Tag Archives: 1991 rewind

Keeping Track

1991 Rewind: Game One Hundred Thirteen

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MINNESOTA 4, CALIFORNIA 3 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Monday, August 12.

Batting stars:  Scott Leius was 3-for-3 with a double.  Greg Gagne was 2-for-2 with a two-run homer (his seventh), a hit-by-pitch, and two runs.  Kent Hrbek was 1-for-4 with a home run, his thirteenth.

Pitching star:  Jack Morris pitched 8.2 innings, giving up three runs on seven hits and two walks and striking out seven.  He threw 121 pitches.

Opposition stars:  Luis Polonia was 2-for-4 with a stolen base, his twenty-second.  Shawn Abner was 2-for-3 with a triple.

The game:  Polonia led off the game with a single and stole second.  With one out, Wally Joyner walked.  A wild pitch with two out moved the runners to second and third.  Dave Parker then delivered a two-run single to give the Angels a 2-0 lead.

The Twins got back-to-back one-out singles in the third, but a double play ended the inning.  The Twins also put men on first and second with one out in the fourth and did not score.  In the fifth, however, Leius doubled and Gagne followed with a two-run homer, tying it at 2-2.

California got the lead back in the seventh when Abner hit a two-out triple and scored on a Luis Sojo single.  Leius led off the bottom of the seventh with a single and Gagne was hit by a pitch.  Dan Gladden bunted, but the result was a force out at third base.  Chuck Knoblauch walked to load the bases.  Kirby Puckett then hit into a force out to tie the score 3-3, but that was all the Twins would get.

No matter.  With two out in the eighth, Hrbek hit a solo home run.  It hurt the Angels, because it was the deciding run of the game.  With two out in the ninth Abner singled, but Rick Aguilera came in to retire Max Venable on a pop up to end the game.

WP:  Morris (14-9).  LP:  Chris Beasley (0-1).  S:  Aguilera (31).

Notes:  Al Newman pinch-ran for Leius in the seventh and remained in the game at third base.

Puckett was 1-for-4 to make his average .328.  Brian Harper was 1-for-4 and was batting .311.  Aguilera's ERA went to 2.57.

California starter Chuck Finley pitched six innings, giving up three runs on eight hits and two walks and striking out two.

The eighth and ninth spots in the Twins lineup went 5-for-6 with a home run.  The only out was made by Newman, who didn't start the game.

1991 was the only major league season for Chris Beasley.  He was a twenty-nine-year-old rookie in his seventh major league game.  He had gone 3-5, 5.26 at AAA Edmonton before being called up.  He seems an odd choice to be brought into a the ninth inning of a tie game, but I don't have time to go back and check out what options the Angels may have had.  He had done well in his first six games, posting an ERA of 1.04 through 8.2 innings.  He obviously was never going to keep that up, but his season-ending numbers are 0-1, 3.38, 1.35 WHIP in 26.2 innings.  He was back in Edmonton in 1992 and then was done as a player.

The White Sox lost to Baltimore 5-4 in eleven innings, snapping a seven-game winning streak and losing a game to the Twins in the standings.

Record:  The Twins were 68-45, in first place in the American League West, two games ahead of Chicago.

Keeping Track

1991 Rewind: Game One Hundred Twelve

MINNESOTA 5, SEATTLE 2 IN SEATTLE

Date:  Sunday, August 11.

Batting stars:  Kent Hrbek was 3-for-4 with a home run (his twelfth), two runs, and three RBIs.  Kirby Puckett was 2-for-4.  Shane Mack was 1-for-3 with a home run (his fourteenth) and a walk.

Pitching star:  Kevin Tapani pitched a complete game, giving up two runs on four hits and a walk and striking out three.  He threw just 91 pitches.

Opposition stars:  Jay Buhner was 1-for-3 with a home run, his twenty-first.

The game:  Mack homered with two out in the first inning to give the Twins a 1-0 lead.  In the second Hrbek led off with a single, went to second on a wild pitch, was bunted to third, and scored on a ground out to make it 2-0.  In the fourth, Gene Larkin doubled and scored on Hrbek's single to make it 3-0.

