Tag Archives: 1991 rewind

Keeping Track

1991 Rewind: Game Forty

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TEXAS 10, MINNESOTA 6 IN MINNESOTA (11 INNINGS)

Date:  Thursday, May 23.

Batting stars:  Kirby Puckett was 6-for-7 with a triple and two runs.  Kent Hrbek was 3-for-5.  Chili Davis was 2-for-6 with two doubles and a walk.  Shane Mack was 2-for-7 with two doubles.

Pitching star:  Terry Leach pitched 2.1 scoreless innings, giving up no hits and no walks and striking out two.

Opposition stars:  Ruben Sierra was 4-for-6 with a home run (his eighth), a double, two runs, and five RBIs.  Kevin Reimer was 2-for-4 with a double.  Jack Daugherty was 2-for-5.  Juan Gonzalez was 2-for-5 with a home run (his fifth), a double, and four RBIs.  Mike Jeffcoat struck out three in 2.1 scoreless innings, giving up four hits.

The game:  Each team threatened in the first only to have a caught stealing help take them out of the inning.  In the second, Reimer led off with a single and Gonzalez followed with a home run to put the Rangers up 2-0.  The Twins got one back in the bottom of the inning with four consecutive walks, but a double play kept them from adding more.  They tied it 2-2 in the third, however, when Puckett singled, Chili Davis walked, and Pedro Munoz delivered an RBI single.

Texas took the lead in the fifth when Jeff Huson reached on an error, went to third on Daugherty's single, and scored on a sacrifice fly.  The Twins tied it again in the bottom of the fifth on singles by Scott Leius and Junior Ortiz and an RBI double by Al Newman.

The Twins loaded the bases with one out in the sixth but did not score.  The Rangers made them pay for it in the seventh.  With two out, Rafael Palmeiro singled and Sierra hit a two-run homer to give Texas a 5-3 advantage.  But the Twins again tied it in the bottom of the seventh.  Greg Gagne was hit by a pitch with one out.  With two down, Puckett got a single-plus-error, with Gagne scoring and Puckett going to second.  Davis then doubled him home to make the score 5-5.

Puckett tripled with two out in the bottom of the ninth but did not score.  Davis led off the tenth with a double but did not score.

Texas broke it open in the eleventh.  Geno Petralli led off with a double and Huson walked.  Daugherty bunted them to second and third, Palmeiro was intentionally walked, and Sierra delivered a bases-clearing double.  With two out, Gary Pettis walked and Gonzalez hit a two-run double to make the score 10-5.  The Twins got one back in the bottom of the eleventh but never got the tying run farther than the on-deck circle.

WP:  Jeff Russell (1-0).  LP:  Steve Bedrosian (2-2).  S:  None.

Notes:  Shane Mack was in left field, replacing Dan Gladden (day game).  Gladden was used as a pinch-hitter in the tenth inning and remained in the game in left, with Mack moving to right.  He pinch-hit for Munoz, who started the game in right field.

Newman was at second base in place of Chuck Knoblauch.  Knoblauch entered the game in the seventh when Randy Bush pinch-hit for Scott Leius, who had pinch-hit for Mike Pagliarulo in the fifth.  Knoblauch went to second, with Newman moving to third.

Scott Erickson was the Twins' starter, which meant that Junior Ortiz was behind the plate.

With his big day, Puckett raised his average from .316 to .340.  He missed joining a very small number of players to go 7-for-7 when he flied out to center in the fourth inning.

Munoz was 1-for-4 with a walk and was batting .313.

Erickson pitched seven innings, giving up five runs (four earned) on ten hits and a walk and striking out four.  His ERA was 1.82.  Leach lowered his ERA to 2.08.

Bush went 0-for-1 and was batting .176.  Leius was 1-for-1 to go  up to .184.

By game scores, this was Erickson's worst game of the season up to this point.  He would not have a worse one until the end of June.  After that, however, he had several worse, especially as he struggled through a miserable August.  He was able to right the ship in September, though.

Record:  The Twins were 19-21, in sixth place in the American League West, 4.5 games behind Texas.  They were 1.5 games behind fifth-place Chicago.  They had lost four in a row (the last two in extra innings) and six of their last eight.

Keeping Track

1991 Rewind: Game Thirty-nine

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TEXAS 5, MINNESOTA 2 IN MINNESOTA (12 INNINGS)

Date:  Wednesday, May 22.

Batting stars:  Kirby Puckett was 3-for-6.  Dan Gladden was 2-for-4 with two walks.  Brian Harper was 2-for-5.

Pitching stars:  Allan Anderson pitched seven innings, giving up one run on seven hit and no walks and striking out two.  Steve Bedrosian pitched a perfect inning.  Rick Aguilera pitched three innings, giving up one run on one hit and three walks and striking out one.

