SEATTLE MARINERS 5, MINNESOTA TWINS 1 IN SEATTLE
Date: Sunday, April 14, 1985.
Batting star: Mickey Hatcher was 2-for-4.
Pitching star: Tom Klawitter pitched a scoreless inning, giving up a walk.
Opposition stars: Al Cowens was 3-for-4. Mike Moore pitched 7.2 innings, giving up one run on seven hits and two walks and striking out five.
The game: The Twins put two on in the first but did not score. They got a pair of one-out singles in the third, but the game remained scoreless. Seattle got a pair of two-out singles in the fourth, but similarly were held off the scoreboard. The Twins got two two-out singles in the seventh, but it was still 0-0.
Seattle finally broke through in the seventh. With one out, Al Cowens doubled and Jim Presley was intentionally walked. With two out, Spike Owen singled home the game’s first run and Harold Reynolds walked to load the bases. Rick Lysander then came in to replace starter Frank Viola and gave up a three-run triple to Phil Bradley. Alvin Davis followed with an RBI single and the Mariners led 5-0.
The Twins got one back in the eighth when Tom Brunansky doubled with two out and scored on a Mike Stenhouse single. But the last four Twins went out and the Mariners won it, 5-1.
WP: Mike Moore (2-0).
LP: Frank Viola (1-1).
S: None.
Notes: Mike Stenhouse was the DH. Roy Smalley had the most games in that spot with 56, followed by Dave Engle (38) and Randy Bush (28).
Mickey Hatcher was batting .407. He would finish at .282. Tom Brunansky was batting .368. He would finish at .242. Mike Stenhouse was batting .333. He would finish at .223. Kirby Puckett was batting .333. He would finish at .288.
Tom Klawitter had an ERA of 0.00. He would finish at 6.75.
This was the only full season Mike Stenhouse had in the major leagues. He played in 81 games, got 179 at-bats, and batted .223/.330/.335. He also played for Montreal from 1982-1984 and for Boston in 1986.
This was Tom Klawitter’s first major league game. He would appear in six more, never to return. Speculation at the time was that the main reason he made the team was that Billy Gardner enjoyed making the “claw” gesture when he wanted him to come into a game. Given the Twins’ pitching staff in 1985, it was probably as good a reason as any.
This was Rick Lysander’s last season in the majors. He’d pitched decently in relief for the Twins in 1983-1984, but it fell apart for him this season.
Mike Moore made thirty-two starts or more every season from 1984-1993. He pitched over 200 innings in each of those seasons except 1990, when he pitched 199.1. He finished in the top ten in Cy Young voting twice, finishing third in 1989 (behind Bret Saberhagen and teammate Dave Stewart). He made 440 starts over a fourteen year career, an average of 31.4 per season. His career numbers aren’t spectacular by any means: 161-176, 4.39, 1.42 WHIP. He’s doesn’t belong in the Hall of Fame, or even in the Hall of Very Good. But he was a guy you were happy to have in your rotation for fourteen seasons.
Record: Seattle was 6-0, in first place in the AL West, three games ahead of Chicago. They would finish 74-88, in fifth place, seventeen games behind Kansas City.
The Twins were 2-4, tied for third place in the AL West with California and Oakland, four games behind Seattle. They would finish 77-85, tied for fourth with Oakland, fourteen games behind Kansas City.
Random Record: The Random Twins are 34-40 (.459).