MINNESOTA 2, TEXAS 0 IN TEXAS
Date: Saturday, August 30.
Batting star: Corey Koskie returned to the lineup and was 2-for-3 with a walk.
Pitching stars: Johan Santana pitched six shutout innings, giving up five hits and no walks and striking out four. Juan Rincon struck out two in 1.2 scoreless innings, giving up one hit. Eddie Guardado pitched a perfect inning.
Opposition stars: Mark Teixeira was 3-for-4 with two doubles. Mickey Callaway pitched six innings, giving up two runs on five hits and no walks and striking out four.
The game: The Rangers had men on first and third with two out in the first but did not score. Michael Young had a one-out double in the third and Shane Spencer reached on a two-base error in the fourth. Those were the only men to be in scoring position for either team in the first five innings.
In the sixth, however, A. J. Pierzynski led off with a single, Denny Hocking followed with a double, and Shannon Stewart delivered a two-run single, putting the Twins up 2-0.
And that was all the scoring in the game. Teixeira led off the bottom of the sixth with a double but stayed on second. Jacque Jones hit a two-out double in the seventh but had a similar fate. Teixeira had another double with two out in the eighth and again was stranded. The Twins put men on first and second with none out in the ninth, but again the score remained 2-0. Texas went out in order in the bottom of the ninth.
WP: Santana (9-3). LP: Callaway (1-5). S: Guardado (31).
Notes: Hocking was at short in place of Cristian Guzman, who would not return to the lineup until September 2. Jones was in left and Stewart in right. Dustan Mohr replaced Stewart in right field in the ninth.
Stewart was 1-for-4 and was batting .313. Jones was 1-for-4 and was batting .308. Doug Mientkiewicz was 0-for-3 and was batting .301.
Santana lowered his ERA to 2.72. He made six starts in the month of August and went 5-0, 1.07, 0.95 WHIP. He struck out 44 in 42 innings, giving up 30 hits and 10 walks. His ERA went from 3.49 to 2.72.
LaTroy Hawkins retired the only man he faced to drop his ERA to 2.09.
I remember Mickey Callaway as a manager and pitching coach, and of course he's been in the news lately for other reasons. But I have no memory of him as a pitcher. This was his first start as a Texas Ranger--he had been released by the Angels in late July. Over half his major league appearances came in 2003--he appeared in 40 games, 23 of them this season. He did not justify it: he went 1-7, 6.68, 1.78 WHIP. This was one of the few good games he pitched in his career, and he still didn't get a win for it. For his career, he went 4-11, 6.27, 1.71 WHIP. He made 20 starts in his 40 games and pitched 130.2 innings. His only major league "success" came in 2002, when he made six starts for the Angels at the end of the season and went 2-1, 4.19.
The Twins had won three in a row and five of six. The White Sox won and Kansas City didn't play (presumably a rainout), so the Twins moved into a tie for second place.
Record: The Twins were 71-64, tied for second with Kansas City in the American League Central, a half game behind Chicago.