Opposition stars:  Mario Diaz was 2-for-2 with a double.  Steve Buechele was 2-for-4 with a walk.  Brian Downing was 2-for-6.  Kevin Brown pitched six innings, giving up two runs on nine hits and two walks and striking out none.

The game:  Each team put men on first and second with two out in the first, and each team failed to score.  It stayed scoreless until the fifth, when Buechele singled, was bunted to second, and scored on Downing's two-out single.

The Twins had two on with none out in the fifth and did not score.  They got on the board in the seventh, but missed a chance for more.  They started the inning with singles by Chili Davis, Harper, Pedro Munoz, and Shane Mack, tying the score and leaving the bases loaded with none out.  The Twins could only get one more out of it, though.  Randy Bush hit a short fly ball, Gladden walked to force in a run.  Chuck Knoblauch hit into a force at home, and Puckett fanned, giving the Twins just a 2-1 lead.

It looked like it might be enough, as the score stayed 2-1 going to the ninth and Aguilera came in to pitch.  He walked Ruben Sierra and struck out Juan Gonzalez.  Sierra then stole second, leading to an intentional walk to Kevin Reimer.  Buechele drew an accidental walk to load the bases and Jack Daugherty hit a sacrifice fly to tie it up.

It stated tied until the twelfth.  Daugherty singled and was bunted to second.  Downing singled to put men on first and third.  Rafael Palmeiro doubled home the go-ahead run.  Later in the inning, Gonzalez delivered a two-run single to make it 5-2.  The Twins got one man on in the bottom of the twelfth, on catcher's interference, but that was it.

WP:  Gerald Alexander (2-0).  LP:  Carl Willis (1-1).  S:  Jeff Russell (10).

Notes:  Munoz started in right field in this game.  Mack and Bush were used as pinch-hitters for Mike Pagliarulo and Greg Gagne, respectively, in the seventh.  Neither stayed in the game, as Al Newman went to short and Scott Leius to third.

Harper raised his average to .369.  Munoz was 1-for-4 and was batting .321.  Puckett raised his average to .316.  Gagne was 0-for-2 and was batting .302.  Knoblauch was 0-for-5 and was batting .300.  Bedrosian lowered his ERA to 2.96.  Aguilera's ERA went up to 1.83.  Terry Leach gave up no runs in two-thirds of an inning to make his ERA 2.40.

Leius went 0-for-2 and was batting .162.  Bush was 0-for-1 and was batting .180.

This was "the" Kevin Brown, the one who was a six-time all-star and finished in the top six in Cy Young voting five times.  1991 was actually one of his worst years.  He went 9-12, 4.40, 1.53 WHIP.  He was a fine pitcher for Texas, leading the league in wins in 1992 with 21, but really became a star when he went to Florida in 1996 and led the league in ERA (1.89) and WHIP (0.94).  He finished second in Cy Young voting to John Smoltz that year, even though Smoltz' ERA was more than a full run higher--one suspects the fact that Smoltz had 27 wins to Brown's 17 was a major factor.  He had some fine years with the Dodgers, too.  For his career he was 211-144, 3.28, 1.22 WHIP.  An excellent pitcher in a career that spanned nineteen seasons (1986, 1988-2005).

This was one of six career wins for Gerald Alexander.  He appeared in 36 major league games, thirty of them in 1991.  He also appeared in three games in 1990 and three in 1992.  He went 5-3, 5.24, 1.58 WHIP in 1991,  For his career he was 6-3, 5.79, 1.69 WHIP.  But he pitched three shutout innings in this game, giving up no hits and two walks.  It had to be one of the best performances of his career.

Since April 26 the Twins had not been more than three games above or below .500.  Since May 4, they had not been more than two games above or below .500.

Record:  The Twins were 19-20, sixth in the American League West, four games behind Oakland.  They were a half game behind fifth-place Chicago.

Keeping Track

1991 Rewind: Game Thirty-eight

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TEXAS 6,  MINNESOTA 5 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Tuesday, May 21.

Batting stars:  Kirby Puckett was 1-for-4 with a home run (his fifth) and three RBIs.  Kent Hrbek was 1-for-2 with two walks.

Pitching star:  Terry Leach pitched a perfect inning and struck out one.

Opposition stars:  Rafael Palmeiro was 2-for-3 with two doubles and two walks.  Steve Buechele was 2-for-4 with a two-run homer (his sixth), two runs, and two RBIs.  Julio Franco was 2-for-4 with a walk and a stolen base, his fifth.

