CLEVELAND INDIANS 4, MINNESOTA TWINS 3 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Saturday, July 9, 1994.

Batting stars:  Chip Hale was 2-for-4 with a double.  Kent Hrbek was 2-for-4.  Chuck Knoblauch was 2-for-5 with a triple, a double, and two runs.

Pitching stars:  Dave Stevens pitched 2.2 scoreless innings, giving up two hits and a walk.  Mark Guthrie pitchd 1.1 scoreless innings, giving up one hit.

Opposition stars:  Alvaro Espinoza was 2-for-4.  Omar Vizquel was 2-for-5.  Eddie Murray hit a home run, his thirteenth.

The game:  Each team scored once in the first.  For Cleveland, Kenny Lofton singled, stole second and third, and scored on a squeeze bunt by Albert Belle, which must have caught everyone by surprise.  For the Twins, Chuck Knoblauch led off with a triple and scored on a ground out.  The Indians took the lead 2-1 in the second when Candy Maldonado doubled and scored on a Vizquel single.

The Twins tied it in the fourth.  Kirby Puckett was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning.  Hrbek followed with a single, then came walks to Shane Mack and Scott Leius to force in a run.  The bases were still loaded with none out, but the Twins could do more, and the score was tied 2-2.  The tie did not last long.  In the fifth Carlos Baerga singled with one out and Murray hit a two-out two-run single, making it 4-2 Cleveland.

The Twins got one back in the bottom of the fifth on doubles by Knoblauch and Puckett, but that was as close as they would come.  They got a man to second in the sixth, when Hale hit a one-out double, and in the eighth, when Hrbek singled and went to second on Hale’s two-out single, but they could not score again.  Their last four men went out and the victory went to Cleveland.

WP:  Dennis Martinez (8-4).

LP:  Jim Deshaies (4-9).

S:  Jeff Russell (13).

Notes:  Jeff Reboulet was at shortstop in place of Pat Meares.  Rich Becker was in center in place of Alex Cole.  Hale was at DH in place of Dave Winfield.

Kirby Puckett was batting .321.  He would finish at .317.  Chuck Knoblauch was batting .320.  He would finish at .312.  Shane Mack was batting .314.  He would finish at .333.

Alvaro Espinoza played for the Twins from 1984-1986.  Paul Sorrento pinch-hit and was 0-for-1.  He played for the Twins from 1989-1991.

The Twins pitching was, to put it bluntly, awful in 1994.  They scored 5.26 runs per game, but allowed 6.09.  Granted it was 1994, and scoring was up, but the average was 4.92.  We went through this once before, but the rotation was Kevin Tapani (4.62 ERA), Scott Erickson (5.44), Jim Deshaies (7.39), Pat Mahomes (4.73), and Carlos Pulido (5.98).  I didn’t check the AAA roster, but the Twins must have thought they didn’t have any better options, because those five pitchers made all but six of the team’s starts.  The primary relief pitchers did not provide much relief:  Rick Aguilera (3.63), Carl Willis (5.92), Mark Guthrie (6.14), Mike Trombley (6.33), Larry Casian (7.08), and Dave Stevens (6.80).  Other than Aguilera, Tom Kelly could just as well have pulled names out of a hat when he went to the bullpen.

Albert Belle had four sacrifice bunts in his career.  This was the last one.

I think of Eddie Murray as a Baltimore Oriole, and of course that is where he had his best years.  But he played for nine years after leaving the Orioles:  three with the Dodgers, two with the Mets, two and a half with Cleveland, a half season back with Baltimore, and a final season split between Anaheim and the Dodgers.

The 1994 season would come to a premature end about a month later due to a labor-related work stoppage.

Record:  Cleveland was 50-33, in first place by percentage points over Chicago.  They would finish 66-47, in second place, one game behind Chicago.

The Twins were 42-43, in fourth place, nine games behind Cleveland.  They would finish 53-60., in fourth place, fourteen games behind Chicago.

