MIAMI MARLINS 5, MINNESOTA TWINS 3 IN MIAMI

Date:  Wednesday, June 26, 2013.

Batting stars:  Joe Mauer was 3-for-5.  Oswaldo Arcia was 2-for-4.

Pitching star:  Casey Fien pitched a perfect inning, striking out one.

Opposition stars:  Placido Polanco was 2-for-4 with a two-run homer (his first) and two runs.  Giancarlo Stanton was 2-for-4.  Ed Lucas was 2-for-4.  Jeff Mathis hit a two-run homer, his first.  Kevin Slowey pitched three shutout innings of relief, giving up four hits and a walk and striking out two.

The game:  The Twins jumped out to an early lead.  Clete Thomas walked and went to third on a pickoff error.  Brian Dozier then walked, followed by RBI singles by Joe Mauer and Josh Willingham and a run-scoring ground out.  The Twins had a 3-0 lead with one out in the first inning.

And that was as good as it would get.  The Twins got a pair of two-out singles in the third and had men on second and third with two out in the fifth, but could not extend their lead.  In the bottom of the fifth, Placido Polanco led off with a single and Jeff Mathis hit a one-out two-run homer to cut the lead to 3-2.  There followed singles by Kevin Slowey, Justin Ruggiano, and Ed Lucas to load the bases, and a ground out tied the score 3-3.  In the sixth, Logan Morrison led off with a single and Placido Polanco followed with a two-run homer to give Miami a 5-3 lead.

That was it.  The Twins got a pair of singles in the seventh, but a double play took them out of the inning and they did not get another baserunner.

WP:  Kevin Slowey (3-6).

LP:  Scott Diamond (5-7).

S:  Steve Cishek (14).

Notes:  Chris Parmelee was at first base in place of Justin Morneau.  Eduardo Escobar was at short in place of Pedro Florimon.  Clete Thomas was in center.  Aaron Hicks played the most games there with 81, followed by Thomas with 50.  Oswaldo Arcia was in right.  Chris Parmelee played the most games there with 68, followed by Ryan Doumit with 32 and Arcia with 29.  There was no DH in this game.

Joe Mauer was batting .337.  He would finish at .324.

Ryan Pressly had an ERA of 2.27.  He would finish at 3.87.

Logan Morrison would play for the Twins in 2018.  Kevin Slowey had pitched for the Twins from 2007-2011.

This was the last home run of Placido Polanco’s career.  He hit 104 in a career that lasted sixteen years.

Jeff Mathis hit fifty-three home runs in a thirteen-year career.  He would hit five in 2013.

PItcher Scott Diamond went 1-for-3 in the game, getting a one-out single in the sixth.  He did not advance beyond first base.

The Twins had eight hits and five walks, but all their hits were singles.  They stranded nine.

Record:  Miami was 27-50, in fifth (last) place in the NL East, seventeen games behind Atlanta.  They would finish 62-100, in fifth place, thirty-four games behind Atlanta.

The Twins were 34-40, in fourth place in the AL Central, seven games behind Detroit.  They would finish 66-96, in fourth place, twenty-seven games behind Detroit.

Random Record:  The Random Twins are 49-51 (.490).

CLEVELAND INDIANS 6, MINNESOTA TWINS 5 IN CLEVELAND

Date:  Wednesday, May 4, 1977.

Batting stars:  Rod Carew was 2-for-4 with a home run (his second) and a walk.  Larry Hisle hit a three-run homer, his sixth.

Pitching star:  Jeff Holly pitched three innings, giving up one run on two hits and a walk and striking out two.

Opposition stars:  Johnny Grubb was 2-for-4 with two RBIs.  Duane Kuiper was 2-for-4.

The game:  Lyman Bostock led off the second with a double.  With one out Mike Cubbage was intentionally walked to pitch to Larry Hisle(!), who hit a three-run homer to put the Twins ahead 3-0.

Rick Manning hit a one-out triple and scored on a ground out in the bottom of the second to make it 3-1.  In the third, Larvell Blanks led off with a double and scored on a Fred Kendall single.  With two out, Jim Norris singled and went to second on a throw, putting men on second and third.  Johnny Grubb then delivered a two-run single to give Cleveland a 4-3 lead.

Rod Carew homered with one out in the fifth to tie it 4-4.  In the sixth Larry Hisle walked, stole second, and scored on a two-out single by Rich Chiles to give the Twins a 5-4 lead.

In the sixth, Rick Manning drew a two-out walk and scored on a Rico Carty double to tie it 5-5.  With one out in the seventh Fred Kendall walked and Duane Kuiper and Buddy Bell followed with singles, putting the Indians up 6-5.

The Twins did not get a hit in the final three innings.  They did draw three walks, and put the potential tying run on third with two out in the eighth, but the score remained 6-5 Cleveland.

WP:  Don Hood (1-0).

LP:  Tom Johnson (3-2).

S:  Dave LaRoche (3).

Notes:  Rob Wilfong was at second.  He shared the position with Bobby Randall, with Randall playing the most games there, 101 to 66.  Rich Chiles was the DH.  He shared the position with Craig Kusick and Glenn Adams.  Kusick played the most games there with 85, followed by Chiles (62) and Adams (46).

Mike Cubbage was batting .350.  He would finish at .264.  Rod Carew was batting .343.  He would finish at a league-leading .388.  Rob Wilfong was batting .333.  He would finish at .246.  Butch Wynegar was batting .317.  He would finish at .261.  Lyman Bostock was batting .310.  He would finish at .336.

Jeff Holly had an ERA of 0.90.  He would finish at 6.89.  Tom Johnson had an ERA of 1.29.  He would finish at 3.13.

Dave LaRoche had pitched for the Twins in 1972.

As you can see, the Twins had a lot of players get off to hot starts, which propelled them in to first place early in the season.  Obviously, they did not stay there, but they were in contention for the first half of the season.

You may be wondering, as I was, why in the world you would walk Mike Cubbage to pitch to Larry Hisle.  Yes, it set up the double play, and yes, Cubbage was batting .350.  But Hisle was batting .290, so it’s not like he was in a slump.  And even with the difference in batting average, Hisle had the better OPS.  Frank Robinson was the Cleveland manager at that time, and he obviously knows more about baseball than I do, but it does not seem like a smart decision to me.

Record:  Cleveland was 8-13, in sixth place in the AL East, 5.5 games behind Milwaukee.  They would finish 71-90, in fifth place, 28.5 games behind New York.

The Twins were 15-10, in first place in the AL West, a half game ahead of Chicago.  They would finish 84-77, in fourth place, 17.5 games behind Kansas City.

Random Record:  The Random Twins are 49-50 (.495).