The game:  In the first inning, Dan Gladden got an infield single, stole second, went to third on a wild pitch, and scored on Puckett's sacrifice fly to give the Twins a 1-0 lead.  The Rangers tied it in the third on doubles by Jeff Huson and Palmeiro.  The Twins went back up 3-1 in the third when Chuck Knoblauch singled and Puckett followed with a two-run homer, but Texas tied it again in the fourth when Kevin Reimer singled and Buechele followed with a two-out two-run homer.

The Rangers went into the lead to stay in the fifth.  Palmerio hit a one-out double and scored on Franco's two-out single.  They added a couple of runs in the eighth.  Singles by Gino Petralli and Buechele and a walk to Huson loaded the bases with one out.  Jack Daugherty hit a sacrifice fly to make the score 5-3 and put men on first and third, Huson then stole second, Brian Harper threw the ball into center field, and Buechele scored to make it 6-3.

The Twins came back in the bottom of the eighth.  Hrbek singled and Chili Davis doubled to put men on second and third with none out.  With one down, Harper hit a two-run double to cut the margin to 6-5.  The tying run was in scoring position, but Randy Bush and Al Newman each grounded out to end the inning.  The Twins went down in order in the ninth.

WP:  Bobby Witt (2-3).  LP:  Kevin Tapani (2-4).  S:  Jeff Russell (9).

Notes:  Bush was the right fielder in this game.  Gene Larkin pinch-hit for Mike Pagliarulo in the eighth, with Scott Leius coming in to play third.  Shane Mack pinch-ran for Harper in the eighth and remained in the game in right field, with Junior Ortiz coming in to catch.

Harper was 1-for-4 and was batting .367.  Knoblauch was 1-for-4 and was batting .311.  Puckett's average went to .308.  Tapani had an ERA of 3.28.  Steve Bedrosian gave up two runs (one earned) in one inning and raised his ERA to 3.09.  Leach went down to 2.51.

Bush went 0-for-3 with a walk and was batting .184.

It was the fourth loss in a row for Tapani.  Over that span he had pitched to an ERA of 4.55 and his season ERA went from 2.10 to 3.28.  The Twins had scored a total of eight runs in those four games, with five of them obviously coming in this game.

Memory had told me that Bobby Witt always pitched well against the Twins.  Memory was right.  He was 17-7, 3.63, 1.36 WHIP against them.  That's the most wins he had against any team.  The only American League team against whom he had a better ERA was Boston (3.26).  This was the only start he would make against the Twins in 1991.  For his career, Witt was 142-157, 4.83, 1.57 WHIP.  Looking at that career, he wasn't nearly as good as I remembered him being, so I suppose his success against the Twins skewed my memory.

Record:  The Twins were 19-19, fifth in the American League West, four games behind Seattle.  They were a half game behind fourth-place California.

Keeping Track

1991 Rewind: Game Thirty-seven

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DETROIT 8, MINNESOTA 3 IN DETROIT

Date:  Sunday, May 19.

Batting stars:  Mike Pagliarulo was 3-for-3 with two home runs.  Al Newman was 2-for-3.

Pitching star:  Carl Willis pitched four shutout innings, giving up a hit and a walk and striking out three.

Opposition stars:  Dan Petry pitched eight innings, giving up three runs (two earned) on eight hits and no walks and striking out two.  Pete Incaviglia was 2-for-3 with a home run (his fourth), a walk, and two runs.  Mickey Tettleton was 2-for-4 with a triple and a walk.  Tony Phillips was 2-for-5 with a double.  Milt Cuyler was 1-for-3 with a grand slam and a walk.  Cecil Fielder was 1-for-4 with a three-run homer, his sixth.

The game:  The Tigers made it a laugher early, scoring seven runs in the first inning off Twins starter Jack Morris.  Tony Phillips singled, Lou Whitaker walked, and with one out Fielder hit a three-run homer.  It did not kill the rally, as Tettleton singled, Incaviglia had a two-out single, Travis Fryman reached on an error, and Cuyler hit a grand slam to make the score 7-0 Detroit.  It was pretty much over at that point.

The Twins got on the board in the third.  Pagliarulo led off with an inside the park home run.  Greg Gagne followed with a double and scored on Newman's bunt single-plus-error.  Incaviglia got one of the runs back in the bottom of the third with a home run, making the score 8-2.  Pagliarulo hit an outside the park home run in the fifth to make it 8-3.

And that was pretty much it.  The Twins did not get a man past first after that and the Tigers only once got a man as far as second.

WP:  Petry (2-2).  LP:  Morris (3-5).  S:  None.

Notes:  Newman was at second base, replacing Chuck Knoblauch.  Pedro Munoz was in right field.  With Knoblauch out, Munoz batted second.  Randy Bush pinch-hit for Munoz in the eighth and remained in the game in right field.  Gene Larkin pinch-hit for Chili Davis in the ninth and had the honor of making the last out of the game.

