Tag Archives: complete games

Keeping Track

1970 Rewind: Game One Hundred Fifty-three

OAKLAND 6, MINNESOTA 0 IN OAKLAND

Date:  Monday, September 21.

Batting star:  Harmon Killebrew was 0-for-2 with a walk.

Pitching star:  Jim Perry pitched an eight-inning complete game, giving up six runs (two earned) on nine hits and five walks and striking out three.

Opposition stars:  Vida Blue pitched a no-hitter, striking out nine and giving up a walk.  Don Mincher was 2-for-3 with a hit-by-pitch.  Bert Campaneris was 2-for-5 with a three-run homer (his twenty-first), a triple, and two runs.

The game:  Once you've said "Vida Blue pitched a no-hitter", there's not a lot more to say.  The Athletics got on the board in the second when Campaneris tripled and scored on a double play grounder.  The Twins lone baserunner, Killebrew, reached on a two-out walk in the fourth inning.

It was still 1-0 through seven, but Oakland broke it open in the eighth.  Mincher led off with a single and Sal Bando followed with a single-plus-error, scoring Mincher and leaving Bando on third.  With one out, Gene Tenace was intentionally walked.  Dick Green had an RBI single, a bunt moved the runners up, and Campaneris hit a three-run homer, giving the Athletics a 6-0 lead.

WP:  Blue (2-0).

LP:  Perry (23-12).

S:  None.

Notes:  Rick Renick was at third base, with Killebrew moving to first and Rich Reese on the bench.  Danny Thompson was at second base in place of Rod Carew.  Jim Holt went to center field in the eighth, with Cesar Tovar moving to left and Brant Alyea coming out.  Bob Allison pinch-hit for Perry in the ninth.

Tony Oliva was 0-for-3 and was batting .319.  Tovar was 0-for-4 and was batting .300.

I wondered about Perry throwing a complete game, but it was still 1-0 going to the eighth.  I still don't think it was very smart to have him pitch that much this late in the season, with the playoffs just around the corner, but it was a different time then, and the closeness of the game makes it less egregious.

Blue had come up as a September call-up.  This was his fourth start, and his second complete game shutout.  He had appeared in twelve games in 1969, four of them starts.  He made a total of six starts in 1970, and went 2-0, 2.09, 0.83 WHIP.  He struck out 35 in 38.2 innings and had a FIP of 1.89.  He was only twenty, but I think it's safe to say he was ready for the majors.  This would be the only complete game no-hitter he would have.  He was part of a combined no-hitter in 1975, throwing five innings.

Allison had a batting average of .211.  Perry, whom he pitch-hit for, had an average of .250.  That is not in any way intended to indicate that I think it was wrong to send Allison up there.  I just thought it was interesting.

The loss kept the Twins from clinching the division.

Record:  The Twins were 92-61, in first place in the American League West, 7.5 games ahead of Oakland.  Their magic number remained two.

Keeping Track

1970 Rewind: Game One Hundred Twenty-six

MINNESOTA 5, BOSTON 2 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Thursday, August 27.

Batting stars:  Tony Oliva was 2-for-3 with a double and a walk.  Jim Perry was 2-for-4 with two doubles.  Jim Holt was 2-for-4 with a stolen base, his third.  George Mitterwald was 1-for-4 with a two-run homer, his thirteenth.

Pitching star:  Perry pitched a complete game, giving up two runs on seven hits and two walks and striking out two.

Opposition stars:  Billy Conigliaro was 2-for-4 with a stolen base.  Rico Petrocelli was 1-for-4 with a home run, his twenty-first.  Chuck Hartenstein struck out two in two shutout innings, giving up one hit.  Mike Nagy pitched two shutout innings, giving up a hit and a walk and striking out one.

The game:  In the first inning Rich Reese hit a one-out single and scored on an Oliva double, with Oliva taking third on the throw home.  Harmon Killebrew then hit a sacrifice fly, giving the Twins a 2-0 lead.  The Red Sox came right back to tie it in the second.  Petrocelli led off with a home run.  Conigliaro then got an infield single, stole second, and scored on Mike Andrews' two-out single.

