LOS ANGELES ANGELS 7, MINNESOTA TWINS 2 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Sunday, July 22, 2007.

Batting stars:  None.  Seven players had one hit, and there were no home runs.

Pitching stars:  None.  The only pitcher who did not give up a run was Dennys Reyes, who pitched a third of an inning.

Opposition stars:  Casey Kotchman was 2-for-3 with a double, a walk, and two RBIs.  Garret Anderson was 2-for-4 with a home run (his fourth) and a walk.  Chone Figgins was 2-for-5.  Orlando Cabrera was 2-for-5.  Joe Saunders pitched seven innings, giving up two runs on six hits and a walk and striking out five.

The game:  In the first, Cabrera singled with one out.  With two down, Anderson singled followed by walks to Kotchman and Maicer Izturis, putting Los Angeles up 1-0.  In the second, Nathan Haynes reached on a two-base error and scored on Figgins’ single, making it 2-0.  In the third, Anderson hit a home run to make it 3-0.

The Twins got on the board in the bottom of the third.  Singles by Luis Rodriguez, Nick Punto, and Jason Bartlett loaded the bases with none out, and Jeff Cirillo hit a sacrifice fly.  One was all the Twins would get, though, as a double play took them out of the inning.

The Twins finally held the Angels scoreless in the fourth and fifth.  In the sixth, however, singles by Kotchman and Izturis and a walk to Napoli loaded the bases with one out.  A walk to Robb Quinlan forced in a run, the second bases-loaded walk the Twins had issued.  The score was now 4-1.

The Twins scored again in the bottom of the sixth.  Cirillo doubled with one out and Justin Morneau delivered a two-out RBI single, cutting the margin to 4-2.

That was as close as the Twins would come.  Los Angeles scored again in the seventh, as singles to Figgins and Cabrera put men on first and third with none out.  Cabrera stole second with one out, leading to an intentional walk to Anderson.  Kotchman then hit a sacrifice fly.  The Angels added one more in the eighth on consecutive doubles by Mike Napoli and Robb Quinlan.  They finished off the scoring in the ninth when Vladimir Guerrero led off with a double and scored on a double by Kotchman.  The Twins did not get a man past first base in the last three innings.

WP:  Saunders (4-0).

LP:  Matt Garza (1-2).

S:  None.

Notes:  Nick Punto was at second in place of Luis Castillo, whom the Twins would trade to the Mets eight days later.  Punto generally played third in 2007, but Luis Rodriguez manned that position in this game.  Darnell McDonald was in right in place of Michael Cuddyer.  It was the third of four games McDonald would play for the Twins.  Jeff Cirillo was at DH.  He played 24 games at DH in 2007, behind Jason Kubel (36) and Jason Tyner (26).

Joe Mauer was batting .305.  He would finish at .293.

Matt Garza had made three appearances for the Twins before this game and had an ERA of zero in 15 innings.  His ERA was 1.33 after this game.  He would finish at 3.69.  Matt Guerrier had an ERA of 1.71.  He would finish at 2.35.

Orlando Cabrera would go on to play for the Twins in the last two months of the 2009 season.

Ramon Ortiz pitched the ninth inning for the Twins.  He would be traded to Colorado a few weeks later.

Nathan Haynes was in center for the Angels.  He appeared in sixty major league games, forty of them in 2007 for the Angels and twenty more in 2008 for Tampa Bay.  He got 89 at-bats and batted .247/.295/.270.  He stole five bases in his major league career and stole 259 bases in the minors.

Record:  Los Angeles was 57-40, in first place in the AL West, two games ahead of Seattle.  They would finish 94-68, in first place, six games ahead of Seattle.

The Twins were 51-47, in third place in the AL Central, eight games behind Detroit.  They would finish 79-83, in third place, seventeen games behind Cleveland.

Random Record:  The Random Twins are 21-14 (.600).

MINNESOTA TWINS 7, BOSTON RED SOX 3 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Tuesday, August 2, 1966.

Batting stars:  Tony Oliva was 2-for-4 with two RBIs.  Jimmie Hall was 2-for-5 with a grand slam (his eleventh homer) and two runs.

Pitching star:  Jim Perry pitched 8.2 innings, giving up three runs on seven hits and a walk and striking out seven.

Opposition stars:  Mike Ryan was 2-for-3 with a walk.  Don Demeter was 2-for-4 with a two-run homer, his tenth.  Rico Petrocelli hit a home run, his eighteenth.  Jim Lonborg struck out four and walked one in 4.1 scoreless innings of relief.

The game: George Scott led off the second with a single and Demeter followed with a two-run homer, putting Boston up 2-0.  The Twins put men on first and second with one out in the bottom of the second, but a fly out and a ground out ended the inning.  In the third, however, walks to Perry and Zoilo Versalles were followed by Hall’s single, loading the bases with none out.  Oliva delivered a two-run single to tie it, and a run scored on a double play to give the Twins a 3-2 lead.

The two teams combined for one hit in innings four through seven.  In the eighth, though, Petrocelli hit a one-out homer to tie it 3-3.

It was still tied going to the bottom of the ninth.  Earl Battey led off with a walk.  Cesar Tovar bunted and reached on an error, putting men on second and third.  Ted Uhlaender was intentionally walked to load the bases with none out.  The next two batters went out, and it looked like the game might go to extra innings.  But Hall launched a grand slam home run to walk it off for the Twins, as they took the 7-3 victory.

