MINNESOTA 6, CHICAGO 0 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Thursday, August 1.

Batting stars:  A. J. Pierzynski was 3-for-4 with a double.  Jacque Jones was 2-for-5 with two doubles.  Michael Cuddyer was 1-for-4 with a grand slam, his second homer.

Pitching star:  Eric Milton struck out eleven in a complete game shutout, giving up three hits and no walks.

Opposition stars:  Paul Konerko was 2-for-3.  Royce Clayton was 1-for-3 with a double.  Keith Foulke pitched a scoreless inning, giving up a walk and striking out one.

The game:  The Twins put men on second and third with two out in the first, but could not score.  The Twins broke through in the third, though, scoring five times.  They started the inning with a Jones double and a Cristian Guzman infield single.  Corey Koskie then singled home the first run.  With two out, Doug Mientkiewicz drew a walk to load the bases and Cuddyer unloaded them with a grand slam.  It killed the rally, but it put the Twins ahead 5-0.  The Twins added a run in the eighth on a Jones RBI double.  The White Sox only twice got a man as far as second base, both times with two out.

WP:  Milton (13-7).  LP:  Dan Wright (7-9).  S:  None.

Notes:  Torii Hunter was again out of the lineup, with Bobby Kielty in center and Michael Cuddyer in right.  Hunter would be back in the lineup the next day.

It was easily Milton's best game of the season, as he earned a game score of 92.  He also threw 131 pitches.  He would miss the next month of the season, not appearing again until September 2 due to a knee injury.

Chicago starter Dan Wright pitched struck out eight in six innings, but gave up five runs on seven hits and three walks.  He pitched well other than in the third inning.

I know I said no player profiles for a week or so, but Wright's career was relatively short.  He was drafted by the White Sox in the second round in 1999 and reached the majors in 2001.  He had not pitched above AA, although he had done very well there in 27 starts.  He came up in late July and pitched well at times, but his numbers were 5-3, 5.70, 1.75 WHIP.  He was in the Chicago rotation all of 2002, his only full season in the majors, and went 14-12, but with an ERA of 5.18.  2003 was worse--he missed a month due to an elbow injury, lost his spot in the starting rotation, and then went to AAA.  His major league numbers that year were 1-7, 6.15. In 2004, he made only four starts with the White Sox and two in AAA before missing the rest of the year due to Tommy John surgery.  He later said he hurt his shoulder trying to compensate for the elbow injury.  He was released after the season and signed with Seattle, but never really came back from the injury.  He missed all of 2005 and made just four AAA appearances in 2006 before being released.  His career big league numbers, all with the White Sox, are 20-26, 5.65. 1.53 WHIP.  He appeared in 70 games, 64 of them starts.  He became a scout and has worked for Seattle and Philadelphia.  I'm sure the injuries didn't help him, but he really hadn't been all that good before.  I know I've said this many times before, but it fascinates me how some guys never really do anything and get chance after chance, while others dominate in AAA and have to fight to get a brief trial.

Record:  The Twins were 66-43, in first place, fifteen games ahead of Chicago.

MINNESOTA 2, CHICAGO 1 IN MINNESOTA (10 INNINGS)

Date:  Wednesday, July 31.

Batting stars:  Corey Koskie was 2-for-4 with a double and a walk.  David Ortiz was 1-for-2 with three walks.  Luis Rivas was 1-for-4 with a double.

Pitching stars:  Joe Mays pitched 7.1 innings, giving up one run on five hits and two walks and striking out one.  LaTroy Hawkins retired all five men he faced, striking out two.  J. C. Romero pitched a scoreless inning, giving up a walk and striking out one.

Opposition stars:  Jon Garland pitched six innings, giving up one run on three hits and four walks and striking out five.  Aaron Rowand was 1-for-3 with a walk.

The game:  Willie Harris led off the game with a single, went to second on a walk, took third on a double play, and scored on a wild pitch to give the White Sox a 1-0 lead.  In the third, Jacque Jones singled and scored from first on a Koskie double to tie it 1-1.  And there things stayed, with no one scoring and hardly any threats until the tenth.  Rivas led off the tenth with a double and went to third on a bunt.  With one out and the bases loaded, Ortiz lined a single to right to win the game.

WP:  Romero (6-1).  LP:  Antonio Osuna (5-2).  S:  None.

Notes:  Bobby Kielty was 0-for-3 with a walk to make his average .327.

A. J. Pierzynski was 0-for-3 and was batting .300.

Torii Hunter was again out of the lineup, with Kielty playing center, and Dustan Mohr in right.  Hunter would return to the lineup August 2.

This was Mays' best start of the season to this point.  He would have two better ones, at least according to game scores.  He actually pitched fairly well in September, but overall it was not a good season for him.