Boston loaded the bases in the fourth but did not score.  In the bottom of the fourth, Holt led off with a single and Mitterwald hit a two-out two-run homer.  Perry then doubled, went to third on a wild pitch, and scored on a Cesar Tovar single, giving the Twins a 5-2 lead.

The Red Sox did not threaten again.  Carl Yastrzemski led off the fifth with a single but was erased on a double play.  That was the last baserunner Boston had.  Perry was in total control, and the Twins cruised to a 5-2 victory.

WP:  Perry (19-11).

LP:  Sonny Siebert (13-7).

S:  None.

Notes:  Holt was in center with Tovar in left and Brant Alyea on the bench.  Danny Thompson remained at second in place of Rod Carew.  Frank Quilici went to second in the eighth inning, with Thompson going to third and Killebrew going to the bench.

Oliva was batting .323.

Perry hit four doubles in 1970, half of them in this game.  He hit twenty-two doubles in his career.  Four was his career high in a season--he also hit four in 1966.

Perry had thirteen complete games in 1970, which was his career high.  He had 109 complete games in his career.

Billy Conigliaro had a really good year in 1970.  At age 22 he batted .271/.339/.462.  The Red Sox must have thought he would become as big a star as his brother Tony.  But he went backward in 1971, was traded to Milwaukee, and was out of baseball after the 1973 season.

Record:  The Twins were 75-51, in first place in the American League West, four games ahead of California.

Keeping Track

1970 Rewind: Game One Hundred Three

MINNESOTA 5, MILWAUKEE 2 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Tuesday, August 4.

Batting stars:  Rich Reese was 2-for-4 with a double and two RBIs.  Tony Oliva was 2-for-4.

Pitching star:  Bert Blyleven struck out twelve in a complete game, giving up two runs on seven hits and a walk.

Opposition stars:  Tommy Harper was 2-for-4.  Bob Humphreys struck out two in two shutout innings, giving up one hit.

The game:  It was scoreless until the third, when singles by Ted Kubiak, Harper, and Russ Snyder put the Brewers ahead 1-0.  The Twins took the lead in the fourth.  Back-to-back one-out doubles by Harmon Killebrew and Reese brought home the first run.  With two out, Leo Cardenas doubled and Blyleven contributed an RBI single to give the Twins a 3-1 advantage.

The Twins added two more in the fifth.  With one out, Oliva singled and Killebrew was hit by a pitch.  Reese singled home a run, leaving men on first and third, and a sacrifice fly made the score 5-1.

Blyleven took it from there.  He gave up a run in the seventh when Dave May singled and scored on a Roberto Pena double, but Milwaukee did not get the tying run up to bat in that or any other inning as the Twins won 5-2.

WP:  Blyleven (6-3).

LP:  Bobby Bolin (3-9).

S:  None.

Notes:  Jim Holt was in center in place of Cesar Tovar.  Danny Thompson remained at second in place of Rod Carew.  Charlie Manuel made a rare start in left in place of Brant Alyea.  Tovar went to left in the seventh, replacing Manuel.  Frank Quilici went to second in the ninth, with Thompson moving to third and Killebrew coming out of the game.

Oliva was batting .328.  Killebrew was 1-for-3 and was batting .304.  Tovar was 1-for-1 and was back up to .300.  Blyleven had an ERA of 2.78.

This was the third complete game for Blyleven.  He would have five for the season.

This was only the second time Tovar did not start, and each time he came in for defense late in the game.  He would not get a full game off until late September.

Bolin pitched 4.1 innings, allowing five runs on eight hits and a walk and striking out none.  He did not have a good season in 1970, but he struggled with the Twins more than most:  0-3, 5.91, 1.69 WHIP.  For the season he was 7-11, 4.63, 1.46 WHIP.

Record:  The Twins were 66-37, in first place in the American League West, eight games ahead of California and Oakland.  This was the largest lead the Twins had up to this point in the season.