Brian Harper was 0-for-3 and was batting .372.  Munoz was 1-for-3 and was batting .333.  Kirby Puckett was 1-for-4 and was batting .310.  Gagne was 1-for-3 and was batting .308.  With four shutout innings, Willis lowered his ERA to 3.38.

Morris lasted four innings and gave up eight runs (four earned) on seven hits and six walks.  He struck out three and threw 107 pitches in his four innings.  This would be good to remember the next time he or Bert complain about pitchers needing a hundred pitches to get through five innings.   It was the third time in four games he had given up five or more runs.  Morris' ERA was 5.34.  He may never have lost with ten runs, but here he would've lost with seven.

It would seem pretty unusual for the same pitcher to give up a three-run homer and a grand slam in the same inning.  I'm not suggesting it's as rare as an unassisted triple play, but it doesn't seem like something that happens very often.

I had completely forgotten that Pagliarulo had an inside the park home run for the Twins.  I have no details of it to share with you, other than that it came on a fly ball to left field and that Phillips was the left fielder.

This was the second time in four days that Willis saved the bullpen by pitching multiple good innings of relief.  In his last three appearances (10.1 innings) he had given up one run on seven his and one walk while striking out four.

I think, if Carl Willis was my pitching coach and he came out for a mound visit, I would not be able to resist the urge to say, "What you talkin' 'bout, Willis?"

In a lineup that had Cecil Fielder, Pete Incaviglia, Rob Deer, Travis Fryman, and others, it was Milt Cuyler who delivered the key blow with the grand slam.  He hit three home runs in 1991 and had ten for his career.  Things like that are either the most glorious or the most frustrating thing about the game, depending on which side of them you're on.  But regardless of which side you're on, things like that just make you shrug your shoulders and say, "Well, that's baseball."

Record:  The Twins were 19-18, in sixth place in the American League West, but just one percentage point behind fifth-place Chicago.  They trailed division-leading Oakland by 3.5 games.

Keeping Track

1991 Rewind: Game Thirty-six

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MINNESOTA 4, DETROIT 1 IN DETROIT

Date:  Saturday, May 18.

Batting stars:  Kirby Puckett was 2-for-4 with a home run, his fourth.  Greg Gagne was 2-for-4.  Shane Mack was 1-for-3 with a three-run homer, his third.

Pitching stars:  Mark Guthrie pitched six innings, giving up one run on five hits and four walks.  He struck out three.  Rick Aguilera pitched two shutout innings, giving up three walks and striking out one.

Opposition stars:  Milt Cuyler was 2-for-3 with a stolen base, his tenth.  Frank Tanana pitched eight innings, giving up four runs on seven hits and four walks and striking out two.  He threw 127 pitches.

The game:  All the scoring came early.  With two out and none on in the first Puckett hit a home run to give the Twins a 1-0 lead.  With two out and none on in the bottom of the first, Guthrie walked three in a row to load the bases, but struck out Travis Fryman to get out of the inning.

Brian Harper led off the second with a single.  Kent Hrbek walked, and Mack hit a three-run homer to put the Twins up 4-0.  The Tigers got one back in the bottom of the second when Andy Allenson doubled, took third on Cuyler's single, and scored on a sacrifice fly.

And that was all the scoring.  Detroit got a man to second in the fourth, when Fryman walked and stole second; in the sixth, on singles by Rob Deer and Pete Incaviglia, and in the seventh, when Cuyler singled and stole second.  They had a major threat in the ninth.  With one out, Dave Bergman walked.  With two out, Aguilera walked Tony Phillips and Lou Whiteaker, loading the bases and bringing the potential winning run up to bat.  Alan Trammell hit a fly to deep left, but it stayed in the park and the Twins won the game.

WP:  Guthrie (3-2).  LP:  Tanana (2-3).  S:  Aguilera (7).

Notes:  Mack started in right field in this game, but he was not yet the full-time starter.  Other than that, it was the regular lineup.

Harper was 1-for-4 and was batting .385.  Chuck Knoblauch was 1-for-4 and was batting .313.  Puckett raised his average to .312.  Gagne went up to .307.  Chili Davis was 0-for-3 with a walk and was batting .300.  As you can see, that makes five starters batting .300 or better.  It's still only mid-May, but that's pretty good.

Terry Leach pitched a third of an inning, giving up no runs on one hit.  His ERA was 2.70.  Aguilera's ERA was 1.62.

Scott Leius was 1-for-3 to raise his average to .171.

There were eleven walks in the game, seven given by Twins pitchers.  Who knows, but one suspects plate umpire Dale Scott might have had a small strike zone.  Oddly, six of the seven walks Twins pitchers gave up came in two innings, the first and last.  In both of those innings, Twins pitchers walked the bases full but did not allow a run.