The Mariners got on the board in the bottom of the fourth.  Edgar Martinez led off with a single and went to second when Harold Reynolds walked.  A ground out moved the runners up and a sacrifice fly cut the Twins' lead to 3-1.  It went to 3-2 when Buhner homered leading off the fifth, but the Twins got the run back with interest in the sixth when a walk to Larkin was followed by Hrbek's two-run homer.

The score was 5-2, and there it stayed.  Seattle got just one baserunner after that, a two-out single by Omar Vizquel in the eighth.

WP:  Tapani (10-7).  LP:  Bill Krueger (9-5).  S:  None.

Notes:  Larkin was the designated hitter, replacing Chili Davis.  That caused Mack to go into the third spot in the batting order, with Puckett moving down to fourth.  Greg Gagne returned to the lineup at shortstop.

Puckett was batting .329.  Brian Harper was 1-for-4 and was batting .311.  Tapani lowered his ERA to 2.98.

With Hrbek on second and none out in the second inning, Scott Leius bunted, moving Hrbek to third.  He scored on a ground out, making the score 2-0.  I wonder if Leius bunted on his own, trying to get a hit.  It seems strange to just want to move Hrbek to third with one out, especially with Gagne as the next batter.

I doubt that, at the start of the season, very many people would've expected Mack to have more home runs than Hrbek.  It's remarkable, as I go through these games, how few times Hrbek has been one of the offensive stars.  He was still a solid player, and a steady contributor.  He batted .284/.373/.461 with 20 homers, and you'll certainly take that.  I'm surprised that he didn't have much of a platoon split.  Memory had told me that he really struggled with lefties, but he didn't in 1991--he batted .281/.352/.445 against them.  He was even better against righties, of course--.284/.380/.467.  Tom Kelly often dropped Hrbek to seventh in the lineup against left-handers, which is probably why I assumed there was a big platoon split.  But there really wasn't.

Tapani had now won five straight games.  He wasn't pitching all that much better than he had earlier--his ERA only fell from 3.16 to 2.98.  The Twins just started scoring some runs for him.

The White Sox kept pace with the Twins, defeating Baltimore 7-0.

Record:  The Twins were 67-45, in first place in the American League West, one game ahead of Chicago.

Keeping Track

1991 Rewind: Game One Hundred Eleven

SEATTLE 8, MINNESOTA 0 IN SEATTLE

Date:  Saturday, August 10.

Batting stars:  Mike Pagliarulo was 3-for-4.  Randy Bush was 2-for-4 with a double.  Kirby Puckett was 2-for-4.

Pitching stars:  Carl Willis pitched five shutout innings, giving up four hits and two walks and striking out two.  Terry Leach pitched a perfect inning.

Opposition stars:  Erik Hanson pitched eight shutout innings, giving up eight hits and a walk and striking out four.  Ken Griffey was 3-for-5 with a stolen base, his tenth.  Dave Cochrane was 2-for-4 with a home run (his second), a double, two runs, and three RBIs.

The game:  The Twins put men on second and third with two out in the first inning but did not score.  It cost them, as the Mariners jumped out for five runs in the bottom of the first.  Edgar Martinez walked and moved to third on a pickoff error.  Harold Reynolds singled him home, Griffey singled, and Pete O'Brien had an RBI single.  A ground out scored the third run, Cochrane doubled home the fourth run, and Omar Vizquel singled home the fifth run.

The Twins got two on with none out in the sixth and loaded the bases with two out in the seventh, but there was no more scoring until the bottom of the seventh.  Paul Abbott, who had come into the game in the sixth, walked O'Brien, but he was erased on a double play.  Jay Buhner then walked and Cochrane hit a two-run homer to make the score 7-0.  Scott Bradley singled, and consecutive walks to Vizquel, Martinez, and Reynolds brought home an eighth run.  The Twins did not threaten after that.

WP:  Hanson (7-5).  LP:  Scott Erickson (15-4).  S:  None.

