MILWAUKEE BREWERS 5, MINNESOTA TWINS 3 IN MINNESOTA
Date: Thursday, July 30, 1992.
Batting star: Shane Mack was 3-for-4 with a home run (his twelfth) and two RBIs.
Pitching star: Carl Willis pitched 3.2 scoreless innings, giving up two hits and striking out two.
Opposition stars: Dante Bichette was 3-for-4. Pat Listach was 2-for-4 with two RBIs. Chris Bosio pitched a complete game, giving up three runs on seven hits and striking out one.
The game: In the third, Pat Listach singled, stole second, and scored on a two-out single by Franklin Stubbs to give the Brewers a 1-0 lead.
It stayed 1-0 until the sixth, when Milwaukee took control of the game. With one out, Darryl Hamilton doubled and went to third on an infield single by Dante Bichette. B. J. Surhoff delivered an RBI single and Scott Fletcher followed with a run-scoring double. Pat Listach then singled, driving home two more, and the Brewers led 5-0.
The Twins didn’t just roll over. They got on the board in the bottom of the sixth, opening the inning with consecutive singles by Greg Gagne, Chuck Knoblauch, and Shane Mack to cut the lead to 5-1. Then, however, Kirby Puckett hit into a double play. It scored a run, making the score 5-2, but it took the Twins out of the inning.
Shane Mack led off the ninth with a home run, cutting the lead to 5-3, but the Twins did not get the tying run up to bat.
WP: Chris Bosio (8-5).
LP: Willie Banks (4-4).
S: None.
Notes: Mike Pagliarulo was at third base in place of Scott Leius.
Kirby Puckett was batting .332. He would finish at .329. Shane Mack was batting .314. He would finish at .315. Brian Harper was batting .311. He would finish at .307. Chuck Knoblauch was batting .308. He would finish at .297.
Paul Molitor played first base for Milwaukee and went 0-for-5 in this game. He would play for the Twins from 1996-1998 and manage the team from 2015-2018.
Willie Banks’ early career as a starter has always reminded me of Pat Mahomes’ early career as a starter. If Banks had gone to the bullpen as early in his career as Mahomes did, maybe he could’ve been an effective reliever. Of course, we’ll never know.
Dante Bichette would hit only five home runs in 1992, and at that point his career high was fifteen. He would not develop into a power hitter until he went to Colorado in 1993.
For a first baseman who didn’t provide much offense, Franklin Stubbs had a long career. He batted .232/.303/.404 and averaged just over ten homers a year. Yet, he had a ten-year career and played over a hundred games in five of those seasons.
Record: Milwaukee was 55-46, in third place in the AL East, five games behind Toronto. They would finish 92-70, in second place, four games behind Toronto.
The Twins were 60-42, in second place in the AL West, a half game behind Oakland. They would finish 90-72, in second place, six games behind Oakland.
Random Record: The Random Twins are 38-45 (.458).