MINNESOTA TWINS 3, HOUSTON ASTROS IN MINNESOTA (10 INNINGS)

Date:  Friday, April 7, 2023.

Batting stars:  Jose Miranda was 3-for-5.  Michael Taylor was 2-for-4 with a double.  Donovan Solano was 2-for-4 with a walk.  Byron Buxton was 2-for-5.  Kyle Farmer was 2-for-5.

Pitching star:  Sonny Gray struck out thirteen in seven innings, giving up one run on four hits and one walk.  Griffin Jax pitched a perfect inning, striking out one.  Jhoan Duran struck out two and walked one in a scoreless inning.

Opposition stars:  Mauricio Dubon was 2-for-4 with a double.  Jose Urquidy struck out six in 5.1 innings, giving up one run on seven hits and a walk.

The game:  Houston opened the scoring in the third inning, as Dubon opened the inning with a double and scored on a two-out single by Alex Bregman.  The Twins missed several opportunities to tie it or even take the lead.  In the third, two-out singles by Taylor and Buxton did not produce a run.  In the fourth, Miranda and Solano hit one-out singles and Joey Gallo walked with two out to load the bases, but a popup ended the inning.  In the fifth, Taylor’s leadoff double led nowhere.

The Twins finally tied it in the sixth.  With one out, Solano and Farmer singled.  A force out put runners on the corners with two down, and a wild pitch made the score 1-1.  Neither team moved a man past first base in innings seven through nine, so we went to an extra inning.

David Hensley was the Manfred Man for the Astros, and he scored on a one-out single by Dubon to put Houston ahead 2-1.  In the bottom of the inning, though, Buxton began the inning on second.  A one-out wild pitch advanced him to third.  Trevor Larnach walked and Miranda singled to tie the score.  Another wild pitch put men on second and third and led to an intentional walk to Solano.  Farmer then singled to bring home the deciding run.

WP:  Jorge Lopez (1-0).

LP:  Ryne Stanek (1-1).

S:  None.

Notes:  Kyle Farmer was at second base.  Edouard Julien had the most appearances at second, and then came Jorge Polanco.  Jose Miranda was at third base.  Royce Lewis had the most games at third, followed by Farmer and Willi Castro.  Trevor Larnach was in left.  Castro had the most games in left, followed by Joey Gallo.  Gallo was in right in place of Max Kepler, who is one of the few people who could be considered a “regular” in 2023.

Byron Buxton was batting .360.  He would finish at .207.  Trevor Larnach was batting .333.  He would finish at .213.  Donovan Solano was batting .308.  He would finish at .282.  Royce Lewis would be the Twins’ lone .300 hitter at .309.

Sonny Gray had an ERA of 0.75.  He would finish at 2.79.  Jhoan Duran and Jorge Lopez each had an ERA of 0.00.  They would finish at 2.45 and 5.09, respectively.

Ryan Pressly came in to strike out the side in the ninth.  He had pitched for the Twins from 2013-2018 before being traded for Jorge Alcala and Gilberto Celestino.

As you may have guessed the Twins stranded a lot of runners, although it did not hurt them in the end.  They stranded twelve men and went 2-for-11 with men in scoring position.  They out-hit Houston 11-5.

The notes section is pretty light today, but there’s not a lot to say about these teams that you don’t know.

Record:  Houston was 3-5, tied for third with Seattle in the AL West, 1.5 games behind Los Angeles and Texas.  They would finish 90-72, tied for first with Texas.

Minnesota was 5-2, in first place in the AL Central, a half game ahead of Cleveland.  They would finish 87-75, in first place, nine games ahead of Detroit.

Random Record:  The Random Twins are 20-13 (.606).

KANSAS CITY ROYALS 5, MINNESOTA TWINS 4 IN KANSAS CITY (12 INNINGS)

Date:  Sunday, August 10, 2008.

Batting stars:  Adam Everett was 2-for-4 with two RBIs.  Brian Buscher was 2-for-5 with a double and two runs.