Notes:  Dan Gladden got the day off.  Shane Mack was in left, with Randy Bush in right.  Chuck Knoblauch batted leadoff, with Bush second.  Junior Ortiz was behind the plate in place of Brian Harper.  Al Newman was at short in place of Greg Gagne.

With a blowout game, the Twins made some substitutions in the eighth.  Gene Larkin replaced Puckett and went to first base.  Harper replaced Kent Hrbek and went to left field.  Scott Leius replaced Mack and went to center field.

Puckett was batting .327.

Willis lowered his ERA to 1.88.  Leach's ERA went to 2.85.

The Twins stranded nine runners and went 1-for-7 with men in scoring position.

Erickson surrendered five runs on five hits and two walks in two-thirds of an inning.  His ERA went from 2.36 to 2.65.  He clearly was still hurting, but did not miss a start, even though he would not have a good one again until September.  This game was his worst of the season by game scores.  I guess I don't really understand how game scores work.  He got a 20 for this, which is obviously not good, but he got a 22 for a game on June 29 when he allowed seven runs on eleven hits in 6.1 innings.  It seems to me that, while neither start was good, this one was a lot worse than that one, and yet they're pretty much even according to game scores.

This was one of eight career home runs for Cochrane.  He played for the White Sox in 1986 and was with the Mariners from 1989-1992.  He had 218 career games and 562 plate appearances, batting .235/.294/.333.  As John Gordon would say, he played around, playing 54 games of outfield, 53 games of third base, 43 games behind the plate, 39 games at shortstop, 19 games of first base, and five games of second base.  In today's era of small benches, he'd have been more valuable.  Even at that time, he'd have had a long career if he could've hit a little more.

Over his first fifty-six starts, from 1988-1990, Erik Hanson was really good.  He went 29-17, 3.22, 1.16 WHIP with 322 strikeouts in 391 innings.  He threw 236 innings in 1990, many more than he had thrown previously.  Whether that made the difference or not, he was not the same pitcher after that.  He had a couple of decent years after that, but he was never the kind of dominant pitcher he had been.  He's apparently also a fine golfer, qualifying for the U. S. Senior Open in 2015.

The White Sox defeated Baltimore 6-4, cutting the Twins' lead in half.

Record:  The Twins were 66-45, in first place in the American League West, one game ahead of Chicago.

Keeping Track

1991 Rewind: Game One Hundred Ten

MINNESOTA 5, SEATTLE 2 IN SEATTLE

Date:  Friday, August 9.

Batting stars:  Shane Mack was 2-for-3 with a triple.  Brian Harper was 2-for-4.

Pitching star:  David West pitched eight innings, giving up one run on five hits and a walk and striking out three.

Opposition stars:  Ken Griffey was 3-for-4 with a home run (his fourteenth) and a double.  Randy Johnson pitched six innings, giving up four runs (two earned) on six hits and a walk and striking out four.  Calvin Jones pitched two shutout innings, giving up a hit and a walk and striking out two.

The game:  Mack hit a two-out triple in the second but did not score.  The first run of the game came in the fourth, when Griffey led off with a home run.  In the fifth the Twins loaded the bases with none out, as Harper reached on an error and Mack and Kent Hrbek singled.  A pair of ground outs plated two runs to give the Twins a 2-1 lead.  In the sixth Chuck Knoblauch was hit by a pitch, went to second on a wild pitch, and scored on a Kirby Puckett single.  With one out Harper singled to move Puckett to third, and a sacrifice fly made the score 4-1.  They added one more run in the ninth when Scott Leius singled and scored on a Dan Gladden triple.

The Mariners did not go away quietly, though.  With one out Tracy Jones singled and Alonzo Powell walked.  A force out put runners on first and third and Alvin Davis singled to make it 5-2.  That brought the tying run to the plate, but Scott Bradley struck out to end the game.

WP:  West (3-2).  LP:  Johnson (10-8).  S:  Rick Aguilera (30).

Notes:  Greg Gagne was apparently dealing with a minor injury.  He last played August 6 and would not play again until August 11.  Al Newman was at shortstop in his place.

Puckett was 1-for-4 and was batting .326.  Harper raised his average to .312.