Random Record:  The Random Twins are 22-17 (.564).

MINNESOTA TWINS 6, LOS ANGELES ANGELS 4 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Saturday, April 16, 2016.

Batting stars:  Trevor Plouffe! was 3-for-4 with a home run (his second), a double and two RBIs.  Oswaldo Arcia was 2-for-4 with a home run (his first) and two RBIs.  Eduardo Nunez was 2-for-4 with a triple.  ByungHo Park hit a home run, his second.

Pitching stars:  Ryan Pressly pitched a perfect inning.  Kevin Jepsen pitched a scoreless inning, walking one and striking out one.

Opposition stars:  Yunel Escobar was 3-for-4 with two RBIs.  Cory Rasmus retired all eight men he faced, striking out three.

The game:  The Twins took the early lead.  Nunez led off the bottom of the first with a triple and scored on a ground out.  Joe Mauer then singled, and two-out singles by Plouffe! and Arcia produced another run, making it 2-0 Twins.

The lead didn’t last long.  Los Angeles had six consecutive batters reach with one out in the second.  Singles by C. J. Cron, Andrelton Simmons, and Geovany Soto loaded the bases, followed by a two-run double by Cliff Pennington and a two-run single by Escobar.  Rafael Ortega walked, but a strikeout ended the inning.

The Twins had men on first and second with one out in the bottom of the second, but a double play ended the inning.  Plouffe! homered in the third to cut the lead to 4-3.  They tied it in the fifth.  Brian Dozier singled and stole second.  Miguel Sano walked with one out and Plouffe! came through again, hitting an RBI double.  The Twins had men on second and third, but could do no more, and it remained tied at 4-4.

The Angels put men on first and second with two out in the seventh but did not score.  In the eighth, Arcia and Park hit back-to-back home runs to put the Twins up 6-4.  Los Angeles got a one-out walk in the ninth, but did not advance the man past first and the Twins came away with the victory.

WP:  Ryan Pressly (1-0).

LP:  Joe Smith (0-1).

S:  Kevin Jepsen (2).

Notes:  John Ryan Murphy was behind the plate.  He was the semi-regular catcher at the beginning of the year, but quickly lost the job and was sent to AAA, with Kurt Suzuki taking over regular catching duties.  ByungHo Park was at first base, with Joe Mauer at DH.  Those roles were reversed more often than not.  Eduardo Nunez was at short.  He would make the all-star team, but be traded to San Francisco later in the season for Adalberto Mejia.  Eduardo Escobar had the most games at shortstop, with 71.  Oswaldo Arcia was in left.  He would be traded to Tampa Bay in June.  Robbie Grossman made the most games in left, with 75.  Eddie Rosario would play 57 games there.  Rosario started in center.  Byron Buxton had the most games in center at 92, with Danny Santana playing there 40 times.  Miguel Sano was in right field, as the Twins made a misbegotten attempt to make him outfielder.  Max Kepler was the regular right fielder.

As you can see, the Twins roster was in a state of flux in 2016, and it showed up in their record below.

Eduardo Nunez was batting .692.  He would finish at .296, then be traded.  Joe Mauer was batting .359.  He would finish at .261.  

Ryan Pressly had an ERA of zero.  He would finish at 3.70

C. J. Cron went 1-for-4 for the Angels.  He would play for the Twins in 2019.  Andrelton Simmons went 1-for-4 for the Angels.  He would play for the Twins in 2021.

It’s a shame that ByungHo Park was never really healthy in his time with the Twins.

Ricky Nolasco started for the Twins and did well except for the second inning.  He did that a lot with the Twins in 2016, where he pitched well “except for” this or that.  But the exceptions made him 4-8, 5.13.  He was traded to the Angels in August.

Kevin Jepsen would lose the closer role to Brandon Kintzler, then be traded to Tampa Bay in early July.

