OAKLAND ATHLETICS 10, MINNESOTA TWINS 9 IN MINNESOTA (10 INNINGS)
Date: Friday, April 8, 1994.
Batting star: Kirby Puckett was 5-for-6 with a double and four RBIs. Rich Becker was 3-for-5 with a double and two runs. Alex Cole was 3-for-5 with a walk and two runs. Chuck Knoblauch was 2-for-4 with a double, a walk, two runs, and three RBIs. Kent Hrbek was 2-for-5 with a walk.
Pitching star: Carl Willis struck out two in two perfect innings.
Opposition stars: Brent Gates was 2-for-2 with a home run (his first), a walk, two runs, and three RBIs. Mark McGwire was 2-for-4 with a home run (his first) and two RBIs. Troy Neel was 2-for-5 with a double and two RBIs. Ruben Sierra hit a home run, his first. Terry Steinbach hit a home run, his second. Bob Welch pitched six innings, giving up one run on five hits and three walks and striking out three.
The game: Oakland dominated early on. Sierra hit a two-out homer in the first to give the Athletics a 1-0 lead. In the second, Rickey Henderson led off with a walk and Stan Javier singled. A ground out moved them to second and third with two out and Gates delivered a two-run single to make it 3-0.
The Twins got on the board in the third when Pat Meares singled, Cole walked, and Puckett hit an RBI single. But Oakland got the run back with interest in the fifth. Henderson singled and McGwire and Gates hit back-to-back home runs, giving the Athletics a 6-1 advantage. It went to 7-1 in the sixth when Steinbach homered.
The Twins came back, though. In the seventh, singles by Becker and Cole put men on the corners with one out. Knoblauch hit a sacrifice fly, Puckett singled, and Kent Hrbek walked to load the bases. Dave Winfield then doubled to bring the Twins within three at 7-4.
Oakland got an insurance run in the eighth when Gates walked and scored on Neel’s RBI double. But in the bottom of the eighth, Chip Hale walked, Becker singled, and Cole singled to load the bases with one out. Knoblauch drove in two with a double, Puckett drove in two more with a single, and the game was tied 8-8. Neither team scored in the ninth, so the game went to extra innings.
In the tenth, Geronimo Berroa led off with a double and went to third on a bunt. Neel singled to score him, went to second on a ground out, and scored himself on a Scott Brosius single, putting the Athletics up 10-8. In the bottom of the tenth, Knoblauch led off with a single and scored on a Puckett double. The tying run was on second with none out. He went to third on a ground out, but the next two batters were retired and the victory went to Oakland.
WP: John Briscoe (1-0).
LP: Larry Casian (0-1).
S: Billy Taylor (1).
Notes: Hale was at third in place of Scott Leius. Becker began the season as the regular center fielder, but was soon replaced by Shane Mack. Mack usually played left, with Cole, who was in left in this game, moving to center. Pedro Munoz also saw significant time in left.
This early in the season, of course, the batting averages are skewed. Jeff Reboulet was batting .500. He would finish at .259. Becker was batting .417. He would finish at .265. Knoblauch was batting .412. He would finish at .312. Puckett was batting .400. He would finish at .317. Hrbek was also batting .400. He would finish at .270. Cole was batting .333. He would finish at .296. Dave Winfield was batting .313. He would finish at .252.
As you probably realized, there were three Oakland players who would eventually finish their careers with the Twins. Gates played for the Twins in 1998-1999. Sierra came in 2006. Steinbach played for them from 1997-1999.
This was the only year as a rotation starter for Pat Mahomes. He had an eleven year career, which is pretty good for someone who was only able to put up an ERA below five in four of those years.
This was the only save Billy Taylor would get in 1994. It was the first save of his career and only his third major league appearance. He would go on to have some fine years as the Oakland closer, but in 1994 they still had Dennis Eckersley. Eckersley was used as the closer in this game, but blew the save in the eighth.
Troy Neel was a first baseman/DH. He played for them from 1992-1994, and finished seventh in Rookie of the Year voting in 1993. He was actually a very good batter: in 758 at-bats, he batted .280/.263/.475 with 37 home runs. Unfortunately for him, the Athletics had Mark McGwire at first base and Geronimo Berroa to DH, so they really didn’t have a spot for him. You’d think someone else would’ve wanted him, but instead he went to Japan, where he had a long career for the Orix Blue Wave.
John Briscoe split six seasons between Oakland and AAA from 1991-1996. A reliever, he was 5-5, 5.67, 1.81 WHIP in 100 games (139.2 innings). He was not that good in AAA, either: 11-14, 4.87, 1.73 WHIP. He’s one of the many pitchers who might have been good if he could have found the strike zone. He averaged 5.8 walks per nine innings in AAA and 8.3 walks per nine innings in the majors. His “stuff” was obviously good enough for him to keep getting chances, but he simply could not throw enough strikes. He did go on to pitch for five seasons for Somerset in the Atlantic League.
Record: Oakland was 1-2, tied for second with Texas in the AL West, a half game behind California. They would finish 51-63, in second place, one game behind Texas.
Minnesota was 1-3, tied for third with the White Sox in the AL Central, 2.5 games behind Cleveland and Milwaukee. They would finish 53-60, in fourth place, 14 games behind the White Sox.
Random Record: The Random Twins are 14-11 (.560)..