Randy Johnson was still not fully Randy Johnson yet in 1991.  He was 13-10, 3.98, but with a 1.50 WHIP because he led the league in walks with 152.  Against the Twins that season he was 1-2, 4.50, 1.65 WHIP.

You can be forgiven if you don't remember Calvin Jones.  Apart from having a pretty common name, he only pitched in the majors for two seasons.  This was his first one, and he was pretty good:  2-2, 2 saves, 2.53, 1.34 WHIP, 42 strikeouts in 46.1 innings.  In 1992, however, he was not good:  3-5, 5.69, 1.57 WHIP in 61.2 innings.  He then pitched in the minors for a few years and in Mexico and in the Atlantic League through 2002.  He later became a scout for the Dodgers, and is credited with signing Clayton Kershaw.

By game scores this was nearly West's best game of the season, second only to his seven shutout innings on July 4.  He would have only one more game score higher than fifty (53 on August 28) and would be out of the rotation by early September.

The White Sox won yesterday, when the Twins were idle, and won again on this day, defeating Baltimore 7-4.

Record:  The Twins were 66-44, in first place in the American League West, two games ahead of Chicago.

Keeping Track

1991 Rewind: Game One Hundred Nine

CALIFORNIA 8, MINNESOTA 1 IN CALIFORNIA

Date:  Wednesday, August 7.

Batting star:  Chili Davis was 1-for-3 with a walk.

Pitching stars:  None.

Opposition stars:  Jim Abbott pitched 8.1 innings, giving up one run on three hits and four walks and striking out five.  He threw 124 pitches.  Wally Joyner was 2-for-2 with two home runs (his fifteenth and sixteenth) a walk, and five RBIs.  Dave Parker was 2-for-4 with a two-run homer, his tenth.  Luis Polonia was 2-for-4 with a double, a walk, and two runs.

The game:  Nobody did much for the first two innings, but the Angels got it going in the third.  Dick Schofield was hit by a pitch and Polonia singled.  Donnie Hill's RBI single started the scoring, a sacrifice fly brought home a second run, and Dave Parker hit a two-run homer to make the score 4-0.  Joyner homered in the fifth to increase the lead to 5-0.  In the seventh, walks to Polonia and Hill preceded Joyner's three run homer and made the score 8-0.

Meanwhile the Twins did very little on offense.  They had only one hit through eight innings, a two-out single by Dan Gladden in the third.  The only time they had two on was in the seventh, when Davis and Shane Mack drew one-out walks.  The Twins managed to avoid a shutout in the ninth.  Chuck Knoblauch led off with a double and scored on Davis' one-out single.  But that was that.

WP:  Abbott (10-8).  LP:  Jack Morris (13-9).  S:  None.

Notes:  Junior Ortiz was behind the plate in place of Brian Harper.  Al Newman was at shortstop in place of Greg Gagne.

Kirby Puckett was 0-for-4 and was batting .326.  Terry Leach gave up a run in 1.2 innings to make his ERA 2.91.

Morris pitched five innings and allowed five runs on six hits and one walk and struck out two.  It was his third poor outing in his last four starts.  In those four starts he had allowed 18 runs in 17.1 innings.  His ERA jumped from 3.39 to 4.02.

There have been nine major league players with the last name "Abbott".  Two of them played in this game, Jim for the Angels and Paul for the Twins.  In case you're wondering, there have been two major league players named "Costello".  None of them was on first much--Fred Abbott played fifteen games there, Kurt Abbott eight, and Dan Costello one.

1991 was Jim Abbott's best year on the mound.  He went 18-11, 2.89, 1.21 WHIP and finished third in Cy Young voting behind Roger Clemens and Scott Erickson.  You can make a good argument that he should have finished ahead of Erickson.

The White Sox beat the Yankees 10-2 and so gained a game on the Twins.

Record:  The Twins were 65-44, in first place in the American League West, 2.5 games ahead of Chicago.

Keeping Track

1991 Rewind: Game One Hundred Seven

MINNESOTA 7, CALIFORNIA 4 IN CALIFORNIA

Date:  Monday, August 5.