Hawkins lowered his ERA to 1.55.

Romero lowered his ERA to 1.92.

We hope to resume player profiles in a week or so.  Of course, we don't always get what we hope for.

Record:  The Twins were 65-43, in first place, leading Chicago by fourteen games.

CHICAGO 3, MINNESOTA 0 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Tuesday, July 30.

Batting stars:  Bobby Kielty was 2-for-4.  Corey Koskie was 1-for-3 with a double and a walk.  David Ortiz was 1-for-3 with a walk.

Pitching stars:  Kyle Lohse pitched 6.2 innings, giving up three runs on six hits and four walks and striking out three.  Bob Wells retired all four men he faced.  Kevin Frederick pitched a scoreless innings, walking one.

Opposition stars:  Mark Buehrle pitched a complete game shutout, giving up five hits and two walks and striking out four.  Aaron Rowand was 2-for-4 with two doubles.  Magglio Ordonez was 1-for-4 with a three-run homer, his twenty-third.

The game:  There was no score, and not even much of a threat to score, until the sixth.  With one out Rowand doubled, Carlos Lee walked, and Ordonez hit a three-run homer.  That was pretty much that.  The Twins threatened in the ninth, as Koskie led off with a double and went to third on an Ortiz single.  A wild pitch moved Ortiz to second.  Kielty then hit into a fielder's choice, as Koskie was thrown out at the plate.  Michael Cuddyer then hit into a double play to end the game.

WP:  Buehrle (14-7).  LP:  Lohse (10-6).  S:  None.

Notes:  Jacque Jones was out of the lineup, with Dustan Mohr in left, Kielty moving to center, and Cuddyer in right.  Luis Rivas batted leadoff and went 0-for-4.

Tom Prince caught in place of A. J. Pierzynski and was 0-for-3.

Kielty raised his average to .332.

This was Frederick's first appearance in ten days.  He would make two more appearances, go back to the minors, and come up to play two games in September.

Wells had now pitched 5.2 scoreless innings since coming back from injury.  He would not give up a run until August 22.

Due to a lack of time on my part, there will probably be no player profiles for at least a week or so, unless I happen to see someone who really interests me.

Record:  The Twins were 64-43, in first place, leading Chicago by thirteen games.

MINNESOTA 4, TORONTO 0 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Sunday, July 28.

Batting stars:  Torii Hunter was 3-for-4 with a double and a home run, his twenty-fourth.  David Ortiz was 2-for-4.  Corey Koskie was 1-for-4 with a double.

Pitching stars:  Johan Santana struck out thirteen in eight shutout innings, giving up two hits and three walks.  Eddie Guardado struck out two in a scoreless inning, giving up one hit.

Opposition stars:  Carlos Delgado was 2-for-4 with a double.  Shannon Stewart was 1-for-4 with a triple.  Scott Eyre retired all four batters he faced.

The game:  Doubles by Cristian Guzman and Koskie gave the Twins a 1-0 lead in the first inning.  It stayed 1-0 until the sixth, when the Twins loaded the bases with one out and a Michael Cuddyer sacrifice fly and an A. J. Pierzynski singled made it 3-0.  Hunter added a home run in the eighth to round out the scoring.  The Blue Jays twice got a man to third base but did not score.

WP:  Santana (5-2).  LP:  Esteban Loaiza (4-6).  S:  None.

Notes:  Cuddyer started at first base, with Doug Mientkiewicz on the bench.  He was 0-for-2 with a walk and a sacrifice fly.

Denny Hocking was 1-for-3 in place of Luis Rivas.

Hunter raised his average to .315.

Bobby Kielty was 0-for-2 with two walks to make his average .328.

Pierzynski was 1-for-4 and was batting .303.

This was the best start of the season for Santana, at least by game scores.  He would then make two relief appearances before making his next start on August 6.

As you may have noticed, I kind of like checking out the careers of guys I don't remember.  Today it's Scott Cassidy, who pitched the last inning for Toronto in this game.  This was his rookie year.  He'd signed as a free agent with the Blue Jays in 1998.  He did well in a 2001 split between AA and AAA and started 2002 in the Toronto bullpen.  He appeared in 58 games and had a fine WHIP, 1.27, but posted an ERA of 5.73.  He gave up 12 home runs in 66 innings, which probably contributed to that.  He then spent the next two years in the minors, and when he got back to the big leagues it was with Boston in 2005.  He was called up in July appeared in one game, and was traded to San Diego.  He was sent back to AAA, but got a September call-up with the Padres.  He didn't do much, but he started 2006 with San Diego and did quite well, posting a 2.79 ERA in 37 appearances.  Then in mid-July, for no apparent reason, he was sent back to AAA, not coming back until September.  Still, his numbers that year were 6-4, 2.53, 1.36 WHIP, and it appeared that age thirty Scott Cassidy had finally figured it out.  Instead, he never got back to the majors again.  He appeared in forty games in AAA in 2007, then his career was done.  It seems like there must be more to the story than that, but a quick google search did not reveal it.  Scott Cassidy is currently the head baseball coach at LeMoyne College in Syracuse.