Frank Tanana was a fine pitcher, but for some reason the Twins usually did fairly well against him.  For his career he was 240-236, 3.66, 1.27 WHIP.  Against the Twins, he was 19-20, 4.49, 1.37 WHIP.  He only faced the Twins one other time in 1991, though, in late July, and did quite well in that game.

Record:  The Twins were 19-17, tied for fourth with California, three games behind first-place Seattle.  The Twins were a half game behind Texas for third place.

Keeping Track

1991 Rewind: Game Thirty-five

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MINNESOTA 6, DETROIT 1 IN DETROIT

Date:  Friday, May 17.

Batting stars:  Kirby Puckett was 2-for-3 with a double, two walks, and two runs.  Junior Ortiz was 2-for-4 with two doubles and a walk.  Pedro Munoz was 2-for-4 with a triple, a walk, and two RBIs.  Kent Hrbek was 2-for-4 with a double and a walk.  Chili Davis was 2-for-4 with a walk and two runs.

Pitching stars:  Scott Erickson pitched 6.1 innings, giving up one run on six hits and five walks and striking out three.  Steve Bedrosian pitched 2.2 scoreless innings, giving up one hit and striking out one.

Opposition stars:  Tony Phillips was 1-for-3 with two walks and a stolen base, his fourth.  Mickey Tettleton was 1-for-3 with a walk.

The game:  Davis and Munoz singled to open the second inning.  A double play looked like it might kill the rally, but Ortiz came through with an RBI double to put the Twins up 1-0.  Detroit tied it in the bottom of the second on singles by Tettleton and Dave Bergman and a Travis Fryman sacrifice fly.

It stayed 1-1 until the fifth, when the Twins took control of the game.  Ortiz led off with a double, followed by a Greg Gagne RBI single.  Dan Gladden then hit into a fly ball double play, with Gagne thrown out trying to advance to second, and it looked like that might be it for the inning.  But Chuck Knoblauch doubled, Puckett singled, and Hrbek doubled, leading to a three-run inning and a 4-1 Twins lead.  The Tigers tried to respond in the bottom of the inning, opening with singles by Phillips and Lou Whitaker, but a pair of pop ups, a walk, and a fly out stranded three runners.

The Twins scored a run in the seventh on three walks and a passed ball (Twins Baseball!).  The Detroit again tried to respond, loading the bases with one out on a single, a hit batsman, and a walk, but a pop up again ended the threat.

The Twins put it away in the ninth.  With one out, Puckett walked, singles by Hrbek and Davis plated one run, and a triple by Munoz brought home two more to bring the total to 8-1.

WP:  Erickson (6-2).  LP:  Bill Gullickson (4-2).  S:  Bedrosian (2).

Notes:  In memory, Shane Mack was the starting right fielder for the Twins all year, but as we've already seen that's not how it was.  He began the season in center, and then moved to the bench for a while.  Munoz was the starting right fielder in this game.  We'll see when Mack actually took over the right fielder job.

With Erickson pitching, personal catcher Ortiz was behind the plate.

Munoz raised his average to .333.  Knoblauch was 1-for-5 and was batting .315.  Davis raised his average to .308.  Puckett went up to .306.  Erickson's ERA went to 1.44.  Bedrosian lowered his ERA to 2.82.

Scott Leius was used as a pinch-hitter and stayed in the game to play third.  He went 0-for-1 with a walk and was batting .156.  I didn't remember that Leius got off to such a poor start.  Pagliarulo was batting .241 by this point--I wonder if there were people thinking Pagliarulo should be the full-time third baseman.  If so, those people were wrong.  Leius would start hitting, but even at this point, he had a .400 on-base percentage because he was drawing walks.  His OPS was .713, compared to Pagliarulo's .540.

Ortiz had just five doubles in 1991, making it even more odd that two of them would come in the same game.  He would have another on the last day of May, and then not another one until August 23.  His final double of the season came on September 2.  He also somehow had a triple on July 30 in Detroit.  For his career he had 71 doubles, with a high of 13 for Cleveland in 1993.  He had four triples, never having more than one per season.

The walk to Davis was an intentional walk, his fifth intentional walk of the season.  He would end the year with thirteen.

The Twins were now 5-1 against the Tigers.  The would go 8-4 against them for the season.

Record:  The Twins were 18-17, tied for fifth with California, but just two percentage points behind Chicago.  They trailed first-place Seattle by three games.

Keeping Track

1991 Rewind: Game Thirty-four

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MILWAUKEE 6, MINNESOTA 3 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Thursday, May 16.

Batting stars:  Greg Gagne was 2-for-4 with a home run, his fourth.  Mike Pagliarulo was 2-for-4 with a double.  Pedro Munoz was 1-for-3 with a home run and a walk.