Batting stars:  Dan Gladden was 3-for-5 with a stolen base (his eighth) and two runs.  Randy Bush was 2-for-4 with two doubles and two RBIs.

Pitching stars:  Kevin Tapani pitched 8.2 innings, giving up four runs on eight hits and no walks and striking out six.  He threw 125 pitches.

Opposition stars:  Dave Winfield was 2-for-4 with a home run (his twenty-first) and a stolen base, his third.  Gary Gaetti was 1-for-4 with a home run, his thirteenth.  Chris Beasley pitched two shutout innings, giving up one hit and striking out two.

The game:  One could say the Twins got off to a good start.  Gladden led off with a single.  Chuck Knoblauch walked.  Kent Hrbek had an RBI single.  Chili Davis walked, loading the bases.  Brian Harper hit a two-run double.  Bush hit a two-run double.  Six batters in, the Twins led 5-0 and there were no outs.  That was all the runs the Twins would need.

It wasn't the end of the game, of course.  The Angels got a run in the first on two singles and a double play.  Gaetti homered leading off the second to make it 5-2.  It stayed 5-2 until the sixth, when Winfield homered to cut the margin to 5-3.

The Twins had done very little of offense since the first.  In the seventh, however, Greg Gagne reached on an error, stole second, and scored on Gladden's single.  Gladden then stole second and scored on a two-out double by Davis to put the Twins' lead back up to four runs at 7-3.

California did not give up.  Dave Parker hit a one-out double in the ninth.  With two out Lance Parris doubled to make it 7-4.  Rick Aguilera then came in to retire Dave Gallagher on a line out to end the game.

WP:  Tapani (9-7).  LP:  Joe Grahe (1-2).  S:  Aguilera (29).

Notes:  Kirby Puckett got a rare day off.  Shane Mack was in center, with Bush in right.

Harper was 1-for-4 and was batting .314.  Tapani's ERA went to 3.03.  Aguilera dropped his ERA to 2.63.

This was the highest number of pitches (125) that Tapani would throw in a game all year.  He went over 100 pitches in 19 of his 34 starts, including his first five starts of the season and his last six starts of the season.  In eight of those starts he went over 110 pitches.  This was the only time he went over 120.  1991 was his career high for innings as well, with 244.

On the other hand, Aguilera threw one pitch.

Grahe, the Angels' starter, pitched seven innings.  He allowed seven runs (five earned) on eight hits and two walks and struck out one.  It should be noted that he pitched very well after the first inning.  He had done very little up to this point in his career, but he would go on to have two pretty good years (1992-1993) pitching out of the California bullpen.  He had 21 saves for the Angels in 1992, when he was filling in for Bryan Harvey.  He battled injuries starting in 1994 and was out of baseball for three years.  He came back to pitch in thirteen games for Philadelphia in 1998 before ending his career.

The White Sox were idle, so the Twins gained a half game.

Record:  The Twins were 64-43, in first place in the American League West, 3.5 games ahead of Chicago.

Keeping Track

1991 Rewind: Game One Hundred Six

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MINNESOTA 6, OAKLAND 2 IN OAKLAND

Date:  Sunday, August 4.

Batting stars:  Chili Davis was 2-for-3 with a home run (his twenty-fifth), a double, a stolen base, (his fourth), two runs, and two RBIs.  Shane Mack was 2-for-3 with two doubles, a walk, and a hit-by-pitch.

Pitching stars:  Scott Erickson pitched 6.2 innings, giving up two runs on five hits and no walks and striking out two.  Carl Willis pitched 2.1 scoreless innings, giving up on hit.

Opposition star:  Gene Nelson pitched 3.1 scoreless innings, giving up two walks.

The game:  The first two Twins went out, but then Kirby Puckett doubled, Kent Hrbek hit an RBI single (taking second on the throw), Davis had an RBI double, and Mike Pagliarulo hit an RBI single to make it 3-0 Minnesota.  The Twins got another run with two out in the third.  Davis walked, stole second, went to third on a wild pitch, and scored on Mack's double.  The Twins loaded the bases with two out in the fifth, but Pagliarulo grounded out and the score remained 4-0.

