Tag Archives: Bill Wegman

Keeping Track

1991 Rewind: Game Ninety-eight

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MINNESOTA 7, MILWAUKEE 4 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Saturday, July 27.

Batting stars:  Chuck Knoblauch was 3-for-3 with a triple, a double, a walk, and a stolen base (his twelfth).  Dan Gladden was 2-for-5 with a three-run homer (his fifth) and two runs.

Pitching star:  Paul Abbott pitched four innings of relief, giving up two runs on five hits and a walk and striking out three.  Carl Willis retired all four batters he faced, striking out one.

Opposition stars:  Candy Maldonado was 3-for-4 with a two-run homer, his third.   Dale Sveum was 2-for-4 with a home run (his fourth) and two RBIs.  Paul Molitor was 2-for-5 with a double.  Dante Bichette was 2-for-5 with two runs.

The game:  The Twins scored two in the first inning.  Gladden singled and Knoblauch followed with a double.  A pair of productive out made the score 2-0.  Sveum hit a home run in the second to cut the lead to 2-1.  In the fourth the Brewers got two singles, a bunt, and a sacrifice fly to tie the score 2-2.

The Twins took the lead back in the bottom of the fourth.  Kent Hrbek walked, and Chili Davis and Brian Harper each singled, loading the bases with none out.  A fielder's choice/error scored one run and a force out scored another, and the Twins led 4-2.

It stayed 4-2 until the eighth.  Abbott had pitched three scoreless innings, but he gave up a leadoff single to Bichette followed by Maldonado's two-run homer, and the score was tied 4-4.

No problem.  Milwaukee starter Bill Wegman was still in the game to start the ninth.  He retired Mike Pagliarulo on a grounder, but gave up singles to Shane Mack and Randy Bush.  Now approaching one hundred twenty pitches, he remained in the game to face Gladden.  It was a mistake, as Gladden hit a walkoff three-run homer down the left field line.

WP:  Willis (5-2).  LP:  Wegman (6-5).  S:  None.

Notes:  This is the first time in a long time where the Twins completely used what one would call their standard lineup.  No one injured, no one being rested.  Bush pinch-hit for Greg Gagne in the ninth and Al Newman pinch-ran for Bush.

Kirby Puckett was 0-for-4 and was batting .333.  Harper was 1-for-4 and was batting .318.  Abbott's ERA was 3.43.  Willis lowered his ERA to 2.36.

It seems really strange that Tom Trebelhorn left Wegman in to pitch a complete game.  It's true that he hadn't given up a run since the fourth, but he wasn't exactly blowing people away, either.  He'd given up a hit in each of the last three innings.  He didn't have a low pitch count--he ended at one hundred twenty-two pitches.  He was their best starter that year, and apart from Doug Henry their bullpen was nothing to brag about.  Still, it was well-rested, and if you're not going to use them then there's no point in having them.

Gladden was 5-for-15 with two doubles and a home run since his return.

The Twins had won three in a row and seven out of nine.  The White Sox won, so the Twins neither gained nor lost ground.

Record:  The Twins were 58-40, in first place in the American League West, four games ahead of Chicago.

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 Twenty-five

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MINNESOTA 5, MILWAUKEE 2 IN MILWAUKEE (10 INNINGS)

Date:  Sunday, May 5.

Batting stars:  Mike Pagliarulo was 2-for-3.  Chili Davis was 1-for-3 with two walks.

Pitching stars:  Allan Anderson pitched seven innings, giving up one run on four hits and three walks and striking out two.  Rick Aguilera pitched three innings, giving up one run on four hits and a walk and striking out one.

Opposition stars:  Bill Wegman pitched six shutout innings, giving up two his and a walk and striking out one.  Jim Gantner was 2-for-4 with a double.  Paul Molitor was 2-for-4 with a stolen base, his second.

The game:  There were no hits until the top of the third, when the Twins got one-out singles from Pagliarulo and Greg Gagne.  Nothing came of it, and there were no other threats from either team until the bottom of the sixth.  Rick Dempsey led off the inning with a single-plus-error, reaching second.  With one out, Molitor singled him to third and stole second.  Willie Randolph was intentionally walked to bring up Robin Yount (!).  Yount was accidentally walked to force in a run.  Franklin Stubbs hit into a flyball double play, with Molitor thrown out at the plate by Kirby Puckett, but the Brewers led 1-0.

The Twins had men on first and third with one out in the seventh, but Puckett was thrown out trying to score on an infield grounder.  They broke through in the eighth, though.  Pagliarulo led off with a single and Al Newman came in to run.  With one out, consecutive singles by Dan Gladden, Chuck Knoblauch, and Puckett gave the Twins a 2-1 lead.  Milwaukee tied it in the bottom of the eighth when Molitor walked, went to third on Randolph's single, and scored on Yount's sacrifice fly.

Neither team scored in the ninth, so we went to an extra inning.  Knoblauch walked.  Puckett bunted and reached base on an error, putting men on first and second.  Gene Larkin then bunted the runners to second and third.  Davis was intentionally walked, and Shane Mack hit a sacrifice fly to give the Twins the lead.  Brian Harper followed with a two-run single and the Twins were up 5-2.  The Brewers did not threaten in the bottom of the tenth.

WP:  Aguilera (1-2).  LP:  Edwin Nunez (1-1).  S:  None.

Notes:  Puckett started in center, with Randy Bush in right.  Mack pinch-hit for Bush in the seventh and stayed in the game, but went to right field, with Puckett remaining in center.  Puckett would remain the center fielder the rest of the season.

Kent Hrbek come out of the game after batting in the eighth inning.  He would miss the next several games, returning May 14.  Gene Larkin played first base the rest of the game.

Newman remained in the game after pinch-running for Pagliarulo.  Scott Leius pinch-ran for Harper but did not remain in the game, with Junior Ortiz coming in to catch.  Apparently Tom Kelly believed Newman to be the superior third baseman.

Gagne was 1-for-4 and was batting .328.  Knoblauch was 1-for-4 with a walk and was batting .316.  Puckett was 1-for-3 with a walk and was batting .312.  Harper was 1-for-5 and was batting .311.

Mack was 0-for-2 and was batting .175.  Hrbek was 0-for-3 with a walk and was batting .183.  Aguilera had an ERA of 2.38.

I have a really hard time figuring out why you would walk Willie Randolph to pitch to Robin Yount.  Yes, it set up a double play, but that's all it did.  Both were right-handed batters, so you did not gain a platoon advantage.  And, no disrespect to Randolph, he was no Robin Yount, especially at this stage of their careers.  As of this game, Randolph was batting .255/.340/.255.  Yount was batting .295/.373/.526,  Maybe TK had some numbers that indicated Allan Anderson did really well against Yount or something, I don't know.  But it sure is not a move that makes much sense to me.

Isn't baseball great?  We can sit here and second-guess the manager twenty-eight years later.

Bill Wegman was a decent but not great pitcher.  1991 was the best year he had, going 15-7, 2.84, 1.12 WHIP.  He was pretty good in 1992 as well:  13-14, 3.20, 1.17 WHIP.  He did not have an ERA under four in any other season, although he was at 4.51 or below four other seasons.  For his career, all with Milwaukee, he was 81-90, 4.16, 1.29 WHIP in 1482.2 innings.  He played in 262 games, 216 of them starts.  Not an ace, not even usually a number two guy, but a good guy to have to fill out your rotation.

Record:  The Twins were 12-13, tied for fifth with Seattle in the American League West, 3.5 games behind Oakland.