MINNESOTA TWINS 9, BALTIMORE ORIOLES 6 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Friday, July 7, 2017.

Batting stars:  Kennys Vargas was 3-for-4 with a double and two RBIs.  Eddie Rosario was 3-for-4 with a double.  Max Kepler was 2-for-4 with two runs.  Brian Dozier was 2-for-5 with a triple.

Pitching stars:  Trevor Hildenberger struck out three in 2.1 scoreless innings, giving up two hits.  Ryan Pressly pitched a scoreless inning, giving up a hit and striking out one.  Matt Belisle pitched a scoreless inning, giving up a hit and striking out one.  Taylor Rogers pitched a perfect inning.  Brandon Kintzler pitched a scoreless inning, giving up one hit.

Opposition stars:  Manny Machado was 4-for-5 with two home runs (his seventeenth and eighteenth) and four RBIs.  Trey Mancini was 2-for-4.  Seth Smith was 2-for-5 with a home run and two runs.  

The game: Smith and Machado opened the game with back-to-back home runs off Twins starter Felix Jorge, giving Baltimore a 2-0 lead.  In the third, Ruben Tejada walked, Smith singled, and Machado hit another home run, making it 5-0.  The Orioles weren’t done, though.  With two out, Mark Trumbo doubled and Mancini singled him home to put Baltimore up 6-0.

The Twins started their comeback in the fourth.  With one out, consecutive singles by Miguel Sano, Kepler, and Vargas loaded the bases.  Rosario singled home one and Chris Gimenez was hit by a pitch to bring in another.  The next two batters fanned, but the Twins were at least on the board at 6-2.

They followed that with a big inning in the fifth.  Dozier led off with a triple and scored on a Robbie Grossman double.  Sano reached on an error, putting runners at the corners.  Kepler singled home one and Vargas delivered a two-run double, tying the score.  Gimenez then came through with a two-out single, and improbably, the Twins were ahead 7-6.

The Orioles threatened in the sixth, putting men on second and third with one out, but nothing came of it.  Neither team did anything after that until the eighth, when the Twins got a couple of insurance runs.  Rosario doubled and was bunted to third, but when Jorge Polanco grounded to short he was thrown out trying to score.  But Polanco stole second and scored on a Byron Buxton single.  Dozier then singled and Buxton scored from first, putting the Twins up 9-6.  Baltimore got a man on in the ninth but did not bring the tying run up to bat.

WP:  Hildenberger (1-0).

LP:  Miguel Castro (1-1).

S:  Kintzler (24).

Notes:  Gimenez was behind the plate in place of Jason Castro.  Vargas was at first in place of Joe Mauer.  

Mauer, who did not play in this game, was the Twins’ lone .300 hitter, batting .305.

Hildenberger had an ERA of 0.00.  He would finish at 3.21.  Rogers had an ERA of 2.14.  He would finish at 3.07.  Kintzler had an ERA of 2.29.  He would finish at 2.78.

Jonathan Schoop was at second base for the Orioles, going 0-for-4.  He would play for the Twins in 2019.

Baltimore pitchers allowed fourteen hits, but did not give up a walk and struck out ten.  Twins pitchers walked only one.

Manny Machado played in Baltimore for six and a half years, making four all-star teams, winning two Gold Gloves, and finishing in the top ten in MVP voting three times.  He was traded in July of 2018 for five players who, while they all played in the majors, were nowhere near as good as Manny Machado even if you added them together.

Brian Dozier fell apart rather quickly.  He went from an OPS of .871 with 76 homers in 2016-2017 to an OPS of .696 in 2018.  He bounced back to have a decent year for Washington in 2019, but got only fifteen major league at-bats in 2020 and then was out of baseball entirely.

I still think Kennys Vargas could have been a good player if he’d been given regular playing time for an extended period.  I can’t prove it, of course, and we’ll never know.

This was the second and last major league appearance for Felix Jorge.

This was the fourth major league appearance for Trevor Hildenberger.  As you can see, he had not yet given up a run in the major leagues.  That would change in his next appearance, but he still was pretty good for the Twins in 2017.

Record:  Baltimore was 40-46, in fourth place in the AL East, 9.5 games behind Boston.  They would finish 75-87, in fifth place, 18 games behind Boston.

The Twins were 45-41, in second place in the AL Central, 1.5 games behind Cleveland.  They would finish 85-77, in second place, 17 games behind Cleveland, but good enough for a wild card spot.

Random Record:  The Random Twins are 16-12 (.571).

MINNESOTA TWINS 5, BALTIMORE ORIOLES 1 IN BALTIMORE

Date:  Saturday, May 23, 1964.

Batting stars:  Harmon Killebrew was 2-for-3 with a double and a walk.  Jimmie Hall was 2-for-4.

Pitching stars:  Lee Stange pitched a complete game, giving up one run on seven hits and two walks and striking out five.

Opposition star:  Boog Powell was 2-for-3 with a home run (his eighth), a double, and a walk.  Luis Aparicio was 2-for-4.  

The game:  Baltimore opened the first with singles by Jackie Brandt and Aparicio, but a line drive double play took them out of the inning.  It cost them, because the Twins scored three in the second.  Killebrew drew a one-out walk, went to third on Hall’s single, and scored on an Earl Battey sacrifice fly.  Walks to Bernie Allen and Stange loaded the bases, and Zoilo Versalles delivered a two-run single to make it 3-0 Twins.

There were various threats in the next few innings.  In the third Killebrew hit a two-out double but was thrown out trying to score on a Hall single.  Allen hit a one-out double in the fourth but was stranded at second.  In the bottom of the fourth Bob Johnson singled, and one-out walks to Brooks Robinson and Powell loaded the bases, but a double play again took the Orioles out of the inning.

