ARIZONA 12, MINNESOTA 8 IN MINNESOTA
Date: Sunday, June 15.
Batting stars: Corey Koskie was 3-for-3 with a double, a walk, three runs, and two RBIs. A. J. Pierzynski was 3-for-4 with three RBIs. Jacque Jones was 2-for-5 with a double. Cristian Guzman was 2-for-5.
Pitching star: J. C. Romero pitched 1.2 scoreless innings, giving up a hit and a walk.
Opposition stars: Tony Womack was 4-for-6 with a double, a stolen base (his seventh), and two RBIs. Robby Hammock was 3-for-5 with a home run (his second), a double, two runs, and three RBIs. Alex Cintron was 3-for-5 with two runs. Rod Barajas was 2-for-4. Carlos Baerga was 2-for-5 with two RBIs.
The game: Baerga's two-out RBI single gave the Diamondbacks a 1-0 lead in the first. The Twins tied it on the second on Pierzynski's RBI single. In the third, Arizona loaded the bases with two out and then got back-to-back two-run doubles from Lyle Overbay and Hammock to take a 5-1 lead.
The Twins got one back in the third, but they still trailed 5-2 until the fifth. In that inning, the Twins loaded the bases with two out and all three scored on a single-plus-error by Pierzynski to tie it 5-5. The tie lasted until the next half-inning, when Womack's two-run double put the Diamondbacks back in front 7-5.
The Twins again came back, scoring two in the sixth to tie it 7-7. In the eighth, however, Arizona scored four times to put it out of reach. Cintron had an RBI single, Luis Gonzalez hit a sacrifice fly, and Baerga had a two-run single-plus-error to give the Diamondbacks an 11-7 lead. The Twins got one back in the bottom of the eighth, but Hammock homered in the ninth to round out the scoring.
WP: Mike Koplove (3-0). LP: LaTroy Hawkins (4-2). S: None.
Notes: Bobby Kielty was in right field. Justin Morneau was again the DH. The Twins did not make any in-game lineup substitutions.
Morneau was 1-for-5 and was batting .350. Jones raised his average to .309. Pierzynski climbed up to .300 with his 3-for-4 day.
Brad Radke's struggles continued. He pitched 5.1 innings, allowing seven runs on nine hits and two walks and striking out two. His ERA climbed to 6.00. Hawkins allowed four runs in two-thirds of an inning, but all were unearned, so his ERA went down to 2.23.
There were twenty runs scored in the game but there was just one home run, and that was a solo shot in the ninth inning.
Arizona players with Twins connections were Chad Moeller and Quinton McCracken.
Elmer Dessens started for Arizona. He pitched 4.2 innings, allowing five runs (four earned) on ten hits and three walks and struck out three. He is the only major league player named "Elmer" since ex-Twin Elmer Valo retired in 1961.
I hadn't thought about Mike Koplove in a very long time, but he was a fine reliever for three seasons. 2003 was the last and best of those seasons: he went 3-0, 2.15, 1.09 WHIP. But he would be injured just a few days after this game and miss the rest of the season. He had surgery for a frayed labrum and rotator cuff. He came back to appear in 76 games (!) for the Diamondbacks in 2004, but had an ERA of 4.05 and a WHIP of 1.42. He had a worse year in 2005, then made only seven more major league appearances from 2006-2007. He continued to pitch in the minors and in independent ball through 2011, and actually had a really good AAA year in 2009, but he did not get a call back to the majors. We'll never know what might have happened otherwise, but using him in almost every other game when he was coming off surgery doesn't seem like it was a very good idea. At last report, Mike Koplove was a scout for the Phillies.
Record: The Twins were 38-29, in first place in the American League Central, four games ahead of Kansas City.