Pitching stars:  Carl Willis pitched 3.1 innings of relief, giving up one run on five hits.  Terry Leach pitched 1.2 scoreless innings, giving up one hit.  Rick Aguilera pitched a scoreless inning, giving up one hit and two walks and striking out one.

Opposition stars:  Greg Vaughn was 3-for-5 with a triple.  Dale Sveum was 2-for-3 with a double and a walk.  Willie Randolph was 2-for-4 with a walk.  Robin Yount was 2-for-5 with a home run (his eighth), two runs, and two RBIs.  Bill Wegman pitched five innings, giving up two runs on five hits and a walk and striking out two.  Darren Holmes pitched four innings, giving up one run on four hits and no walks and striking out one.

The game:  Most of the runs came early.  Paul Molitor led off the game by being hit by a pitch.  He stole second and scored on a single by Vaughn, who was thrown out trying to stretch the hit to a double.  Yount then followed with a home run to give the Brewers a 2-0 lead.

The Twins got the runs back in the bottom of the first.  Gagne led off the inning with a home run.  Shane Mack was hit by a pitch, went to second on a Kirby Puckett single, and scored on a pair of fly outs to tie the score 2-2.

Milwaukee then took control.  Dante Bichette led off the second with a home run.  In the third, Vaughn hit a two-out triple, Yount singled him home, and Franklin Stubbs hit an RBI double to give the Brewers a 5-2 advantage.

The Twins didn't do a lot after that.  Pagliarulo hit a one-out double in the fourth but didn't advance.  A couple of singles didn't amount to anything.  Milwaukee added a run in the seventh when Sveum doubled and Randolph singled, making it 6-2.  Munoz hit a home run leading off the ninth, but the Twins never threatened to get back into the game.

WP:  Wegman (1-1).  LP:  Allan Anderson (1-3).  S:  Holmes (1).

Notes:  With the day game, Dan Gladden was out of the lineup.  Shane Mack was in left and Munoz in right.  Gene Larkin was at first base replacing Kent Hrbek.  Al Newman was at second, replacing Chuck Knoblauch.

Brian Harper was 1-for-3 and was batting .391.  Gagne raised his average to .301.  Chili Davis was 0-for-4 and was batting .301.  Leach lowered his ERA to 2.77.  Aguilera's ERA was at 1.84.

Anderson lasted just three innings, giving up five runs on six hits and a walk and striking out two.  In his last two starts, he had given up nine runs on twelve hits in seven innings.  His ERA went from 3.55 to 4.80.

Willis had appeared in four games since his call-up on April 23.  Three of those appearances were of three innings or longer.

Holmes had three saves in 1991.  All of them were of the three-or-more-innings variety.  He would go on to get 59 saves in his career.  He was the closer for Colorado in their first year of existence in 1993 and was again their closer for about a month in 1995.

Bill Wegman was in the Brewers' rotation from 1986-1988, then missed a lot of time in the next two seasons due to injuries.  He came back in 1991 to have the best year of his career, going 15-7, 2.84, 1.12 WHIP.  He had a fine year in 1992 as well, going 13-14 but with an ERA of 3.20 and a WHIP of 1.17.  He pitched 261.1 innings, though, and it was apparently too much for him.  He stayed with Milwaukee for three more seasons, and in fact spent his entire career with them, but he never had a good year again.  For his career he was 81-90, 4.16, 1.29 WHIP.  For two seasons, though, he was an excellent starting pitcher.

Record:  The Twins were 17-17, tied with Chicago for fifth place in the American League West, 3.5 games behind Oakland.  The Twins were just a half game out of fourth and a game out of third.

Keeping Track

1991 Rewind: Game Thirty-three

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MILWAUKEE 4, MINNESOTA 2 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Wednesday, May 15.

Batting star:  Brian Harper was 2-for-3 with a double.

Pitching stars:  Larry Casian pitched a scoreless inning, giving up two hits.  Steve Bedrosian pitched a perfect inning.

Opposition stars:  Paul Molitor was 4-for-5 and hit for the cycle.  The home run was his second of the year.  Chris Bosio pitched 7.1 innings, giving up two runs (one earned) on six hits and no walks and striking out one.  Willie Randolph was 2-for-4.

The game:  Molitor led off the game with a triple and scored on a ground out to give the Brewers and early 1-0 lead.  In the third, singles by B. J. Surhoff and Molitor and another run-scoring ground out made it 2-0.  The Twins got their first hit in the bottom of the third, a single by Mike Pagliarulo.  In the fourth, Robin Yount led off with a double, went to third on a fly ball, and scored on yet another run-scoring ground out to make it 3-0.  Molitor got a double with one out in the fifth, and a pair of two-out walks loaded the bases, but Greg Brock struck out to keep the score 3-0.