The Athletics got on the board in the bottom of the fifth.  Jaime Quirk singled and scored from first on a two-out double by Brook Jacoby.  The Twins got the run back in the sixth when Junior Ortiz singled, went to second on an Al Newman single, went to third on a fly ball, and scored on Chuck Knoblauch's sacrifice fly.

Oakland got one more run in the seventh.  Harold Baines singled and was bunted to second.  Mark McGwire singled to bring him in and make the score 5-2.  The Athletics did not get a man past first the rest of the game.  Davis homered in the ninth to bring the final score to 6-2.

WP:  Erickson (15-3).  LP:  Dave Stewart (8-6).  S:  None.

Notes:  With Erickson pitching, Ortiz was behind the plate.  Newman was at shortstop in place of Greg Gagne.

Scott Leius pinch-hit for Pagliarulo in the ninth.  Gagne replaced him  in the bottom of the ninth and went to short, with Newman moving to third.

Puckett was 1-for-4 with a walk and was batting .330.  Mack raised his average to .300, the highest it had been all season.  Erickson's ERA was 2.36.  Willis dropped his ERA to 2.06.

Oakland was down 5-1 in the bottom of the seventh.  Baines led off with a single.  Dave Henderson then bunted him to second, with Jamie Quirk coming up next.  McGwire batted after him and did single the run home, but one run was all they got.  It just seems like a really strange strategy to have Henderson bunt in that situation.  If it had been Rickey Henderson I might have understood it, because he was a good bunter and had a very good chance to beat it out.  I don't know how good a bunter Dave was, but he wasn't exactly a speed demon, and he could hit for power.  Maybe he did it on his own, seeing the third baseman playing really deep or something.  Still, four runs down in the seventh inning is not a time to play for one run.

Dave Stewart had a poor year in 1991--he'd had four consecutive years of pitching over 250 innings a season from 1987-1990, and at age thirty-four that may have caught up to him.  Against the Twins he was 1-2, 5.61, 1.71 WHIP.  The Twins always handled him pretty well, actually--for his career he was 10-16, 4.37, 1.47 WHIP against them in 31 starts.

The White Sox defeated Baltimore 1-0, so the Twins' lead remained the same.

Record:  The Twins were 63-43, in first place in the American League West, three games ahead of Chicago.

Keeping Track

1991 Rewind: Game One Hundred Four

OAKLAND 3, MINNESOTA 1 IN OAKLAND

Date:  Friday, August 2.

Batting stars:  Chili Davis was 2-for-4.  Brian Harper was 1-for-2 with a double and a walk.  Greg Gagne was 1-for-2 with a walk.

Pitching star:  Jack Morris pitched an eight-inning complete game, giving up three runs on five hits and four walks and striking out nine.

Opposition stars:  Bob Welch pitched a complete game, giving up one run on seven hits and two walks and striking out five.  Rickey Henderson was 1-for-3 with a walk and a stolen base, his thirty-fifth.  Terry Steinbach was 1-for-3 with a double and a walk.

The game:  There was no score through two.  Harper led off the third with a double.  He was still on second with two out, but Chuck Knoblauch delivered an RBI single to give the Twins a 1-0 lead.  Unfortunately, that was the only run the Twins would get.

In the bottom of the third Mike Gallego singled and Rickey Henderson walked, putting men on first and second with two out.  Dave Henderson then singled to tie it 1-1.  In the fourth Steinbach doubled and scored on a two-out single by Mark McGwire to give the Athletics a 2-1 lead.  The Twins had a chance to tie it in the seventh when Davis led off with a double.  Harper drew a one-out walk, but a strikeout/throw out double play ended the inning.

Oakland got an insurance run in the eighth without getting a hit.  With one out, Jose Canseco was hit by a pitch and stole second.  Harold Baines was intentionally walked.  A wild pitch moved the runners up and led to another intentional walk, this time to Steinbach.  Brook Jacoby then hit an RBI ground out to make it 3-1.

