Tag Archives: David West

Keeping Track

1991 Rewind: Game One Hundred Five

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MINNESOTA 8, OAKLAND 6 IN OAKLAND

Date:  Saturday, August 3.

Batting stars:  Shane Mack was 3-for-5 with a home run (his thirteenth) and two runs.  Kirby Puckett was 3-for-5 with a double and two RBIs.  Brian Harper was 2-for-4 with a three-run homer, his sixth.  Chili Davis was 2-for-5.

Pitching star:  Rick Aguilera pitched 1.1 scoreless innings, giving up a hit and striking out one.

Opposition stars:  Dave Henderson was 3-for-5 with three home runs, his twentieth, twenty-first, and twenty-second.  Mark McGwire was 2-for-3 with a home run (his sixteenth), a double, and a walk.  Harold Baines was 1-for-1 with a home run, his fourteenth.  Jose Canseco was 1-for-5 with a home run, his twenty-ninth.

The game:  Henderson hit a home run in the first inning to give the Athletics a 1-0 lead.  They loaded the bases with two out in the inning but could do no further damage.  In the third Henderson struck again, making it 2-0.  Again Oakland threatened later in the inning, putting men on second and third with two out, but they again could not score.  Henderson hit yet another home run in the fifth, making the score 3-0.  In the sixth, McGwire hit a home run to increase the lead to 4-0.  In the seventh Canseco hit a home run to boost the lead to 5-0.

It looked bad, but the Twins came back in a big way in the eighth.  With one out Greg Gagne walked and Mack singled.  Chuck Knoblauch had an RBI double and Puckett delivered a two-run single, cutting the margin to 5-3.  Kent Hrbek walked and Davis had an RBI single to make it 5-4.  Harper then stepped up and hit a three-run homer.  It killed the rally, but it gave the Twins the lead at 7-5.

Baines hit a pinch-hit home run in the bottom of the eighth to cut the lead to 7-6.  The Twins got the run back in the ninth on Mack's home run.  The Athletics got a two-out single in the bottom of the ninth to bring the tying run to the plate, but Brook Jacoby flied out to end the game.

WP:  Steve Bedrosian (4-2).  LP:  Joe Klink (8-3).  S:  Aguilera (28).

Notes:  Mack was in left field in place of Dan Gladden, with Gene Larkin in right.  Mack also batted leadoff.  Gladden pinch-ran for Larkin in the eighth and stayed in the game in left field, with Mack moving to right.

Puckett raised his average back up to .331.  Harper went up to .315.  Terry Leach retired both batters he faced to make his ERA 2.82.  Aguilera lowered his ERA to 2.64.

Mack's batting average went up to .296, the highest it had been to this point in the season.

The Twins were able to keep Rickey Henderson completely off the base paths this game, as he went 0-for-5.

Oakland had ten hits.  Six of them were home runs, all solo home runs.  They also had two doubles and two singles.  They stranded eight runners and went 0-for-5 with men in scoring position.  I don't know what the record is for having all of your runs come on solo homers (which don't hurt you), but I would have to think that six is at least in the ball park, so to speak.

David West started for the Twins.  He pitched well other than the home runs, but his line is 5.1 innings, four runs, seven hits, four walks, and six strikeouts.  The Athletics starter was Joe Slusarski.  He pitched well for seven innings, but unfortunately for him he also started the eighth.  That makes his line 7.1 innings, four runs, nine hits, one walk, one strikeout.

This was Slusarski's rookie season.  He's another guy who got chance after chance despite not doing anything.  In 1991 he made 19 starts and went 5-7, 5.27, 1.58 WHIP.  In 1992 he made 14 starts and went 5-5, 5.45, 1.47 WHIP.  He made only two appearances in 1993 and none in 1994.  He was with Milwaukee in 1995 for 12 appearances out of the bullpen and went 1-1, 5.40, 1.80 WHIP.  He next appeared in the majors in 1991 with Houston for 3 games.  In 2000 he had his best major league season, going 2-7, 4.21, 1.33 WHIP in 54 relief outings.  In 2001 he made 12 appearances for Houston and Atlanta, going 0-1, 9.00, 1.81 WHIP.  Add it all together and he was 13-21, 5.18, 1.53 WHIP.  He appeared in 118 games, 34 starts.  His AAA numbers are 34-36, 4.12, 1.36 WHIP, not awful but not particularly impressive, either.  It's yet another case of how some guys get chance after chance without ever showing they deserve it, while other guys star in AAA and at most get one brief major league shot.

The White Sox lost to Baltimore 6-3, so the Twins gained a game.

Record:  The Twins were 62-43, in first place in the American League West, three games ahead of Chicago.

Keeping Track

1991 Rewind: Game Ninety-one

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MINNESOTA 3, BOSTON 2 IN BOSTON (11 INNINGS)

Date:  Friday, July 19.

Batting stars:  Kent Hrbek was 3-for-3 with a walk.  Scott Leius was 3-for-4 with a triple and a double.  Shane Mack was 2-for-4.  Randy Bush was 1-for-1 with a home run, his fourth.

Pitching stars:  David West pitched six innings, giving up two runs on seven hits and three walks and striking out none.  Carl Willis pitched a scoreless inning, giving up a hit and a walk.  Steve Bedrosian pitched 2.2 scoreless innings, giving up one hit and striking out two.  Rick Aguilera pitched a scoreless inning, giving up one hit.

Opposition stars:  Joe Hesketh pitched 6.1 innings, giving up one run on nine hits and two walks and striking out five.  Wade Boggs was 4-for-4 with a triple.  Tony Pena was 1-for-4 with a home run, his fourth.