Pitching stars:  Scott Baker struck out seven in seven innings, giving up two runs on seven hits and a walk.  Jesse Crain retired all four batters he faced, striking out one.

Opposition stars:  Mark Teahen was 3-for-5 with a double, a walk, and three runs.  Tony Pena was 2-for-2.  Jason Smith was 2-for-5 with two doubles.  Mitch Maier was 2-for-6.  Joakim Soria struck out four in two shutout innings, giving up one hit.

The game: The Twins took the lead in the third inning.  Mike Lamb walked and singles by Buscher and Everett produced a run.  A bunt moved the runners up, Joe Mauer drew a two-out walk to load the bases, and Justin Morneau was walked to force in a run and put the Twins ahead 2-0.

The lead held until the sixth.  With one out, Maier singled and scored on a single-plus-error by Teahen, who in turn scored on a Jose Guillen single.  Alex Gordon singled, moving Guillen to third, but he was stranded there and the score was tied.  The Twins untied it in the seventh.  Buscher doubled and scored on Everett’s single.  Walks to Denard Span and Nick Punto loaded the bases with one out a ground out by Mauer brought home a run, giving the Twins a 4-2 lead.

The Twins couldn’t hold it.  Matt Guerrier came in to start the eighth but lasted only a third of an inning, giving up singles to Teahen and Billy Butler.  Dennys Reyes came in and threw a wild pitch, cutting the lead to 4-3.  The next batter grounded out, but Ross Gload reached on an error that brought home the tying run.

There was no Manfred Man back then, so they simply played on.  Each team missed a chance in extra innings.  Kansas City had men on second and third with one out in the tenth, but a strikeout and a ground out ended the threat.  The Twins had a man on second with one out in the eleventh, but a ground out and a popup ended the inning.

The Royals put it away in the twelfth.  Craig Breslow, working his third inning of relief, allowed a one-out double to Teahen.  Guillen was intentionally walked, and Pena singled home the deciding run.

WP:  Rob Tejeda (1-2).

LP:  Breslow (0-1).

S:  None.

Notes:  Mike Lamb was at first base in place of Justin Morneau, who was the DH.  Jason Kubel was the closest to a regular DH that year, manning the spot 85 times.  Kubel was in right in this game, with Denard Span, normally in right, shifting to center and Carlos Gomez moving to the bench.  Nick Punto was at second in place of Alexi Casilla.  Punto played most of his games at short that year, but Adam Everett was the shortstop in this game.

Denard Span was batting .316.  He would finish at .294.  Joe Mauer was batting .315.  He would finish at .328.  Brian Buscher was batting .313.  He would finish at .294.  Justin Morneau was batting .308.  He would finish at .300.  Craig Breslow had an ERA of 2.48.  He would finish at 1.63.  Dennys Reyes had an ERA of 2.51.  He would finish at 2.33.

The Twins had seven hits and nine walks but stranded ten.  They went 2-for-10 with men in scoring position.  Kansas City stranded eleven and went 2-for-11 with men in scoring position.

Brian Buscher was another player we thought would be something.  He batted .294 with a .730 OPS in 218 at-bats this year.  However, he was already twenty-seven, so this was as good as he would ever get.  He hit really well in Rochester in both 2007 and 2008, too.  But in 2009, he batted .235 with an OPS of .676 in the majors, and just .180 with an OPS of .499 in AAA.  He would play one more season of AAA ball for Cleveland, and then he was done.

Rob Tejeda was really good for Kansas City in 2008.  Acquired in late June from Texas, he went 2-2, 3.20, 1.04 WHIP in 25 games (39.1 innings).  He continued to pitch well in middle relief/setup in 2009 and 2010.  In 2011, though, he got off to a poor start, and though he pitched well when sent to AAA he never got another chance.  He pitched in the Mexican League for a year, then he was done.