Record:  The Twins were 64-42, in first place, leading Chicago by fourteen games.

MINNESOTA 5, TORONTO 4 IN MINNESOTA (10 INNINGS)

Date:  Saturday, July 27.

Batting stars:  Corey Koskie was 2-for-4 with a double and a walk.  Cristian Guzman was 2-for-4 with a double and a walk.  Torii Hunter was 1-for-3 with a double, a walk, and a stolen base, his seventeenth.

Pitching stars:  Eric Milton struck out six in six innings, giving up two runs on five hits.  Bob Wells struck out two in two shutout innings, giving up a hit and a walk.  J. C. Romero pitched 1.1 scoreless innings, giving up two walks and striking out one.

Opposition stars:  Shannon Stewart was 2-for-5 with two doubles.  Josh Phelps was 2-for-4.  Dave Berg was 1-for-4 with a double.

The game:  The Twins scored four in the third to take a 4-0 lead.  Guzman had an RBI double, Koskie brought him home with a single, and Hunter delivered a two-run double.  The Blue Jays missed a chance in the fifth, stranding two runners, but broke through in the sixth on a Jose Cruz double and a run-scoring ground out.  LaTroy Hawkins, who was having an outstanding season, came on in the seventh and gave up consecutive singles.  He retired the next two batters on ground outs, one of which scored a run, but Stewart doubled to send home the tying run.  Berg led off the ninth with a double but did not advance past second.  In the tenth, Bobby Kielty led off with a single and was bunted to second.  Guzman was intentionally walked, but Koskie came through with a double to deep right-center to bring home the winning run.

WP:  Wells (1-1).  LP:  Kelvim Escobar (5-5).  S:  None.

Notes:  Kielty was used as a pinch-hitter for Luis Rivas, who had gone 0-for-3.  Dustan Mohr started in right.

Hunter raised his average to .311.

Mohr went 0-for-4 and was batting .303.

Despite giving up two runs, Hawkins still had an ERA of just 1.59.  He had not given up a run since June 12.

Romero brought his ERA down to 1.95.

Kelvim Escobar was used as both a starter and a reliever at various points in his career.  He came up to the Blue Jays in 1997, a year which he began in Class A.  He made 27 appearances with Toronto, posting an ERA of 2.90 but a WHIP of 1.52, largely due to the fact that he walked 5.5 batters per nine innings.  He struck out 10.5, though.  He started 1998 in the Blue Jays bullpen but was pretty awful, and so he went down to AAA to get used to starting again, the role he had filled in his minor league career.  He came back in August to make ten starts and did pretty well.  He was in the Blue Jays' rotation for most of 1999-2000 and did not do well, however, so he started 2001 back in the bullpen.  He did fairly well as a setup man and was moved back into the rotation in August, where he did even better.  2002 found him installed as the Blue Jays' closer, and while he had 38 saves his other numbers were not good:  5-7, 4.27, 1.53 WHIP.  He was back starting in 2003, was not all that good there either, and after the season Toronto allowed him to become a free agent.  He signed with the Angels and had his best years there.  From 2004-2007 he went 43-35, 3.60, 1.26 WHIP.  The main difference seems to have been his control, as he went from walking 4.2 batters per nine innings before 2005 to walking just 3.0 after.  He missed much of 2005 and all of 2008 due to injury.  He tried to come back in 2009, but was able to make just one start.  He tried again in 2013, going to spring training with Milwaukee, but did not make the team.  He pitched in Mexico that season, but then his playing career was over.  He was still hoping to make a comeback in 2014, but could find no takers.  He was up and down, but overall his numbers are okay--101-91, 4.15, 1.38 WHIP.  He is a cousin of Alcides Escobar and Edwin Escobar.  At last report, Kelvim Esocbar was living in the Miami area.

Record:  The Twins were 63-42, in first place, leading Chicago by fourteen games.

MINNESOTA 10, TORONTO 5 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Friday, July 26.

Batting stars:  Jacque Jones was 2-for-5 with two home runs (his sixteenth and seventeenth) and three RBIs.  Torii Hunter was 2-for-5 with a triple and a double.  Doug Mientkiewicz was 2-for-3 with three RBIs.

