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)..

MINNESOTA TWINS 7, NEW YORK YANKEES 6 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Tuesday, July 4, 1967.

Batting stars:  Ted Uhlaender was 3-for-4 with a home run (his second) and two runs.  Tony Oliva was 3-for-4 with a triple and two RBIs.  

Pitching stars:  Jim Perry pitched 5.2 innings, giving up four runs (one earned) on seven hits and four walks and striking out three.  Al Worthington pitched a scoreless inning, giving up a hit and two walks and striking out one.

Opposition stars:  Jake Gibbs was 4-for-4 with three RBIs.  Tom Tresh was 2-for-4 with a double and a walk.  Thad Tillotson pitched three innings, giving up one run on two hits and striking out one.

The game: The Twins got on the board in the first inning, as Cesar Tovar walked and scored on a Harmon Killebrew double.  The Yankees responded with four in the second.  Tresh doubled and went to third on Joe Pepitone’s single.  A one-out walk to John Kennedy loaded the bases.  Pitcher Mel Stottlemyre then brought home to runs on a single-plus-error.  Dick Howser walked to re-load the bases, and two more runs scored on Gibbs’ sacrifice fly-plus-error.  It was 4-1 Yankees.

The Twins got two back in the second, as a pitcher once again brought home a couple of runs.  Russ Nixon walked, Uhlaender reached on a two-base error, and Perry singled them both home, cutting the lead to 4-3.  The Twins put men on first and second in both the third and the fourth, but did not score again until the fifth.  Killebrew walked and scored on an Oliva triple.  Bob Allison then delivered a sacrifice fly to give the Twins a 5-4 lead.  Uhlaender homered in the eighth to make it 6-4.

It was looking good for the Twins, but the Yankees wouldn’t go away.  In the ninth, Charley Smith singled, Howser doubled, and Gibbs hit a two-run single to tie it 6-6.  With two out, Gibbs stole second and went to third on a throwing error.  Walks to Tresh and Pepitone loaded the bases, but a force out ended the inning.

In the bottom of the ninth, however, Tovar led off with a single and Rod Carew bunted him to second.  Pinch-hitter Frank Kostro walked, and Oliva ended things with an RBI single.  Justice prevailed, the good guys won, and on this most American of holidays the evil empire was defeated.  Of course, in 1967, that was a little easier to do.

WP:  Al Worthington (3-4).

LP:  Steve Hamilton (2-2).

S:  None.

Notes:  Nixon was behind the plate in place of Jerry Zimmerman, who was the regular catcher due to an injury to Earl Battey.  Tovar was at third base in place of Rich Rollins.  

Carew was batting .313.  He would finish at .292.  Perry was batting .308.  He would finish at .190, still not bad for a pitcher.

Jerry Zimmerman was the epitome of the defense-first, light-hitting backup catcher.  In an eight-season career, the last seven with the Twins, he batted .204/.269/.239.  This was the only season in which he played a hundred games, again due to an injury to Earl Battey.  He was not up to it, batting .167/.243/.192.  His OPS of .436 was worse than three pitchers on the roster in 1967:  Perry, Jim Kaat, and Dave Boswell.  The Twins, of course, would miss out on the American League pennant by one game.  I have to think that even an average-hitting catcher would have made up that one game difference.

Tony Oliva hit 48 triples in his career.  He has already hit three for the Random Twins.

This was Thad Tillotson’s only full season in the majors.  Pitching mostly in relief, he went 3-9, 4.03, 1.40 WHIP, numbers which are worse than they may sound given the low-offense context of 1967.  He appeared in seven more games in 1968, then his major league career was over.  I couldn’t find out what happened to him after baseball, but I did find this tidbit from thisdayinbaseball.com:  “On June 21, 1967 In retaliation for Joe Foy getting struck in the helmet in the top of the frame, Red Sox starter Jim Lonborg promptly plunks opposing pitcher Thad Tillotson in the back, igniting a bench-clearing brawl in the second inning of the Yankees’ 8-1 loss to Boston at Yankee Stadium. The five-minute melee results in no ejections but doesn’t quite settle the matter when Reggie Smith is brushed back in the third, and Dick Howser leaves the game in the fifth after being hit the head with a pitch.”

Record:  The Yankees were 34-42, in eighth place in the AL, 11 games behind the White Sox.  They would finish 72-90, in ninth place, 20 games behind Boston.

The Twins were 42-34, in second place in the AL, 3 games behind the White Sox.  They would finish 91-71, tied for second with Detroit, one game behind Boston.

Random Record:  The Random Twins are 14-10 (.583).