

Opposition star:  Cal Eldred pitched six innings, giving up two runs on six hits and six walks and striking out two.

The game:  The Twins scored in the first, as Knoblauch walked, went to third on a Brede single, and scored on Ron Coomer’s sacrifice fly.  They loaded the bases with one out in the second on three singles, but a line drive double play took them out of the inning.  Meares homered in the fourth to make it 2-0, although after that the Twins once again loaded the bases and did not score.

Milwaukee did not get a hit through the first five innings, although they did draw four walks.  In the sixth, however, Jeff Cirillo hit a one-out ground rule double and scored on a Julio Franco single, cutting the margin to 2-1.  

The Twins drew two walks in the sixth, but did not score.  But with one out in the seventh, Matt Lawton doubled, Marty Cordova tripled, and Damian Miller hit a sacrifice fly, increasing the lead to 4-1.  They put it away in the eighth.  Knoblauch and Brede led off the inning with singles.  An error brought home one run and Coomer hit an RBI single for another.  The score was 6-1, and that’s where it stayed.  The two hits in the sixth were the only hits the Brewers had.

WP:  LaTroy Hawkins (6-11).

LP:  Cal Eldred (13-14).

S:  Greg Swindell (1).

Notes:  Damian Miller was behind the plate in place of Terry Steinbach.  Brent Brede was at first base in place of Scott Stahoviak and Greg Colbrunn, who saw most of the first base action.

Paul Molitor was batting .304.  He would finish at .305.

Jeff Cirillo was 1-for-3 with a walk.  He would play for the Twins in 2007.  Darrin Jackson was 0-for-4.  He had started the 1997 season with the Twins, traded at the August deadline for the immortal Mick Fieldbinder.  Mike Fetters pitched the eighth inning, giving up two runs on three hits.  He would pitch for the Twins briefly in 2003.

The Twins went 4-for-10 with men in scoring position, but still managed to strand eleven.

There were twelve walks in the game, six by each team.  I don’t know if home plate umpire Jim Evans had a small strike zone or if the pitchers just had trouble finding home plate.

Marty Cordova hit eighteen triples in his career.  His season high was four, set in 1995 and tied in 1997.

By game scores, LaTroy Hawkins actually had two games better than this in 1997:  August 30 against Cincinnati (7 IP, 1R, 6H, 1W, 4K) and June 17 against Pittsburgh (7 IP, 1R, 3H, 2W, 2K).  He also did fairly well in his other interleague game, against St. Louis.

Damian Miller played only briefly for the Twins, but went on to have an eleven-year major league career.  He played for Arizona, Oakland, the Cubs, and Milwaukee.

Record:  Milwaukee was 75-77, in third place in the AL Central, 7.5 games behind Cleveland.  They would finish 78-83, in third place, 8 games behind Cleveland.

The Twins were 62-91, in fifth (last) place in the AL Central, 21 games behind Cleveland.  They would finish 67-94, in fourth place, 18.5 games behind Cleveland.

Random Record:  The Random Twins are 23-18 (.561)