Keeping Track

1970 Rewind: Game Ninety-one

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MINNESOTA 8, BALTIMORE 0 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Friday, July 24.

Batting stars:  Frank Quilici was 2-for-3 with a walk.  Rick Renick was 2-for-4 with a home run, his seventh.  Leo Cardenas was 2-for-4 with a triple and a double.  Cesar Tovar was 2-for-5 with a double and two runs.  Rich Reese was 2-for-5.  Harmon Killebrew was 1-for-3 with a home run (his thirtieth), a walk, and two runs.  Tony Oliva was 1-for-4 with a three-run homer (his fourteenth) and two runs.

Pitching stars:  Jim Kaat pitched a complete game shutout, giving up seven hits and a walk and striking out five.

Opposition star:  Andy Etchebarren was 2-for-4.

The game:  Tovar led off the bottom of the first with a double and scored on a Reese single to give the Twins a 1-0 lead.  Renick led off the second with a homer to make it 2-0.

Neither team threatened again until the fifth, when Quilici singled, was bunted to second, and scored on a Tovar single.  Killebrew walked and Oliva followed with a three-run homer to make the score 6-0 Twins.  The Twins added two more in the seventh.  Killebrew led off with a home run.  Oliva reached on an error, Renick singled, and George Mitterwald singled to bring the score to 8-0.

Despite getting seven hits and a walk, the Orioles only once had a man in scoring position.  That was in the eighth, when Don Buford hit a one-out single and Paul Blair followed with a walk.  But the next two batters went out and it remained 8-0.

WP:  Kaat (9-7).

LP:  Mike Cuellar (13-6).

S:  None.

Notes:  Renick was in left field in place of Brant Alyea.  Quilici was at second base in place of Rod Carew.  Jim Holt pinch-ran for Renick in the seventh and stayed in the game in left field.  Danny Thompson replaced Killebrew at third base in the eighth.

Oliva was batting .319.  Tovar was batting .316.  Killebrew was batting .315.

The Twins continued to have success against Cuellar.  He had pitched a complete game victory against them eight days earlier.  Other than that game, though, he had posted game scores of fifty-one and forty-five, and in this game his score was twenty-seven.  For the season against the Twins he was 2-2, 4.88, 1.41 WHIP.  Against the entire league, Cuellar was 24-8, 3.48, 1.15 WHIP.

This was the only shutout for Kaat in 1970.

The Twins scored more runs in this game than they had in their previous three.

Record:  The Twins were 60-31, in first place in the American League West, six games ahead of California.  That's the biggest lead the Twins have had so far--they were also six games up on July 11.

Keeping Track

1970 Rewind: Game Seventy-three

MINNESOTA 8, CHICAGO 2 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Friday, July 3.

Batting stars:  Danny Thompson was 3-for-4 with two runs.  Cesar Tovar was 2-for-3 with a double, a walk, and two runs.  Tony Oliva was 2-for-4 with a double and two runs.  Rick Renick was 2-for-4.  Harmon Killebrew was 1-for-3 with a three-run homer (his twenty-third) and a walk.

Pitching star:  Jim Perry pitched a complete game, giving up two runs (one earned) on six hits and a walk and striking out six.

Opposition stars:  Duane Josephson was 2-for-3.  Floyd Weaver struck out four in three shutout innings, giving up one hit and two walks.

The game:  The White Sox scored first, tallying twice in the first inning.  One-out singles by Luis Aparicio and Carlos May put men on first and third.  A passed ball scored one run and Josephson's two-out single made it 2-0 Chicago.

The Twins came back with four in the bottom of the first.  Tovar and Thompson led off the inning with singles.  A wild pitch scored a run and Tony Oliva delivered an RBI double to tie it 2-2.  Killebrew then walked, a run-scoring single by Jim Holt put the Twins ahead, and an error made it 4-2 Twins after one.

It was all Twins after that.  In the second Tovar doubled and scored on a Thompson single to make it 5-2.  In the fifth, Thompson and Oliva singled and Killebrew hit a three-run homer to bring the score to 8-2.

