Tag Archives: .290 hitters

Keeping Track

1970 Rewind: Game One Hundred Nine

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OAKLAND 6, MINNESOTA 3 IN MINNESOTA (GAME 2 OF DOUBLEHEADER)

Date:  Sunday, August 9.

Batting stars:  Cesar Tovar was 2-for-3 with a triple, a walk, and two RBIs.  Harmon Killebrew was 2-for-4 with a home run, his thirty-fourth.

Pitching stars:  None.

Opposition stars:  Don Mincher was 2-for-3 with two home runs (his nineteenth and twentieth), three runs, and four RBIs.  Felipe Alou was 2-for-4.  Jim Roland pitched 2.1 scoreless innings, giving up a walk and striking out two.

The game:  The Twins opened the first with two singles, but a strikeout and a double play ended the inning.  The Athletics started the scoring in the fourth.  With two out, Tommy Davis singled and stole second.  Sal Bando was intentionally walked, but the strategy backfired when Mincher hit a three-run homer.

The Twins came back.  Killebrew hit a two-out home run in the fourth to make it 3-1.  In the fifth, Leo Cardenas and George Mitterwald singled and Tovar delivered a two-out two-run triple to tie the score at 3-3.

But that was as good as it got for the Twins.  Mincher homered again in the seventh to give Oakland a 4-3 lead.  In the ninth Mincher drew a two-out walk, followed by an Alou single and a two-run single-plus-error by Frank Fernandez, giving the Athletics a 6-3 lead.

The Twins did try to comeback in the ninth.  Rick Renick hit a one-out double.  With two out, Mitterwald walked, bringing the tying run to the plate.  But Charlie Manuel grounded out to end the game.

WP:  Roland (2-2).

LP:  Jim Kaat (10-8).

S:  Mudcat Grant (19).

Notes:  Jim Holt was again in center field, with Tovar moving to left.  Danny Thompson was again at second base in place of Rod Carew.  Renick pinch-hit for Holt in the seventh and went to left field, with Tovar moving to center.  Brant Alyea pinch-hit for Kaat in the seventh.  Frank Quilici pinch-ran for Mitterwald in the ninth.  Manuel pinch-hit for Stan Williams in the ninth.

Tony Oliva was 0-for-4 and was batting .323.  Williams gave up two runs (one earned) in two innings and had an ERA of 1.75.

Kaat pitched seven innings, giving up four runs on four hits and a walk and striking out five.  Oakland starter Blue Moon Odom pitched 5.1 innings, giving up three runs on seven hits and no walks and striking out one.

As you can see, ex-Twins came back to haunt them in this game.  In addition to Mincher's two homers and Roland's 2.1 scoreless innings, Grant pitched 1.1 scoreless innings.

While the Twins had only one .300 hitter at this point, they had three .290 hitters:  Killebrew (.297), Tovar (.297), and Thompson (.292).

Record:  The Twins were 69-40, in first place in the American League West, seven games ahead of California.

Keeping Track

2003 Recaps: Game Sixty-nine

KANSAS CITY 14, MINNESOTA 7 IN KANSAS CITY

Date:  Tuesday, June 17.

Batting stars:  Dustan Mohr was 2-for-4 with a home run (his eighth), a double, a walk, and two runs.  Denny Hocking was 2-for-4 with a double and a walk.  Tom Prince was 2-for-5 with a two-run homer, his second.  Justin Morneau was 1-for-1 with a home run.

Pitching star:  LaTroy Hawkins pitched a scoreless inning, giving up a walk and striking out one.

Opposition stars:  Ken Harvey was 4-for-5 with three doubles and five RBIs.  Raul Ibanez was 3-for-5 with three runs and two RBIs.  Mike Sweeney was 2-for-4 with a double, a walk, two runs, and two RBIs.  Jeremy Affeldt pitched five innings, giving up one run on five hits and five walks and striking out three.

The game:  The Royals scored in the third when Carlos Beltran walked and scored from first on Harvey's double.  The Twins loaded the bases in the third but did not score.  They did tie it in the fifth when Lew Ford walked, went to third on Hocking's double, and scored on a sacrifice fly.  They took the lead in the sixth.  Bobby Kielty singled, stole second, and scored on a Luis Rivas triple.  Hocking's RBI single then made it 3-1 Minnesota.

Kansas City then exploded for twelve runs in the bottom of the sixth.  Two walks and a single loaded the bases.  Consecutive singles by Beltran, Ibanez, and Harvey plated four runs.  A bunt gave the Twins their first out, but singles by Brent Mayne and Carlos Febles scored two more.  Two consecutive hit batsmen brought home another run, Sweeney hit a three-run double, Ibanez had an RBI single, and Harvey had a run-scoring double.  It was 13-3, and the game was pretty much over at that point.

The Twins scored two in the seventh on Prince's two-run homer and one in the eighth on a solo shot by Morneau.  Harvey doubled home a run in the bottom of the eighth and Mohr homered in the ninth to bring us to the final score of 14-7..

WP:  Kris Wilson (3-0).  LP:  Kenny Rogers (5-3).  S:  None.

Notes:  This was the B lineup.  Prince was behind the plate in place of A. J. Pierzynski.  Matthew LeCroy was at first base in place of Doug Mientkiewicz.  Hocking was at short in place of Cristian Guzman.  Ford was in left in place of Jacque Jones.  Kielty was the DH.

Mientkiewicz came in for defense in the sixth inning in place of LeCroy.  Morneau pinch-hit in the eighth and stayed in the game at first base.

Ford was 1-for-4 and was batting .455.  Morneau was 1-for-1 and is batting .364.

Hocking raised his average to .190.

Rogers pitched five innings, allowing seven runs on six hits and four walks and striking out three.  His ERA was 5.14.  Hawkins lowered his ERA to 2.16.  Eddie Guardado allowed a run in one inning to raise his ERA to 3.03.

The Twins stranded 12 runners and were 2-for-9 with men in scoring position.  The Royals stranded 5 and were 8-for-14 with men in scoring position.

This was Morneau's first major league home run.

I wonder what the most runs scored against the Twins in one inning is.  I doubt that it's twelve, but that can't be too far down the list.

The Twins only had two guys who played in this game whose averages were above .300, and they were both guys who hadn't batted much.  However, they had four players who were in the .290s:  Mientkiewicz (.299), LeCroy (.298), Mohr (.297), and Corey Koskie (.291).

The Royals were rapidly gaining ground on the Twins.

Record:  The Twins were 38-31, in first place in the American League Central, two games ahead of Kansas City.