OAKLAND ATHLETICS 7, MINNESOTA TWINS 1 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Saturday, August 7, 1982.

Batting star:  Gary Ward was 3-for-4.  Ron Washington hit a home run, his fifth.

Pitching star:  Jeff Little struck out five in three shutout innings, giving up a hit and a walk.

Opposition stars:  The Twins missed a chance to score in the second.  Kent Hrbek led off with a walk and Gary Ward doubled, but Hrbek was thrown out trying to score.  The Twins still had Ward on third with one out, but a pair of ground outs to third ended the inning.  

That was as good as it would get for the Twins.  In the third, Jeff Newman walked, Jimmy Sexton singled, and Dwayne Murphy hit an RBI double to put Oakland up 1-0.  It went to 4-0 in the fourth.  Tony Armas led off with a single and Wayne Gross homered.  Davey Lopes then singled, stole second, and scored on a one-out single by Jeff Newman.  They scored again in the fifth when singles by Armas and Gross were followed by a walk.

The Twins threatened in the fifth when Tim Laudner hit a two-out triple and again in the sixth when Bobby Mitchell singled and Ron Washington walked with one out, but neither threat produced a run.  The Athletics tallied two more in the seventh.  Armas led off with a home run, followed by a walk to Gross and a Lopes single.  A wild pitch advanced the runners and Jeff Burroughs walked to load the bases.  With one out, Jimmy Sexton hit a sacrifice fly to make the score 7-0.

The Twins’ lone run came in the ninth when Ron Washington led off with a home run.  They got one-out singles by Jesus Vega and Gary Ward, but a line drive double play ended the game.

WP:  Matt Keough (9-15).

LP:  Bobby Castillo (5-9).

S:  None.

Notes:  Ron Washington was at second base in place of John Castino.  Mickey Hatcher was the DH.  Randy Johnson played the most games at DH with 66, followed by Jesus Vega (39) and Hatcher (29).

Kent Hrbek was batting .321.  He would finish at .301.

Dave McKay came in late in the game at second base, replacing Davey Lopes.  He had played for the Twins in 1975-1976.

Despite this game, Bobby Castillo was the closest thing the 1982 Twins had to an ace.  He went 13-11, 3.66, 1.28 WHIP.  A reliever most of his career, he moved into the Twins rotation in late May.  There’s no significant difference between his relief stats and his starting stats.  He’s best remembered now for teaching Fernando Valenzuela to throw the screwball.

This was the first triple of Tim Laudner’s career and the only one he would hit in 1982.  That tied his career season high, as he never hit more than one triple in a season.  He hit five in his career.

Three Jeffs played in this game:  Jeff Burroughs, Jeff Little, and Jeff Newman.  That may be close to the record for most Jeffs in one game.

Matt Keough would lead the league in losses with 18.  He also would lead the league in earned runs allowed (133) and home runs allowed (38).  His ERA was 5.72 and his WHIP was 1.60.  Still, he made 34 starts and pitched 209.1 innings.

Record:  Oakland was 48-63, in fifth place in the AL West, 15 games behind California.  They would finish 68-94, in fifth place, 25 games behind California.

The Twins were 38-72, in seventh place in the AL West, 24.5 games behind California.  They would finish 60-102, in seventh place, 33 games behind California.

Random Record:  The Random Twins are 26-31 (.456).