The White Sox never had two men on base after the first inning and only once advanced a man to second.

WP:  Perry (12-6).

LP:  Joel Horlen (6-10).

S:  None.

Notes:  Thompson was at second in place of Rod Carew.  Holt was in left in place of Brant Alyea.  Renick was at third, with Killebrew moving to first and Rich Reese on the bench.  Frank Quilici came in to play second in the sixth, with Thompson moving to shortstop and Leo Cardenas leaving the game.

Oliva was batting .325.  Killebrew was batting .313.  Tovar was batting .308.

Quilici was 0-for-1 and was batting .177.

It was Perry's seventh complete game of the season.

The Twins were once again able to get to Joel Horlen.  He pitched five innings and allowed eight runs (seven earned) on ten hits and a walk and struck out one.  Horlen had been a good pitcher for several years, but he started to decline in 1969 and the decline was more pronounced in 1970--he went 6-16, 4.86.  He was especially bad against the Twins--0-4, 8.03, 1.99 WHIP.  He would do better in 1971 and have a decent year mostly pitching out of the bullpen for Oakland in 1972 before ending his playing career.

The Twins started their homestand 5-0.  They had just gone 3-4 against those same two teams on the road.

Record:  The Twins were 48-25, in first place in the American League West, four games ahead of California.

Keeping Track

1970 Rewind: Game Forty-eight

MINNESOTA 4, WASHINGTON 2 IN WASHINGTON

Date:  Saturday, June 6.

Batting stars:  Harmon Killebrew was 2-for-4 with a home run (his fifteenth) and four RBIs.  Tony Oliva was 2-for-4.  Jim Perry was 2-for-4.

Pitching star:  Perry pitched a complete game, giving up two runs on six hits and a walk and striking out two.

Opposition stars:  Lee Maye was 2-for-4 with a home run (his fifth) and two RBIs.  Ex-Twin Joe Grzenda pitched 2.1 scoreless innings, giving up three hits and a walk and striking out two.  Horacio Pina pitched 2.1 scoreless innings, giving up a walk and striking out two.

The game:  With two out in the first, Tony Oliva singled and Killebrew followed with a two-run homer to give the Twins a 2-0 lead.  The Senators had men on second and third with two out in the bottom of the first but did not score.  In the second, singles by Ed Brinkman and Jim French and a hit-by-pitch of Jim Hannan loaded the bases with one out, but all Washington could get out of it was an RBI ground out to cut the lead to 2-1.  In the fourth, however, Maye hit a two-out home run to tie it 2-2.

The Twins responded in the fifth.  Perry singled. Cesar Tovar was hit by pitch, and Rick Renick walked, loading the bases with one out.  Oliva struck out, but Killebrew hit a two-run single to put the Twins back in front 4-2.

Perry took over from there.  The Senators got only one hit after Maye's homer, a one-out single by Mike Epstein in the eighth inning.

WP:  Perry (7-5).

LP:  Hannan (0-2).

S:  None.

Notes:  Jim Holt was in left in place of Brant Alyea, who would not return until June 12.  Paul Ratliff remained at catcher in place of George Mitterwald.  Frank Quilici remained at second in place of Rod Carew.  Renick pinch-hit for Holt in the fifth and stayed in the game in left field.

Oliva was batting .328.  Killebrew was batting .321.  Renick was 0-for-2 and was batting .308.  Perry had an ERA of 2.90.  He also was batting .300.

Quilici was 0-for-2 and was batting .184.

Killebrew drove in all of the Twins' runs.  It looks like it was important for the Twins to get men on in front of Killebrew, so teams didn't feel as free to just walk him.

Three players with Twins ' connections were used by the Senators:  Bernie Allen (0-for-4), Johnny Roseboro (0-for-2). and Grzenda.

It was Perry's fifth complete game in 13 starts.

