BALTIMORE ORIOLES 3, MINNESOTA TWINS 2, MINNESOTA (11 INNINGS)
Date: Monday, July 18, 2005.
Batting star: Matthew LeCroy was 2-for-3. Joe Mauer was 2-for-5.
Pitching star: Carlos Silva pitched nine innings, giving up two runs on eight hits and a walk and striking out two. He threw 85 pitches.
Opposition stars: Rafael Palmeiro was 3-for-5 with a double. Melvin Mora was 2-for-5. Sammy Sosa hit a two-run homer, his tenth. Miguel Tejada hit a home run, his twentieth. Erik Bedard struck out seven in six shutout innings, giving up four hits and two walks. Jorge Julio struck out three in two shutout innings, giving up a hit and a walk.
The game: The Twins got a walk and a single with two out in the first. Rafael Palmeiro led off the second with a double. Nick Punto led off the fifth with a double. Still, it was 0-0 until the seventh, when Palmeiro hit a one-out single and Sammy Sosa followed with a two-run homer, giving Baltimore a 2-0 lead.
The Twins got one back in the bottom of the seventh when Michael Cuddyer hit a one-out double and scored on a two-out single by Luis Rodriguez. In the ninth, Torii Hunter led off with a double and Bret Boone followed with a single to tie it 2-2.
In the tenth Joe Mauer got a one-out single and went to second on a ground out, but that was as far as he would go. With two out in the eleventh, Miguel Tejada hit a home run to put the Orioles up 3-2. The Twins went down in order in the bottom of the eleventh.
WP: Jorge Julio (3-2).
LP: Juan Rincon (4-3).
S: None.
Notes: Michael Cuddyer was at first base in place of Justin Morneau. Bret Boone was at second base. Nick Punto played the most games there with 73, followed by Luis Rivas at 53 and Luis Rodriguez with 40. Punto was at third base. Cuddyer played the most games there with 95. Lew Ford was in right in place of Jacque Jones.
Luis Rodriguez was batting .307. He would finish at .269. Joe Mauer was batting .307. He would finish at .294.
Juan Rincon had an ERA of 2.51. He would finish at 2.45.
This was one of fourteen games Bret Boone would play for the Twins. His RBI was one-third of his total with the club. He would be released at the end of July and would not play in the majors again. He did attempt a comeback in 2008 with Washington, but did not get past AAA.
Carlos Silva issued one of his nine walks all season in this game. Two of the walks were intentional.
From 2005-2011, Erik Bedard was 50-40, 3.54, 1.27 WHIP. He had trouble staying healthy, but when he could pitch he was really good.
Record: Baltimore was 50-42, tied for second place with Boston in the AL East, a half game behind New York. They would finish 74-88, in fourth place, twenty-one games behind New York. They went 24-46 after this game.
The Twins were 49-42, in second place in the AL Central, thirteen games behind Chicago. They would finish 83-79, in third place, sixteen games behind Chicago.
Random Record: The Random Twins are 36-41 (.468).