The Twins got on the board in the fifth when Randy Bush got a one-out single-plus-error and scored on Harper's single.  Milwaukee got the run back in the seventh when Molitor led off with a home run.

The Twins made a run at getting back into the game in the eighth.  Harper led off with a double and scored on a Greg Gagne single to make it 4-2.  Dan Gladden then singled to put the tying run on base, but Chuck Knoblauch hit into a double play.  The Twins went down in order in the ninth.

WP:  Bosio (4-4).  LP:  Kevin Tapani (2-3).  S:  Dan Plesac (1).

Notes:  Randy Bush was in right field.

With one out and none on in the ninth, the Brewers brought in lefty Plesac to face Kent Hrbek.  The Twins countered by sending Shane Mack up to pinch-hit.  Unfortunately, Mack grounded to third.

Harper increased his average to .393.  Knoblauch was 0-for-4 and was batting .320.  Chili Davis was 0-for-4 and was batting .312.

Kirby Puckett was 0-for-4 to drop his average to .299.  He would remain below .300 for one more game, then get back above it and stay there the rest of the season.

Harper was 14-for-23 with four doubles in his last six games.

Tapani pitched seven innings, giving up four runs on seven hits and three walks and striking out two.  His ERA went up to 3.00.  It had to be a frustrating game for him.  He only gave up seven hits, but four of them went for extra bases.  All those runs that scored on ground outs must have been frustrating for him, too.  But, that's baseball.  Of course, if he could've figured out a way to get Molitor out, the Twins might've won the game.

This was the start of a tough stretch for Tapani.  It was the first of four consecutive starts in which he gave up four or five runs.  He pitched into the seventh in three of the four starts, though, and in his first 15 starts he had only one in which he pitched fewer than six innings.  He went over 100 pitched in eight of those starts, but never more than 116.

Bedrosian lowered his ERA to 3.20.

Plesac had taken over the closer role for the Brewers in 1986 and made the all-star team every year from 1987-1989.  He struggled in 1990, however, and by the start of the 1991 season had lost the closer role to Edwin Nunez.  Nunez got hurt in early May, however.  Plesac was given some of the save opportunities after that, but most of them went to Doug Henry.  Plesac would never be "the closer" again, although it appears he was part of a closer-by-committee in Pittsburgh in 1996.  He had 158 saves for his career, but only 34 after 1990.  For a few years, though, he was as good a closer as anyone.

Record:  The Twins were 17-16, tied for fourth place with California in the American League West, 2.5 games behind Oakland.  They were only two percentage points behind third-place California.

Keeping Track

1991 Rewind: Game Thirty-two

1 Comment

MINNESOTA 5, MILWAUKEE 1 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Tuesday, May 14.

Batting stars:  Kent Hrbek was 3-for-4 with two runs.  Chili Davis was 2-for-4 with a two-run homer (his eighth) and two runs.  Brian Harper was 2-for-4 with a double and two RBIs.  Dan Gladden was 2-for-5 with a double.

Pitching star:  Jack Morris pitched a complete game, giving up one run on two hits and two walks and striking out seven.

Opposition star:  Jim Gantner was 2-for-4 with two doubles.

The game:  The Twins got a couple of two-out singles in the first, but nothing came of them.  Gantner hit a one-out double in the fourth but did not move past second.  Gladden hit a two-out double in the fifth and was stranded.  So we remained scoreless into the sixth.

And then we were not scoreless any more.  Hrbek singled and Davis followed with a two-run homer.  It did not kill the rally, as Pedro Munoz had a two-out single and scored on a double by Mike Pagliarulo.  

The Brewers got on the board in the seventh when Gantner led off with a double and scored on a pair of ground outs.  The Twins got the run back with interest in the bottom of the seventh.  With two out, Hrbek singled, Davis reached on an error, and Harper hit a two-run double to make the scored 5-1.  That's where it stayed, as Milwaukee did not get a hit after Gantner's seventh-inning double.

WP:  Morris (3-4).  LP:  Jaime Navarro (2-2).  S:  None.

Notes:  Munoz was the right fielder.  Other than that, it was the standard Twins lineup.  Randy Bush pinch-hit for Munoz in the seventh, with Shane Mack going to right for defense.  Al Newman went in for defense in the ninth to replace Pagliarulo.

Harper raised his average to .383.  Chuck Knoblauch was 1-for-5 and was batting .331.  Davis raised his average to .324.  Puckett was 1-for-5 and was batting .309.

Bush was 0-for-1 and was batting .195.

Harper was 12-for-20 with three doubles in his last five games.  Davis was 6-for-11 with three home runs in his last three games.

Morris got his ERA down to 5.04.  That was the lowest it had been all season.

The Twins had won four in a row and seven of nine.

