CHICAGO 4, MINNESOTA 2 IN MINNESOTA
Date: Friday, June 28.
Batting stars: Pedro Munoz was 2-for-3 with a home run, his third. Shane Mack was 1-for-4 with a home run, his eighth.
Pitching star: Allan Anderson pitched a complete game, giving up four runs (three earned) on eight hits and no walks and striking out five.
Opposition stars: Charlie Hough pitched seven innings, giving up two runs on five hits and three walks and striking out two. Craig Grebeck was 2-for-4. Sammy Sosa was 1-for-4 with a three-run homer, his ninth. Cory Snyder was 1-for-4 with a home run (his third) and two runs.
The game: The White Sox got all the runs they needed in the second inning when Grebeck singled, Snyder reached on an error, and Sosa hit a three-run homer. The Twins had only two hits in the first four innings. They got on the board in the fifth, however, when Mack led off with a home run and Munoz hit a two-out homer, cutting the lead to 3-2.
The Twins threatened in the eighth when Kirby Puckett was hit by a pitch and went to third on a one-out single by Brian Harper, but a popup and a strikeout ended the inning. Chicago got an insurance run in the ninth when Snyder homered.
The Twins threatened again in the ninth. Pinch-hitter Scott Leius led off with a walk and was replaced at first base by Randy Bush via a forceout. Munoz and pinch-hitter Kent Hrbek singled, loading the bases. It looked promising, with arguably the Twins' two best batters, Puckett and Chili Davis, coming to bat. But Puckett struck out and Davis hit a long fly to left to end the game.
WP: Hough (5-3). LP: Anderson (4-6). S: Bobby Thigpen (15).
Notes: Gene Larkin was at first base in place of Hrbek. That was the only change from the regular starting lineup, but Tom Kelly made liberal use of his bench in this game.
At the start of the fourth, Dan Gladden came out of the game and was replaced by Munoz, who went to right with Mack going to left. Gladden left due to injury, and would not return until July 25. Al Newman pinch-ran for Harper in the eighth and then came out of the game, with Junior Ortiz coming in to catch. Leius pinch-hit for Pagliarulo, Bush pinch-hit for Greg Gagne, and Hrbek pinch-hit for Chuck Knoblauch.
Harper was 1-for-4 and was batting .332. Puckett was 1-for-3 and was batting .319. Munoz raised his average to .301.
Bush lowered his batting average to .194.
I had completely forgotten that Charlie Hough pitched for the White Sox. He did so for two seasons, 1991 and 1992. This was his age forty-three season, but he was still a good pitcher, posting an ERA of 4.02 and a WHIP of 1.31. He was actually a little better the next year, with an ERA of 3.93 and a WHIP of 1.28. He would then pitch for Florida for two years before retiring at age forty-six.
I'd also forgotten that Cory Snyder played for the White Sox. This one is more understandable, as he only played fifty games for them. He'd been a good player for Cleveland from 1986-1988, but then had two poor years and was traded to the White Sox prior to the 1991 season. He played poorly, was traded to Toronto in mid-July, and continued to play poorly. He bounced back with the Giants in 1992 and had a decent season for the Dodgers in 1993. He slipped back in 1994, however, and was done after that.
This was the Twins' third straight loss.
Record: The Twins were 44-30, in first place in the American League West, two games ahead of California.