Record:  Kansas City was 54-64, in fourth place in the AL Central, 11.5 games behind Chicago and Minnesota.  They would finish 75-87, in fourth place, 13.5 games behind Chicago.

The Twins were 65-52, tied for first place with Chicago in the AL Central.  They would finish 88-75, in second place, one game behind Chicago due to losing game 163.

Random Record:  The Random Twins are 19-13 (.594).

MINNESOTA TWINS 4, NEW YORK YANKEES 1 IN NEW YORK

Date:  Thursday, May 17, 1990.

Batting stars:  Brian Harper was 2-for-4 with a home run (his fourth) and a double.  Greg Gagne was 2-for-4 with a double.  Gary Gaetti was 2-for-4.  Dan Gladden was 2-for-5 with a double and two runs.  Kent Hrbek hit a home run, his sixth.

Pitching stars:  Kevin Tapani pitched 7.1 innings, giving up one run on seven hits and striking out five.  Rick Aguilera retired all four men he faced, striking out two.

Opposition star:  Roberto Kelly was 2-for-4.  

The game:  Gladden led off the game with a double and scored on a Gaetti single.  Harper homered in the second to make it 2-0.  Meanwhile, Tapani faced the minimum through four innings, with the only baserunner getting erased by a double play.

That changed in the fifth, as Mel Hall led off with a double and Claudell Washington singled him home.  New York threatened in the sixth, getting two-out singles by Steve Sax and Kelly, but a popup took them out of the inning.

Hrbek homered in the seventh to make it 3-1 Twins.  In the eighth, Gladden singled and was bunted to second.  Kirby Puckett was intentionally walked, Gaetti singled to load the bases, and a Gene Larkin sacrifice fly put the Twins up 4-1.

And that’s where it stayed.  The Yankees got one-out singles from Mike Blowers and Alvaro Espinoza, chasing Tapani from the game, but Terry Leach got a force out and Aguilera retired the last four New York batters.

WP:  Tapani (5-2).

LP:  Dave LaPoint (2-3).

S:  Aguilera (10).

Notes:  Fred Manrique was at second base.  Al Newman was the closest thing the Twins had to a regular second baseman, but of course, he also saw substantial time at third and short.  Nelson Liriano was the other player who was sometimes at second base.

Shane Mack was batting .366.  He would finish at .326.  Dan Gladden was batting .339.  He would finish at .275.  Gene Larkin was batting .308.  He would finish at .269.  Kirby Puckett was batting .302.  He would finish at .298.

Kevin Tapani had an ERA of 2.79.  He would finish at 4.07.  Terry Leach had an ERA of 2.33.  He would finish at 3.20.  Rick Aguilera had an ERA of 1.80.  He would finish at 2.76.

Roberto Kelly would play for the Twins from 1996-1997.  Alvaro Espinoza had played for the Twins from 1984-1986.

The Twins could not find a second baseman in 1990.  Al Newman played 89 games there and posted an OPS of .582.  Manrique was there for 67 games and had an OPS of .601.  Nelson Liriano played second for 50 games and had the best batting numbers, batting .254 with an OPS of .688.  During this time, Manrique was asked what the Twins needed to improve.  His response was “a second baseman”.  The next year, of course, Chuck Knoblauch would come along and solve that problem for several years.

This was the era in which George Steinbrenner seemed to think that if you paid a superstar salary to an average player, he would become a superstar.  Thus, players like Claudell Washington and Mel Hall got big paydays while remaining pretty much the same players they’d always been–good, but not great.  Eventually, of course, Steinbrenner would realize the error of his ways and build championship teams.

Record:  The Yankees were 13-18 in fifth place in the AL East, 6 games behind Milwaukee.  They would finish 67-95, in seventh (last) place, 21 games behind Boston.

The Twins were 18-15, in third place in the AL West, 5 games behind Oakland.  They would finish 74-88, in seventh (last) place, 29 games behind Oakland.

Random Record:  The Random Twins have won five in a row and are 19-12 (.613).