The Twins got a two-out single from Davis in the ninth, bringing the tying run to bat, but Shane Mack flied out to end the game.

WP:  Welch (9-6).  LP:  Morris (13-8).  S:  None.

Notes:  It was a standard lineup with no substitutions.  Kirby Puckett was 0-for-4, dropping his average to .328.  Harper raised his average to .312.

Both pitchers threw a complete game and neither team used a substitute.  The ten players on each side who started the game finished the game.  I don't know how unusual that is, but it's definitely unusual.  Morris threw 132 pitches, Welch 121.

Morris had ten complete games in 1991.  He was 6-4 in those games.

The Twins were 0-for-4 in stealing bases in this game.  The players caught stealing were Dan Gladden, Harper, Davis, and Kent Hrbek.  Hrbek was caught trying to steal second on a strikeout/throw out on a full count with one out in the second. Harper was caught trying to steal second with one out in the fifth.  Davis was caught trying to steal third on a strikeout/throw out on a full count with one out in the seventh.  Gladden was caught trying to steal second with two out in the eighth.

Welch was coming off his Cy Young season in 1990, when he went 27-6, 2.95.  He struggled in 1991, going just 12-13, 4.58.  He would bounce back to have a solid season in 1992, but then fell apart, struggling through two more poor years before calling it quits.

The White Sox lost to Baltimore 3-0, so the gap between the two remained the same.

Record:  The Twins were 61-43, in first place in the American League West, two games ahead of Chicago.

Keeping Track

1991 Rewind: Game One Hundred Three

NEW YORK 8, MINNESOTA 3 IN NEW YORK

Date:  Thursday, August 1.

Batting stars:  Shane Mack was 2-for-3 with a home run (his twelfth) and a walk.  Chuck Knoblauch was 2-for-4.  Chili Davis was 1-for-3 with a home run (his twenty-fourth) and a walk.

Pitching star:  Terry Leach pitched three shutout innings of relief, giving up three hits and striking out two.

Opposition stars:  Greg Cadaret pitched seven innings, giving up two runs on six hits and three walks and striking out six.  Bernie Williams was 2-for-3 with two walks and two runs.  Matt Nokes was 2-for-4 with two home runs (his nineteenth and twentieth) and three RBIs.

The game:  Williams led off the bottom of the first with a walk and Don Mattingly got a one-out single, putting men on first and third.  Mel Hall hit a sacrifice fly to score one run and Nokes hit a two-run homer to give the Yankees a 3-0 lead.  It went to 6-0 in the second.  An error, a bunt, and a walk put men on first and third with one out.  Williams had an RBI single, and error scored another run, and a sacrifice fly brought home a third.

The Twins got on the board in the third as Greg Gagne led off with a double and Dan Gladden singled.  Gladden was caught stealing for the second time in the game, however, so the two singles that followed did not produce another run.  In the fourth Alvaro Espinoza singled, Williams walked, and Steve Sax singled to make it 7-1.  Nokes homered again in the fifth to make it 8-1.

The Twins got a couple more runs on solo homers to make the final score look a little better.  Davis homered leading off the sixth and Mack homered leading off the ninth.  At no point did it look like the Twins might get back into the game.

WP:  Cadaret (4-4).  LP:  Paul Abbott (3-1).  S:  None.

Notes:  It was a standard lineup.  Al Newman went into the game at shortstop in the seventh inning, replacing Gagne.

Kirby Puckett was 1-for-4 and was batting .331.  Brian Harper was 0-for-4 and fell to .311.  Leach lowered his ERA to 2.86.

Gladden stole fifteen bases in 1991, but was caught nine times.

Abbott lasted just 1.1 innings, giving up five runs (three earned) on two hits and two walks and struck out one.  Tom Kelly gave him a really quick hook.  Yes, he gave up three runs in the first, but it's not like they were smacking him all over the yard--the homer by Nokes is the thing that hurt him.  Then in the second, an error, a sac bunt, a walk, and he's gone.  It was the last start of the season for him.

Mack had an eight-game hitting streak.  He was 16-for-32 with three doubles, two triples, and three home runs.  He raised his average from .264 to .294 and his slugging average from .455 to .528.

