MINNESOTA TWINS 2, SEATTLE MARINERS 1 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Wednesday, June 1, 1994.

Batting stars:  Alex Cole was 3-for-4 with a double.  Pat Meares was 2-for-3.  Chuck Knoblauch was 2-for-4 with two doubles and two RBIs.

Pitching stars:  Kevin Tapani pitched eight innings, giving up one run on seven hits and a walk and striking out six.  Rick Aguilera pitched a scoreless inning, giving up one hit and striking out one.

Opposition stars:  Felix Fermin was 3-for-3 with a double.  Chris Bosio pitched a complete game, giving up two runs on nine hits and a walk and striking out one.

The game:  Cole hit a one-out double in the first but remained at second.  Seattle got on the board in the third, as Fermin hit a one-out double and scored on Torey Lovullo’s two-out double.  The Twins got the run back in the third when Meares laid down a bunt single and scored on a Knoblauch double.  

Each team missed chances to take the lead.  Fermin and Dan Wilson hit one-out singles in the top of the fifth, but a strikeout and a fly out ended the inning.  In the bottom half, Meares singled with one out and advanced to third with two out on a stolen base-plus-error, but a ground out ended that threat.  In the top of the sixth, Tino Martinez hit a two-run single and went all the way from first to third on a passed ball, but was stranded there.

The Twins finally broke through in the seventh.  Matt Walbeck singled with one out.  He went to second on a ground out and Knoblauch delivered an RBI double to put the Twins ahead.  Cole followed with a single put men on first and third, but the Twins could do no more.  

Still, they led, 2-1, and it was enough.  The Mariners got a two-out single in each of the last two innings, but did not move the man past first.

WP:  Tapani (6-2)..

LP:  Bosio (2-7).

S:  Aguilera (11).

Notes:  Chip Hale was at first base, with Kent Hrbek moving to DH.  Dave Winfield was the regular DH that season.  David McCarty came in for defense at first in the ninth.

Kirby Puckett was batting .335.  He would finish at .317.  Knoblauch was batting .328.  He would finish at .312.  Shane Mack was batting .315.  He would finish at .333.  Cole was batting .306.  He would finish at .296.

Tapani was really up and down in 1994, mixing some fine games like this with some bad ones.  He would finish 11-7, but with an ERA of 4.62.  That ERA was actually the best among Twins starters, with Pat Mahomes as the only other starter posting an ERA under five.  Despite that, the Twins made no changes to their rotation, with only six starts made outside of their regular five starters.  The starting five was Tapani, Mahomes (4.73), Scott Erickson (5.44), Carlos Pulido (5.98), and Jim DeShaies (7.39).

This was Fermin’s last season as a regular.  He would be a part-time player for the Mariners in 1995 and make eleven appearances for the Cubs in 1996 before ending his major league career.

Record:  Seattle was 21-30, in third place in the AL West, just 2.5 games behind Texas.  They would finish 49-63, just two games behind Texas.  Texas won the division with a record of 52-62, but there were no playoffs that season.

The Twins were 26-24, in third place in the AL Central, 4.5 games behind the White Sox.  They would finish 53-60, in fourth place, fourteen games behind the White Sox.

Random Record:  The Random Twins have a five-game winning streak and are 6-3 (.667).

MINNESOTA TWINS 7, TAMPA BAY DEVIL RAYS 3 IN TAMPA BAY

Date:  Tuesday, May 6, 2003.

Batting stars:  Jacque Jones was 5-for-5 with two home runs (his second and third), a double, and three runs.  Dustan Mohr was 2-for-4 with a two-run homer, his fourth.  Bobby Kielty was 2-for-4.  Torii Hunter hit a two-run homer, his fourth.

Pitching star:  Brad Radke pitched seven innings, giving up two runs on seven hits and a walk and  striking out six.

Opposition stars:  Rey Ordonez was 2-for-4 with a double.  Rocco Baldelli was 2-for-4.  Nick Bierbrodt pitched three shutout innings, giving up three hits and striking out two.  Jesus Colome struck out two in two shutout innings, giving up one hit.

The game:  Jones led off the game with a home run, giving the Twins a quick 1-0 lead.  Tampa Bay threatened in the bottom of the inning.  Baldelli hit a one-out single and stole second with two out.  Travis Lee walked, but a strikeout ended the inning.  In the second, Kielty hit a one-out single followed by Mohr’s two-run homer, making it 3-0.  In the third, Jones again led off with a home run.  With two out, Todd Sears walked and Hunter hit a two-run homer to give the Twins a 6-0 lead.  The Twins threatened in the fourth, as A. J. Pierzynski led off with a single and Jones singled with one out.  A force out put men on first and third, but a fly out ended the inning.

Meanwhile, Radke was in control.  He retired nine in a row before Al Martin reached on an error.  Toby Hall followed with a single, but a fly out ended the threat.  The Twins threatened again in the sixth, as Pierzynski was hit by a pitch with one out and Jones hit a two-out double, but a ground out ended the inning.

The Devil Rays finally got to Radke in the sixth.  Singles by Baldelli, Aubrey Huff, and Lee loaded the bases with none out.  Martin grounded out to score one and Hall hit a sacrifice fly to bring in another, but that was all Tampa Bay could do.  They threatened again in the seventh, getting one-out singles from Ordonez and Marlon Anderson, but a double play ended the inning.

Each team tallied one in the ninth.  Jones singled, stole second, and scored on a Corey Koskie single.  Chris Truby drew a two-out walk and scored on an Ordonez double.  That brought us to the final score of 7-3.

WP:  Radke (3-3).

LP:  Steve Parris (0-3).

S:  None.

Notes:  Sears was at first base in place of Doug Mientkiewicz.  Chris Gomez was at second in place of Luis Rivas.  Kielty was the DH.  The Twins didn’t really have a regular DH in 2003, with Matthew LeCroy getting the most starts there.

Jones was batting .336.  He would finish at .304.  Kielty was batting .310.  He would finish at .252.  Radke got off to a very slow start in 2003–this would lower his ERA to 5.53.  His ERA was 5.49 in the first half of the season and 3.24 in the second half.

While Tampa Bay got a couple of men on base, Radke did not give up a run in the first inning.

Johan Santana pitched the last two innings.  This was in the “Free Johan” days, with Santana (and many fans) believing he should be starting, but Ron Gardenhire and the Twins believing he was more valuable in relief.  He would start a game three days later, on May 9, but would not join the rotation until mid-July.

This would be the last major league start and last major league decision for Parris.  He would make three more appearances, all in relief, and be released June 18, never to return to the major leagues.

Whatever became of Rocco Baldelli, anyway?

Record:  Tampa Bay was 12-20, in fifth (last) place in the AL East, eleven games behind the Yankees.  Not that the Devil Rays had high expectations, but it has to be discouraging to already be eleven games out in early May.  They would finish 63-99, in fifth (last) place, 38 games behind the Yankees.

The Twins were 16-15, in second place in the AL Central, 4.5 games behind Kansas City.  They would finish 92-70, in first place, four games ahead of the White Sox, with KC falling to third.

Random Record:  The Random Twins have a four-game winning streak and are 5-3 (.625).