Record:  The Twins were 33-15, in first place in the American League West, two games ahead of California.  The difference was all in the loss column--each team had won 33 games, but the Angels had 19 losses.  They had played four more games than the Twins, mostly due to Twins' rainouts.  Seems it never rains in Southern California.

Keeping Track

2003 Rewind: Game One Hundred Forty-three

CHICAGO 5, MINNESOTA 2 IN CHICAGO

Date:  Monday, September 8.

Batting stars:  Doug Mientkiewicz was 2-for-4.  Corey Koskie was 2-for-4.  Cristian Guzman was 2-for-4.

Pitching star:  J. C. Romero pitched 1.2 perfect innings.

Opposition stars:  Bartolo Colon pitched a complete game, giving up two runs on ten hits and one walk and striking out four.  Carlos Lee was 2-for-4 with a double.  Magglio Ordonez was 2-for-4 with a stolen base, his ninth.

The game:  The White Sox ambushed Twins starter Kyle Lohse, scoring all five of their runs in the first inning.  With one out Lee doubled and Frank Thomas walked.  A line out made for two down, but Carl Everett singled home a run, Paul Konerko walked to load the bases, Jose Valentin hit a two-run single, Joe Crede singled to re-load the bases, and Miguel Olivo hit a two-run double.

Lohse did not allow a run after that, but the Twins were left playing catch-up the rest of the day and could not do it.  They scored twice in the second on a walk to Matthew LeCroy, a double by Torii Hunter (on which LeCroy somehow scored from first), a single by Koskie, and an RBI ground out.

But after that, it was a game of missed opportunities.  The Twins left men on second and third in the third, left a man on second in the fourth and fifth, and left a man on third in the seventh.  They would not score again, and lost the battle of co-division leaders 5-2.

WP:  Colon (13-12).  LP:  Loshe (12-11).  S:  None.

Notes:  Denny Hocking was again at second in the continued absence of Luis Rivas.  Shannon Stewart was in left and Jacque Jones in right.  The Twins made no in-game substitutions.

Stewart was 1-for-5 and was batting .313.  Jones was 0-for-4 and was batting .304.  Mientkiewicz raised his average to .303.  A. J. Pierzynski was 1-for-4 and was batting .301.

Lohse ended up pitching six innings, allowing five runs on seven hits and four walks and striking out none.  If he could've taken a mulligan for the first inning he'd have had a fine game, but of course the rules don't allow you to do that.

The Twins were 1-for-9 with men in scoring position.

This was Colon's seventh complete game.  He would lead the league in 2003 with nine.  He threw 117 pitches.  His high for a game that season was 132 in a game against Toronto in May.

This was the first of a four-game series between two teams who were tied for first in the division going into this game.  The loss obviously dropped the Twins into second.  Kansas City was idle.

Record:  The Twins were 76-67, in second place in the American League Central, one game behind Chicago.  They were 2.5 games ahead of third-place Kansas City.

Keeping Track

2003 Rewind: Game Eighty-four

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CLEVELAND 4, MINNESOTA 1 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Thursday, July 3.

Batting star:  Matthew LeCroy was 2-for-4 with a home run, his eighth.

Pitching star:  Kenny Rogers pitched 6.2 innings, giving up three runs on six hits and four walks and striking out three.

Opposition stars:  C. C. Sabathia pitched a complete game, giving up one run on four hits and one walk and striking out five.  Shane Spencer was 2-for-4 with two RBIs.  Coco Crisp was 2-for-5 with a stolen base (his fifth) and two runs.  Jody Gerut was 1-for-4 with a home run, his ninth.

The game:  Crisp led off the game with a bunt single and scored from first on Milton Bradley's double to give the Indians a 1-0 lead.  The Twins put men on second and third with one out in the second, but a strikeout and a ground out ended the inning.  In the third, ex-Twin Matt Lawton and Bradley drew two-out walks and Spencer singled home a run to make it 2-0.

Crisp scored again in the fifth.  He had a one-out single, stole second, and scored on Spencer's single to make it 3-0.  The Twins put two on with two out in the fifth, but again could do nothing with it.  In the eighth, Gerut hit a leadoff home run to increase the lead to 4-0.