Gladden also had an eight-game hitting streak.  He was 14-for-36 with three doubles and a home run.  He raised his average from .259 to .276.

This was Bernie Williams' rookie season.  I'd forgotten that he often batted leadoff when he first came up.  He wasn't all that good at it, batting just .219.  He did, however, draw a lot of walks, giving him an OBP of .328.  He would, of course, go on to have an excellent career.

Chris Berman's time has come and gone, but I did always like Greg "life is a"  Cadaret.

The White Sox defeated Texas 13-2 to move closer to the Twins.

Record:  The Twins were 61-42, in first place in the American League West, two games ahead of Chicago.

Keeping Track

1991 Rewind: Game One Hundred Two

MINNESOTA 12, NEW YORK 3 IN NEW YORK

Date:  Wednesday, July 31.

Batting stars:  Mike Pagliarulo was 4-for-5 with two runs.  Shane Mack was 3-for-5 with two home runs (his tenth and eleventh) and three RBIs.  Kent Hrbek was 3-for-5 with a grand slam (his eleventh), two runs, and five RBIs.  Randy Bush was 2-for-2.  Dan Gladden was 2-for-4.  Greg Gagne was 2-for-4.  Chili Davis was 2-for-5 with a home run, his twenty-third.

Pitching star:  Kevin Tapani pitched seven innings, giving up one run on five hits and no walks and striking out two.

Opposition stars:  Steve Sax was 2-for-4 with a double.  Pat Sheridan was 2-for-4 with a double.

The game:  It was scoreless in the first inning, but the Twins' offense exploded in the second.  With one out Davis hit a home run.  With two out Mack hit a home run.  There followed singles by Pagliarulo, Gagne, Gladden, and Chuck Knoblauch, the latter two RBI singles.  Kirby Puckett walked to load the bases and Hrbek then hit a grand slam to make the score 8-0.

It was never close after that.  Alvaro Espinoza and Steve Sax doubled in the third to cut the lead to 8-1.  In the sixth, Puckett reached on a three-base error, Hrbek singled him home, and Mack hit a two-run homer to make it 11-1.  The Twins scored once in the top of the ninth and the Yankees got two in the bottom of the ninth.

WP:  Tapani (8-7).  L{P:  Scott Sanderson (10-7).  S:  None.

Notes:  It was a standard lineup.  Gene Larkin pinch-ran for Puckett in the sixth, something that probably didn't happen very often.  He then went to right field, with Mack moving to center.  Al Newman went to short in the sixth, replacing Gagne.   Bush pinch-hit for Gladden in the seventh and then went to left field.  Junior Ortiz replaced Brian Harper at catcher in the eighth.

Puckett was 1-for-3 with a walk and remained .332.  Harper was 0-for-5 and dropped to .315.  Tapani's ERA fell to 2.97.

Willie Banks made his major league debut in this game, pitching the last two innings.  He allowed two unearned runs on three hits and two walks and struck out three.  Banks would go on to pitch in nine major league seasons.  He was with the Twins through 1993, pitching in the starting rotation for two months of 1992 and all of 1993.  He also pitched for the Cubs, the Dodgers, Florida, the Yankees, Arizona, and Boston.  His best major league season was his last one, 2002, when he went 2-1, 3.23, 1.18 WHIP in 29 games (39 innings) pitching out of the Red Sox bullpen.  He pitched in AAA in 2003 and in the Atlantic League from 2004-2005 and 2009-2010.

There was no great Scott in this game, either.  Sanderson lasted just 1.2 innings, allowing eight runs on eight hits and a walk.  Sanderson had a fine year in 1991, going 16-10, 3.81 and making the all-star team for the only time in his career.  By game scores, this was his worst game of the year, but just barely.  This one was a six.  He had a seven on April 27, when he allowed seven runs on eleven hits in two innings.

The White Sox won again, beating Texas 10-8, so the Twins again did not gain any ground.

Record:  The Twins were 61-41, in first place in the American League West, three games ahead of Chicago.