The game:  The Twins opened the game with two singles, but never advanced either runner.  The Red Sox got a single and two walks in the bottom of the first but also did not score.  The Twins got a single, a walk, and a double in the second, but due to a caught stealing again did not score.  Boston got three singles in the third, but a runner was thrown out at the plate and the game still remained scoreless.

The theme continues.  In the fourth the Twins got a walk and a single and could not score.  In the fifth Leius led off with a triple and still did not score.

In the bottom of the fifth the Red Sox finally broke through.  Pena led off with a home run.  With one out, Boggs tripled and Reed singled to make it 2-0 Boston.

The Twins got a pair of singles in the sixth, but a double play took them out of the inning.  Finally, in the seventh, Leius hit a one-out double and scored on Kirby Puckett's two-out double to get the Twins on the board.  It was still 2-1 through eight, but Bush came through with a pinch-hit homer in the ninth to tie the score 2-2.  Boston got a leadoff double from Ellis Burks in the bottom of the ninth, but again did not score, so we went to extra innings.

Neither team threatened in the tenth.  With two out in the eleventh, Chuck Knoblauch singled and scored all the way from first on a Mike Pagliarulo single to put the Twins ahead.  Mike Greenwell got a one-out single in the bottom of the eleventh, but he did not move past first base and the Twins came away with the win.

WP:  Bedrosian (3-2).  LP:  Greg Harris (6-9).  S:  Aguilera (25).

Notes:  Mack was again in left field in place of Dan Gladden.  Gene Larkin was in right.  Al Newman was at second base in place of Knoblauch.  Leius was again in the leadoff spot, with Newman batting second.

Jarvis Brown pinch-ran for Kent Hrbek in the eighth and stayed in the game in right field, with Larkin moving to first base.  Knoblauch pinch-hit for Greg Gagne in the ninth and stayed in the game at second base, with Newman moving to shortstop.  Bush pinch-hit for Leius in the ninth, with Mike Pagliarulo coming in to play third base.

Harper was 0-for-5 and was batting .325.  Puckett was 1-for-5 and was batting .324.  West lowered his ERA to 3.18.  Willis' ERA was 2.59.  Bedrosian went down to 3.35.  Aguilera went down to 2.95.

Brown was 0-for-1 and was batting .154.

The Twins stranded eleven runners and were 1-for-14 with men in scoring position.  The Red Sox stranded eight runners and were 2-for-10 with men in scoring position.

Pagliarulo extended his hitting streak to eight games, despite only getting one at-bat.  He was 16-for-25 over that stretch and raised his average to .294.

This was the lowest West's ERA would be for the rest of the season.  He would end up at 4.54.

Oakland and California both lost, but Chicago won to take over second place.

Record:  The Twins were 53-38, in first place in the American League West, 4.5 games ahead of Chicago.

Keeping Track

1991 Rewind: Game Eighty-seven

BOSTON 5, MINNESOTA 3 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Sunday, July 14.

Batting star:  Randy Bush was 1-for-1 with a pinch-hit home run, his third.

Pitching stars:  Carl Willis struck out two in 1.1 scoreless innings, giving up one hit.  Terry Leach pitched two shutout innings, giving up two hits.

Opposition stars:  Joe Hesketh pitched seven innings, giving up two runs on seven hits and no walks and striking out four.  Luis Rivera was 3-for-4 with two doubles and three runs.  Jack Clark was 2-for-4 with a double and two RBIs.  Tom Brunansky was 2-for-4 with a double.  Wade Boggs was 2-for-4 with a walk.

The game:  Boggs led off the game with a single and Rivera doubled, putting men on second and third.  An RBI groundout and a sacrifice fly gave the Red Sox a 2-0 lead.  In the third Rivera singled, moved to second when Carlos Quintana walked, and scored on a Clark double to make it 3-0.

The Twins got on the board in the fourth when Kirby Puckett tripled and scored on a ground out.  Boston got the run back in the fifth when Rivera doubled and scored on Clark's single, making the score 4-1.  It went to 5-1 in the sixth when Tony Pena doubled, was bunted to third, and scored on a sacrifice fly.

The Twins tried to battle back.  They scored once in the seventh when Brian Harper doubled and scored on a Scott Leius single.  Bush hit a two-out pinch-hit homer in the ninth, cutting the lead to 5-3, but that was it.

WP:  Hesketh (3-1).  LP:  David West (1-1).  S:  Jeff Reardon (22).

Notes:  Shane Mack was in left field in place of Dan Gladden.  Pedro Munoz was in right.  Al Newman was at shortstop in place of Greg Gagne.  Chuck Knoblauch batted leadoff, with Newman second.

Harper was 1-for-4 and was batting .330.  Puckett was 1-for-4 and was batting .318.  Willis had an ERA of 2.66.  Leach's ERA was 3.31.

West was making his second start of the season.  He pitched four innings and allowed four runs on six hits and three walks and striking out two.  His ERA was 3.27.

This was the first game Munoz played since July 7, and the last major league game he would play until September.

This was the last good season of Hesketh's career.  He went 12-4, 3.29, 1.27 WHIP.  The only season he had that was better was in 1988 with Montreal, when he was a reliever.  That year he went 4-3, 2.85, 1.35 WHIP.  For his career he was 60-47, 3.78, 1.38 WHIP.  He pitched in eleven seasons and appeared in 339 games, pitching 961.2 innings.  He was never a star, but was a solid big league pitcher for quite a few years.

Texas defeated Toronto 8-6, so the Twins lead shrank by a game.

Record:  The Twins were 50-37, in first place in the American League West, two games ahead of Texas.

Keeping Track

1991 Rewind: Game Eighty

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.