Record:  Los Angeles was 5-6, tied for second with Seattle in the AL West, one game behind Texas.  They would finish 74-88, in fourth place, 21 games behind Texas.

The Twins were 2-9, in fifth (last) place in the AL Central, six games behind Chicago and Kansas City.  They would finish 59-103, in fifth (last) place, 35.5 games behind Cleveland.

Random Record:  The Random Twins are 22-16 (.579).

LOS ANGELES DODGERS 10, MINNESOTA TWINS 3 IN LOS ANGELES

Date:  Tuesday, August 9, 2022.

Batting stars:  Byron Buxton was 2-for-4 with a two-run homer, his twenty-seventh.  Gilberto Celestino was 2-for-4.

Pitching star:  None.

Opposition stars:  Will Smith was 3-for-5 with a double and two RBIs.  Justin Turner was 2-for-4 with a double.  Max Muncy was 2-for-5 with a two-run homer, his twelfth.  Trea Turner was 2-for-5 with two doubles and three RBIs.  Julio Urias struck out eight in seven innings, giving up one run on five hits.

The game:  With two out in the first, Freddie Freeman walked and scored on Smith’s double.  The Twins tied it in the second when Gio Urshela hit a one-out triple and scored on a Gilberto Celestino single.

That was as good as it would get for the Twins.  In the bottom of the second, Gavin Lux singled with one out in the first, followed by doubles by Joey Gallo and Cody Bellinger.  With two out, Trea Turner hit another double, and it was 4-1 Los Angeles.  Muncy homered in the third to make it 5-1, and in the fourth Mookie Betts singled, went to third on a stolen base–plus-error, and scored on a ground out to make it 6-1.

The Twins finally got the Dodgers out a few times, but they added to their lead again in the seventh.  Freeman and Smith singled, putting runners on the corners.  Muncy doubled home a run and another scored on a ground out, making it 8-1.

The Twins got two back in the eighth when Nick Gordon singled and Buxton hit a two-run homer.  But the Dodgers scored two of their own in the bottom of the eighth on doubles by Trayce Thompson and Trea Turner and a single by Smith, bringing it to the final score of 10-3.  The Twins went down meekly in the ninth, as Caleb Ferguson came in to strike out the side.

WP:  Julio Urias (12-6).

LP:  Joe Ryan (8-5).

S:  None.

Notes:  Sandy Leon was behind the plate for the Twins in this game.  Gary Sanchez had the most appearances at catcher in 2022, with Ryan Jeffers also seeing significant time there.  Byron Buxton was at DH.  The Twins did not have a regular DH.  Among those seeing significant time there were Luis Arraez (38 games), Buxton (35), Sanchez (33), and Jose Miranda (31).

The only .300 hitter the Twins had was Luis Arraez, who won the first of his three (and counting) batting titles at .316.  He did not play in this game.

Joey Gallo was 1-for-4 in this game.  He would go on to play for the Twins in 2023.  It amazes me that he was still in the majors this year when he hasn’t batted over .200 since 2019.

We forget quickly, or at least I do, but Gilberto Celestino was actually pretty much the regular center fielder that year, playing 90 games there.  Byron Buxton had 57 games there, Nick Gordon 38, and Mark Contreras 13.

The legendary Sandy Leon came to the Twins in a trade for Ian Hamilton, who has gone on to have two fine years for the Yankees since the trade.

By game scores, this was the second-worst start Joe Ryan had in 2022.  He pitched five innings, giving up six runs (five earned) on nine hits and a walk and struck out four.

Record:  Los Angeles was 76-33, in first place in the NL West, 16 games ahead of San Diego.  The would finish 111-51, in first place, 22 games ahead of San Diego.

The Twins were 57-52, tied for first place with Cleveland in the AL Central.  They would finish 78-84, in third place, 14 games behind Cleveland.  After this game, the Twins would go 21-32 while Cleveland went 35-18.

Random Record:  The Random Twins are 21-16 (.568).