MINNESOTA TWINS 4, CALIFORNIA ANGELS 1 IN CALIFORNIA

Date:  Friday, September 18, 1992.

Batting stars:  Chuck Knoblauch was 2-for-3 with a walk.  Pedro Munoz was 2-for-4 with a triple.  Gene Larkin was 2-for-4 with two RBIs.

Pitching stars:  Scott Erickson pitched 7.1 innings, giving up one run on four hits and two walks and striking out six.  Rick Aguilera pitched 1.1 scoreless innings, giving up one hit.

Opposition stars:  Lee Stevens was 2-for-4.  Gary Gaetti hit a home run, his twelfth.  Bert Blyleven pitched six innings, giving up three runs on six hits and one walk and striking out three.

The game:  Chuck Knoblauch led off the game with a single.  With one out Shane Mack was hit by a pitch, and with two out Pedro Munoz delivered an RBI single to give the Twins a 1-0 lead.  In the second, Lenny Webster singled with one out, went to second on a ground out, and Chuck Knoblauch delivered an RBI single to give the Twins a 2-0 lead.  In the third, Shane Mack led off with a single, went to second on a ground out, and Gene Larkin delivered an RBI single to give the Twins a 3-0 lead.

Meanwhile, Scott Erickson was in complete control.  The Angels only had one hit through six innings and only once advanced a man to second base.  That changed in the seventh, when Gary Gaetti led off with a home run to cut the Twins’ lead to 3-1.  California also got a pair of infield singles in the inning, but a double play took them out of the inning.

The Twins got the run back in the eighth.  Pedro Munoz hit a one-out triple and scored on a Gene Larkin single to make it 4-1.

And that was it.  California got only one more hit, a two-out double by Chad Curtis in the ninth, but it did not lead to anything.

WP:  Scott Erickson (13-10).

LP:  Bert Blyleven (8-9).

S:  Rick Aguilera (39).

Notes:  Lenny Webster was behind the plate in place of Brian Harper.  Gene Larkin was at first base in place of Kent Hrbek.  Jeff Reboulet was at short in place of Greg Gagne.  Terry Jorgensen was at third in place of Scott Leius.  J. T. Bruett was in center in place of Kirby Puckett, who was at DH in place of Chili Davis

Terry Jorgensen was batting .400   He would finish at .310.  Kirby Puckett was batting .328.  He would finish at .329.  Shane Mack was batting .322.  He would finish at .315.  Chuck Knoblauch was batting .302.  He would finish at .297.

Gary Wayne had an ERA of 2.01.  He would finish at 2.63.  Rick Aguilera had an ERA of 2.93.  He would finish at 2.84.

Gary Gaetti had played for the Twins from 1981-1990.  Bert Blyleven pitched for the Twins from 1970-1976 and 1986-1988,

The Twins were pretty much out of the race at this point, which is why there were so many reserves and September call-ups in the lineup.  It’s kind of impressive that with that lineup, the Twins still won.

Pedro Munoz hit eight triples in his career.  His career high was in 1992, when he hit three.

Record:  California was 66-81, in fifth place in the AL West, twenty-four games behind Oakland.  They would finish 72-90, in fifth place, twenty-four games behind Oakland.

The Twins were 82-66, in second place in the AL West, 8.5 games behind Oakland.  They would finish 90-72, in second place, six games behind Oakland.

Random Record:  The Random Twins are 46-46 (.500).

MINNESOTA TWINS 6, BALTIMORE ORIOLES 4 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Monday, May 28, 1990.

Batting star:  Kirby Puckett was 3-for-4 with two home runs (his seventh and eighth) and four RBIs.  Gene Larkin was 2-for-3 with a home run (his third), a double, and a walk.  Dan Gladden was 2-for-4.  Gary Gaetti hit a home run, his sixth.

Pitching star:  Tim Drummond pitched 1.1 scoreless innings, walking two and striking out one.  Juan Berenguer struck out three and walked one in two shutout innings.  John Candelaria pitched a perfect inning.

Opposition stars:  Randy Milligan hit a home run, his third.  Dave Johnson pitched 5.2 innings, giving up two runs on seven hits and a walk and striking out two.

The game:  Joe Orsulak tripled with one out in the first and scored on a sacrifice fly to give Baltimore a 1-0 lead.  Kirby Puckett homered in the bottom of the first to tie it 1-1.  Randy Milligan homered leading off the second to put the Orioles in front 2-1.  It went to 3-1 in the third when Baltimore scored on three walks and a wild pitch.  It went to 4-1 in the fourth when Bob Melvin led off with a double, was bunted to third, and scored on a ground out.

The Twins got a run in the fifth when Gene Larkin homered.  Each team put men on second and third with one out in the sixth, but neither team scored.  In the seventh, Junior Ortiz doubled with one out and went to third on a Dan Gladden singled.  With two out, Kirby Puckett hit a three-run homer to give the Twins their first lead at 5-4.  Gary Gaetti homered in the eighth to give the Twins an insurance run.

Baltimore drew four walks, but did not get a hit after the fourth inning.

WP:  Juan Berenguer (4-0).

LP:  Joe Price (0-2).

S:  John Candelaria (2-0).

Notes:  Junior Ortiz was behind the plate in place of Brian Harper.  Fred Manrique was at second base.  Al Newman played the most games there at 89, with Manrique second at 67.  Gene Larkin was in right field.  John Moses played the most games there at 52, with Shane Mack at 51 and Larkin at 47.  Jim Dwyer was the DH.  Larkin played the most games there with 43, followed by Carmelo Castillo with 35, Randy Bush with 27, Paul Sorrento with 23, and Dwyer with 22.

Kirby Puckett was batting .327.  He would finish at .298.  Dan Gladden was batting .325.  He would finish at .275.  Gene Larkin was batting .314.  He would finish at .269.  John Moses was batting .308.  He would finish at .221.

Terry Leach had an ERA of 2.03.  He would finish at 3.20.

David West started for the Twins, giving up four runs on three hits and four walks in four innings.  He was a top Mets prospect, and came to the Twins in the Frank Viola trade.  In a four-year career with the Twins, he went 15-18, 5.33, 1.52 WHIP in 63 games, 47 of them starts.  The Twins traded him to Philadelphia after the 1992 season and he went on to have a few decent years for them, mostly out of the bullpen.

Joe Price was in the last year of a pretty good career.  He played eleven seasons, mostly for Cincinnati.  In 372 games (84 starts), he went 45-49, 13 saves, 3.65 ERA, 1.30 WHIP.   He had an ERA under three in four of those years and under four in eight of them.  He had a few down years in there, mostly toward the end of his career, but for the most part he was a guy you were happy to have on your team.

John Candelaria had twenty-nine career saves, five of them in 1990.  He was a starter most of his career, but moved to the bullpen in 1989, his fifteenth major league season.  He would be traded to Toronto about two months after this game for Pedro Munoz and Nelson Liriano.

Record:  Baltimore was 20-25, in fifth place in the AL East, four games behind Toronto.  They would finish 76-85, in fifth place, 11.5 games behind Boston.

The Twins were 26-18, in third place in the AL West, 4.5 games behind Oakland.  They would finish 74-88, in seventh (last) place, twenty-nine games behind Oakland.  They would have the worst record in the American League after this date (48-70).

Random Record:  The Random Twins are 45-46 (.483).