MINNESOTA 1, TORONTO 0 IN TORONTO
Date: Thursday, July 4.
Batting stars: Pedro Munoz was 2-for-4 with a double. Chuck Knoblauch was 2-for-4 with a double.
Pitching stars: David West pitched seven shutout innings, giving up two hits and a walk and striking out five. Steve Bedrosian pitched a scoreless inning, giving up one hit and striking out one. Rick Aguilera pitched a perfect inning.
Opposition stars: Jimmy Key pitched 7.1 innings, giving up one run on seven hits and a walk and striking out three. Derek Bell was 1-for-2 with a walk.
The game: Knoblauch doubled with one out in the first, but only got to third base. In the second, Munoz and Shane Mack started the inning with singles, putting men on first and third. Junior Ortiz then hit into a forceout, bringing in a run and putting the Twins up 1-0.
Munoz got a one-out double in the fourth but stayed at second. Joe Carter got a one-out double in the fourth but stayed at second. The Twins got men on first and second in the fifth but did nothing with them. In the seventh, Bell singled and went to second on a wild pitch with one out, but only got as far as third. Devon White got a two-out double in the eighth. But neither team scored, and the Twins took a 1-0 victory.
WP: West (1-0). LP: Key (10-4). S: Aguilera (21).
Notes: Al Newman and his .493 OPS replaced Kent Hrbek at first base. He batted first. Hrbek came into the game for defense in the eighth, with Newman moving to third and Scott Leius coming out of the game. Munoz was in right and Mack was in left, replacing Dan Gladden. Randy Bush pinch-hit for Mack in the ninth and Jarvis Brown went to left field. Ortiz was behind the plate in place of Brian Harper.
Puckett was 0-for-4 and was batting .320. Aguilera lowered his ERA to 2.84.
Bush was 0-for-1 and was batting .197.
This was the only time in his career that Newman would play first base.
This was West's first game for the Twins in 1991 and was the best start he would have all season. He was supposed to be the key player in the Frank Viola trade. A can't-miss prospect, he mostly missed, although he had a couple of good seasons with Philadelphia (1993-1994). 1991 was the best season he had as a Twin: 4-4, 4.54, 1.32 WHIP in 71.1 innings (15 games, 12 starts). He would remain in the Twins' rotation through early September.
The win was the Twins' second in nine games. The bats remained quiet, however. The Twins had scored just nineteen runs in their last nine games. The only two wins they had in that span were shutouts.
The win moved the Twins back into first place. Could they stay there?
Record: The Twins were 46-34, in first place in the American League West, one game ahead of California.