The Twins did not threaten to get back into the game.  Their lone run came on LeCroy's home run with one out in the ninth, but all that did was spoil Sabathia's shutout.

WP:  Sabathia (8-3).  LP:  Rogers (7-4).  S:  None.

Notes:  The Twins used their B lineup against Sabathia, if that's any consolation.  Tom Prince was behind the plate in place of A. J. Pierzynski.  LeCroy was at first base in place of Doug Mientkiewicz.  Dustan Mohr was again in left and Bobby Kielty in right, with Jacque Jones still out.  Lew Ford was in center field, with Torii Hunter as DH.

Ford was 0-for-3 to drop his average to .333.  Corey Koskie was 1-for-3 and was batting .305.

Grant Balfour made his season debut with the Twins in this game, striking out five in 2.1 innings.  He gave up one run on two hits and a walk.  It was not his major league debut--he had appeared in two games in 2001.  He was not a good pitcher for the Twins, but he would become one in 2008 with Tampa Bay and would make the all-star team with Oakland in 2013.  He didn't have his first good season until he was thirty--I guess he's an example of "sometimes it takes guys a while to figure it out."

Sabathia had 38 complete games in his career.  Ten of them came in 2008, and seven of them came in the half-season he pitched for Milwaukee.

The Twins had now lost four in a row and six of eight.  They were starting to be in danger of dropping below .500.  They were also in danger of dropping to third place.

Record:  The Twins were 43-31, in second place in the American League Central, 2.5 games behind Kansas City.  They were just one game ahead of third-place Chicago.

Keeping Track

2003 Rewind: Game Fifty

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MINNESOTA 4, OAKLAND 3 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Tuesday, May 27.

Batting stars:  Corey Koskie was 1-for-3 with a home run, his seventh.  Bobby Kielty was 1-for-1 with a three-run homer, his eighth.

Pitching stars:  Kenny Rogers pitched seven innings, giving up two runs on six hits and no walks and striking out five.  Eddie Guardado struck out two in a perfect inning.

Opposition stars:  Eric Byrnes was 2-for-4 with a double.  Scott Hatteberg was 2-for-4 with a double.  Barry Zito struck out ten in an eight inning complete game, giving up four runs on three hits and two walks.  Ramon Hernandez was 1-for-4 with a two-run homer, his sixth.

The game:  Neither team did much on offense until the fourth, when Koskie hit a two-out homer to put the Twins up 1-0.  The Athletics had a couple of two-out singles in the sixth, but did not get on the board until the seventh, when Miguel Tejada led off with a double and Hernandez hit a one-out two-run homer, giving Oakland a 2-1 lead.  It went to 3-1 in the eighth on back-to-back doubles by Byrnes and Hatteberg.

The Koskie homer was the only hit the Twins had for seven innings.  In the eighth, however, Dustan Mohr hit a one-out double and Doug Mientkiewicz was hit by a pitch.  Kielty then pinch-hit for Luis Rivas and hit a three-run homer, giving the Twins a 4-3 advantage.  The Athletics went down in order in the ninth.

WP:  J. C. Romero (1-0).  LP:  Zito (6-4).  S:  Guardado (14).

Notes:  Mientkiewicz returned to the lineup at first base.  Denny Hocking went in to play second base after Kielty pinch-hit for Rivas.

Jacque Jones was 0-for-4, dropping his average to .335.  Mohr was 1-for-3 and was batting .318.  Matthew LeCroy was 0-for-3 and was batting .303.

This was Rogers' first game score over 50 in a month and his first over 60 since April 17.

Zito had four complete games in 2003.  Three of them were losses, two of them to the Twins.  He had only three more complete games after 2003.

The Twins had won three in a row, five of six, eight of ten, ten of thirteen, sixteen of twenty-one, and twenty of twenty-five.

Record:  The Twins were 30-20, in first place in the American League Central, 3.5 games ahead of Kansas City.

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.