Then things calmed down until the eighth.  Vic Power led off the inning with a single-plus-error.  With one out, Bob Allison came through with an RBI single.  Killebrew singled, a ground out moved runners to second and third, and Battey was intentionally walked to fill the bases.  Allen then reached on an error to make the score 5-0.  Baltimore managed to spoil the shutout with two out in the ninth, when Powell homered, but the Twins took a 5-1 victory.

WP:  Stange (1-2).

LP:  Dave McNally (3-2).

S:  None.

Notes:  Power was at first base.  Allison was actually the main first baseman, but he was in right field in this game in place of Tony Oliva.  This was the only game in 1964 in which Oliva did not play.  Killebrew was primarily a left fielder.

Nobody who played in this game for the Twins was batting .300, and none of them would finish over. 300.  Oliva did bat over .300, at .323.

Vic Power would play only six more games for the Twins before being traded to the Los Angeles Angels in mid-June.  He would play only one more season after this year.

Similarly, Lee Stange would play only six more games for the Twins before being traded to Cleveland in mid-June.  That was the trade that brought Mudcat Grant to the Twins.

Dave McNally was in his second full season and was not yet the star pitcher he would become, although he was not bad at all.  He went 9-11 in 1964 with a 3.67 ERA and a 1.31 WHIP.  He would go on to win twenty games each year from 1968-1971, making three all-star teams, finishing in the top four in Cy Young voting three times, and finishing as high as fifth in MVP voting.

Harvey Haddix pitched the ninth for Baltimore.  He had been a fine starting pitcher for many years, but in the last three years of his career he was an excellent reliever.  In 1964 he went 5-5 with nine saves, posting an ERA of 2.31 and a WHIP of 1.02.  He struck out 90 in 89.2 innings (49 games).

Record:  Baltimore was 21-13 in second place in the AL, a half game behind the White Sox.  They would finish 97-65, in third place, two games behind the Yankees.

Minnesota was 19-15, in fifth place in the AL, 2.5 games behind the White Sox.  They would finish 79-83, tied for sixth, 20 games behind the Yankees.

Random Record:  The Random Twins are 15-12 (.556).

PITTSBURGH PIRATES 6, MINNESOTA TWINS 1 IN PITTSBURGH

Date:  Friday, June 5, 1998

Batting stars:  None.

Pitching star:  Mike Morgan pitched six innings, giving up three runs on eight hits and a walk and striking out four.

Opposition stars:  Jermaine Allensworth was 2-for-2 with a walk, two runs, and two RBIs.  Kevin Young was 2-for-3 with a walk.  Kevin Polcovich was 2-for-4 with a double and two RBIs.  Jose Guillen was 2-for-4 with a double.  Jason Kendall was 2-for-4.  Jose Silva pitched a complete game, giving up one run on five hits and striking out seven.  He threw 110 pitches.

The game:  Pittsburgh got three singles in the first inning, but a double play and a pickoff kept them off the scoreboard.  The Twins actually scored first, in the third inning.  Morgan, batting because the game was being played in a National League park, hit a one-out single.  With two out, Brent Gates and Paul Molitor singled, giving the Twins a 1-0 lead.

It stayed 1-0 until the fifth.  Allensworth and Guillen led off with singles, putting men on first and third, and a force out tied the score.  The Pirates went ahead in the sixth.  With two out, Al Martin and Kendall singled and Young walked, loading the bases.  Allensworth followed with a two-run single, making the scored 3-1 Pittsburgh.

The Pirates put the game out of reach in the eighth with another two-out rally.  Young singled and Allensworth walked.  Guillen hit a run-scoring double, Aramis Ramirez walked, and Polcovich hit a two-run single.  Pittsburgh led 6-1, and that’s how it would end.  The Twins got only one hit after the third inning, a single by Javier Valentin in the seventh.

WP:  Silva (6-3).

LP:  Morgan (2-2).

S:  None.

Notes:  Valentin was behind the plate in place of Terry Steinbach.  As there was no DH, Molitor played first base, moving David Ortiz to the bench.  Gates was at third in place of Ron Coomer.

Morgan was batting .500.  He would finish at .625.  Todd Walker was batting .347.  He would finish at .316.  Eddie Guardado had an ERA of 2.78.  He would finish at 4.52.

Mike Morgan, 1998 notwithstanding, was not a particularly good batter.  For his career, he hit .109/.132./.119 in 497 at-bats.  This was his only season with the Twins, and it was only a partial season, as he was traded to the Cubs on August 25 for a player to be named later, who turned out to be named Scott Downs.

I really thought Jose Guillen was going to be a star.  It never happened, although he had a solid major league career.  He batted .267 with 14 home runs as a 21-year-old rookie in 1997, finishing seventh in Rookie of the Year voting.  He had an incredibly similar year in 1998:  in 1997 he batted .267/.300/.412; in 1998 he batted .267/.298/.414, again with 14 home runs.  He bounced around after that, going to Tampa Bay in 1999, then to Arizona and Cincinnati in 2002.  He had his best year for Cincinnati in 2003, batting .337 with 23 home runs before being traded to Oakland at the July deadline.  He had solid years for Anaheim and Washington in 2004 and 2005, respectively, and another good year for Seattle in 2007.  For his career, he batted .270/.321/.440 with 214 home runs in fourteen major league seasons.

Record:  Pittsburgh was 30-30, in fourth place in the NL Central, 5.5 games behind the Cubs and Houston.  They finished 69-93, in sixth (last) place, 33 games behind Houston.

The Twins were 26-32, in second place in the AL Central, 8.5 games behind Cleveland.  They would finish 70-92, in fourth place, 19 games ahead of Cleveland.

Random Record:  The Random Twins are 14-12 (.538)