WP:  Al Worthington (3-1).

LP:  Don McMahon (8-7).

S:  None.

Notes:  Tovar was at second in this game.  He shared second base duties with Bernie Allen and also played a number of games at third.

Oliva was batting .328.  He would finish at .307.

Perry had an ERA of 2.90.  He would finish at 2.54.  Worthington, who came in to get the last out of the ninth, had an ERA of 2.20.  He would finish at 2.46.

The starting pitcher for the Red Sox was Darrell Brandon, who would appear in three games for the Twins in 1969.  baseball-reference.com says his nickname was “Bucky”, which I don’t recall, but then, he wasn’t around the Twins for very long.

Lenny Green pinch-hit for Boston and went 0-for-1.  He was an original Twin and stayed with the club until 1964, when he was traded to the Angels.

Don McMahon pitched the eighth and ninth, giving up the walkoff grand slam.  He would be the Twins’ pitching coach under Gene Mauch from 1976-78.

Jim Lonborg started the season in the bullpen, was in the rotation for a little over a month, went back to the bullpen, then finished the season back in the starting rotation.  The next year he would be in the starting rotation all year and win the Cy Young award, leading Boston to the American League pennant.

Record:  Boston was 45-63, in tenth (last) place, 26.5 games behind Baltimore.  They would finish 72-90, in ninth place, 26 games behind Baltimore.

The Twins were 53-52, in fifth place, 17 games behind Baltimore.  They would finish 89-73, in second place, 9 games behind Baltimore.  They would go 36-21 after this game, the best record in the American League.

Random Record:  The Random Twins are 21-13 (.618).

MINNESOTA TWINS 3, HOUSTON ASTROS IN MINNESOTA (10 INNINGS)

Date:  Friday, April 7, 2023.

Batting stars:  Jose Miranda was 3-for-5.  Michael Taylor was 2-for-4 with a double.  Donovan Solano was 2-for-4 with a walk.  Byron Buxton was 2-for-5.  Kyle Farmer was 2-for-5.

Pitching star:  Sonny Gray struck out thirteen in seven innings, giving up one run on four hits and one walk.  Griffin Jax pitched a perfect inning, striking out one.  Jhoan Duran struck out two and walked one in a scoreless inning.

Opposition stars:  Mauricio Dubon was 2-for-4 with a double.  Jose Urquidy struck out six in 5.1 innings, giving up one run on seven hits and a walk.

The game:  Houston opened the scoring in the third inning, as Dubon opened the inning with a double and scored on a two-out single by Alex Bregman.  The Twins missed several opportunities to tie it or even take the lead.  In the third, two-out singles by Taylor and Buxton did not produce a run.  In the fourth, Miranda and Solano hit one-out singles and Joey Gallo walked with two out to load the bases, but a popup ended the inning.  In the fifth, Taylor’s leadoff double led nowhere.

The Twins finally tied it in the sixth.  With one out, Solano and Farmer singled.  A force out put runners on the corners with two down, and a wild pitch made the score 1-1.  Neither team moved a man past first base in innings seven through nine, so we went to an extra inning.

David Hensley was the Manfred Man for the Astros, and he scored on a one-out single by Dubon to put Houston ahead 2-1.  In the bottom of the inning, though, Buxton began the inning on second.  A one-out wild pitch advanced him to third.  Trevor Larnach walked and Miranda singled to tie the score.  Another wild pitch put men on second and third and led to an intentional walk to Solano.  Farmer then singled to bring home the deciding run.

WP:  Jorge Lopez (1-0).

LP:  Ryne Stanek (1-1).

S:  None.

Notes:  Kyle Farmer was at second base.  Edouard Julien had the most appearances at second, and then came Jorge Polanco.  Jose Miranda was at third base.  Royce Lewis had the most games at third, followed by Farmer and Willi Castro.  Trevor Larnach was in left.  Castro had the most games in left, followed by Joey Gallo.  Gallo was in right in place of Max Kepler, who is one of the few people who could be considered a “regular” in 2023.

Byron Buxton was batting .360.  He would finish at .207.  Trevor Larnach was batting .333.  He would finish at .213.  Donovan Solano was batting .308.  He would finish at .282.  Royce Lewis would be the Twins’ lone .300 hitter at .309.

Sonny Gray had an ERA of 0.75.  He would finish at 2.79.  Jhoan Duran and Jorge Lopez each had an ERA of 0.00.  They would finish at 2.45 and 5.09, respectively.

Ryan Pressly came in to strike out the side in the ninth.  He had pitched for the Twins from 2013-2018 before being traded for Jorge Alcala and Gilberto Celestino.

As you may have guessed the Twins stranded a lot of runners, although it did not hurt them in the end.  They stranded twelve men and went 2-for-11 with men in scoring position.  They out-hit Houston 11-5.

The notes section is pretty light today, but there’s not a lot to say about these teams that you don’t know.

Record:  Houston was 3-5, tied for third with Seattle in the AL West, 1.5 games behind Los Angeles and Texas.  They would finish 90-72, tied for first with Texas.

Minnesota was 5-2, in first place in the AL Central, a half game ahead of Cleveland.  They would finish 87-75, in first place, nine games ahead of Detroit.

Random Record:  The Random Twins are 20-13 (.606).