Milwaukee starter Navarro pitched 5.2 innings, giving up three runs on nine hits and a walk and striking out three.  1991 was his first full season, although he had been with the Brewers for most of 1990.  He was good in 1991, but his best season was probably 1992, when he went 17-12, 3.33, 1.17 WHIP.  He then struggled for a couple of seasons and became a free agent after 1994, signing with the Cubs.  He had two excellent seasons with the Cubs, going 29-18, 3.62, 1.30 WHIP.  He then signed with the White Sox and had three awful years.  He was 25-43, 6.06, 1.69 WHIP.  Amazingly, he stayed in the rotation all three of those seasons, making 87 starts.  He ended his major league career in 2000, playing for Milwaukee and Cleveland, but continued to play in the minors, in independent ball, in Mexico, and in Italy through 2006.  He has been involved in coaching since then, and is currently the pitching coach of Monclova in the Mexican League.

Record:  The Twins were 17-15, third in the American League West, 1.5 games behind Oakland.  They were one game behind second-place Seattle.

Keeping Track

1991 Rewind: Game Thirty-one

MINNESOTA 8, DETROIT 3 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Sunday, May 12.

Batting stars:  Chuck Knoblauch was 4-for-5.  Shane Mack was 3-for-5 with two runs.  Pedro Munoz was 2-for-4 with a double.  Chili Davis was 2-for-5 with two home runs (his sixth and seventh) and four RBIs.  Kirby Puckett was 2-for-5 with two RBIs.

Pitching star:  Scott Erickson pitched seven shutout innings, giving up three hits and a walk and striking out three.

Opposition stars:  Milt Cuyler was 2-for-3.  Mickey Tettleton was 2-for-4.  Cecil Fielder was 1-for-4 with a home run, his fifth.  Travis Fryman was 1-for-4 with a two-run homer, his fifth.

The game:  The Twins got the lead early.  Mack led off the first inning with a single and stole second.  Knoblauch singled to put men on first and third, Puckett singled home a run, and Davis hit a three-run homer to give the Twins a 4-0 lead.  Davis again homered in the third to make it 5-0.

The Tigers threatened in the fifth, putting men on first and third on a couple of errors, but they could not score.  The Twins added single runs in the sixth, seventh, and eighth.  In the sixth it was consecutive two-out singles by Al Newman, Mack, and Knoblauch.  In the seventh, walks to Gene Larkin and Scott Leius were followed by a Junior Ortiz single.  In the eighth, consecutive singles by Mack, Knoblauch, and Puckett produced another run, making it 8-0.

Detroit finally got on the board in the ninth.  Fielder led off the inning with a home run.  With two out, Pete Incaviglia singled and Fryman hit a two-run homer.  Luis de los Santos then grounded out to end the game.

WP:  Erickson (5-2).  LP:  Bill Gullickson (4-1).  S:  None.

Notes:  Mack, who had started only three games since April 19, not only started this game, but was put in left field and in the leadoff spot, taking the place of Dan Gladden (day game).  Randy Bush was at first base with Kent Hrbek still out.  Ortiz was behind the plate.  Newman was at shortstop, replacing Greg Gagne.

Knoblauch raised his average to .336.  Davis went up to .317.  Puckett was up to .314.  Erickson dropped his ERA to 1.45.  Terry Leach did not give up a run in two-thirds of an inning and had an ERA of 3.18.

Tiger starter Gullickson pitched six innings, allowing six runs on twelve hits and no walks and striking out one.  He came into the game with a record of 4-0 despite an ERA of 4.08.  The Tigers had averaged nearly six runs a game in his prior starts.  His luck ran out on him in this game.

1991 was the first full season of Milt Cuyler's career, and the only season in which he was a regular.  He wasn't awful, but he wasn't really good, either:  .257/.335/.337.  He stole 41 bases and was presumably a good defender, which is probably why he finished third in Rookie of the Year voting that season (behind Knoblauch and Juan Guzman).  He'd have probably won the award if he could've played the Twins more:  he batted .353/.450/.471 against them and also hit one of his three home runs.  The rules said he had to face other teams, too, though, and as time went on his playing time diminished.  He was with the Tigers through 1995, but spent time in the minors his last two seasons there.  He played for Boston and Texas and also in the Atlantic League before hanging it up after the 2002 season.  For his career he batted .237/.305/.326 in 1567 plate appearances, over a third of which came in 1991.  As they say, you can talk all you want about the five tools, but none of the others mean much if you can't hit.  He was a coach for the GCL Twins from 2003-2012.

The Twins had finally climbed back over .500 at 16-15.  Could they stay there?  We'll find out!

Record:  The Twins were 16-15, in fourth place in the American League West, three games behind Oakland.  They were a mere three percentage points behind the White Sox for third place.