Pitching stars:  Tony Fiore struck out four in two perfect innings.  LaTroy Hawkins pitched a scoreless inning, giving up a walk and striking out one.  Eddie Guardado pitched a perfect inning and struck out one.

Opposition stars:  Vernon Wells was 2-for-4 with a home run, his fifteenth.  Carlos Delgado was 1-for-2 with two walks and a home run, his twenty-first.

The game:  Vernon Wells hit a two-run homer in a four-run wecond that gave the Blue Jays a 4-0 lead.  Hunter tripled and scored on a Mienkiewicz sacrifice fly in the bottom of the second to cut the lead to 4-1, but Delgado homered in the third to put it back up to four runs at 5-1.  The Twins got three consecutive singles in the fourth, the last an RBI hit by Luis Rivas, to make the score 5-2.  The Twins opened the fifth with four hits, a single by Corey Koskie, a double by David Oritz, a two-run double by Hunter, and an RBI single by Mientkiewicz, to tie the score 5-5.  The Twins then scored four in the sixth to take control of the game.  Jones hit a two-run homer and Ortiz and Mientkiewicz had RBI singles, giving the Twins a 9-5 advantage.  Jones closed out the scoring with another home run in the eighth.  Toronto did not get a hit after the third inning.

WP:  Tony Fiore (9-2).  LP:  Luke Prokopec (2-8).  S:  None.

Notes:  Hunter raised his average to .311.

Bobby Kielty was 1-for-3 with a walk to keep his average at .328.

A. J. Pierzynski was 3-for-4 to raise his average to .304.

Joe Mays started for the Twins and pitched five innings, giving up five runs on six hits and two walks and striking out four.  He actually lowered his ERA slightly, from 9.17 to 9.13.

This was the third time Fiore struck out four in a game, but the only time he did so in just two innings.

Hawkins lowered his ERA to 1.31.

The Blue Jays had two future Twins in their lineup, Shannon Stewart and Orlando Hudson.  Stewart was 0-for-3 with a walk.  Hudson was 1-for-4.

Toronto starter Steve Parris pitched four innings, giving up five runs on ten hits and two walks and striking out five.  I have no memory of Steve Parris, but he was in the majors for at least part of eight seasons.  He had been drafted by Philadelphia, picked up on waivers by the Dodgers, picked up on waivers by Seattle, and released before he came up with Pittsburgh in July of 1995.  He was in their rotation the rest of the season.  He didn't get a whole lot accomplished, but on the other hand he had come up from AA.  But on the other hand, he was already twenty-seven at this point.  He was apparently injured part of 1996, was released, and signed with Cincinnati.  He was in the minors for all of 1997 but gave the Reds two good seasons from 1998-1999, going 17-9, 3,60 in thirty-seven starts.  He struggled in 2000, however, and was traded to Toronto after the season.  he was with the Blue Jays for 2001-2002, going 10-11, 5.17.  He went to Tampa Bay for 2003 but was released in mid-June, ending his career.  His career numbers were 44-49, 4.75 in 129 starts.  Nothing remarkable, but he did have two good seasons for Cincinnati.  Plus, you have to give him marks for persistence.  A number of teams gave up on him, but for a long time there was always somebody who wanted him, too.  He was born in Joliet, Illinois and apparently has returned there, as we found a couple of recent articles about personal appearances he has made and clinics he has participated in around that area.

Record:  The Twins were 62-42, in first place, leading Chicago by fourteen games.

MINNESOTA 8, CHICAGO 1 IN CHICAGO

Date:  Wednesday, July 24.

Batting stars:  David Ortiz was 3-for-5 with a double and a three-run homer, his twelfth.  Torii Hunter was 3-for-5 with a double.  Doug Mientkiewicz was 1-for-2 with a home run (his sixth) and two walks.

Pitching stars:  Kyle Lohse pitched eight innings, giving up one run on eight hits and four walks and striking out four.  J. C. Romero pitched a scoreless inning, giving up a hit and a walk.

Opposition stars:  Ray Durham was 3-for-5.  Kenny Lofton was 2-for-4.  Frank Thomas was 1-for-2 with two walks and a home run, his seventeenth.

The game:  Bobby Kielty hit a two-run homer in the second to give the Twins a 2-0 lead.  A. J. Pierzynski singled home a run in the fourth to make it 3-0.  The Twins took control in the fifth, getting a three-run homer from Ortiz and a two-run homer from Mientkiewicz to make it 8-0.  The White Sox missed all kinds of chances, stranding two runners in the first, third, fifth, eighth, and ninth and leaving the bases loaded in the second.  Their only run came in the sixth, when Thomas led off with a home run.  For the game Chicago stranded twelve and went 0-for-11 with men in scoring position.

WP:  Lohse (10-5).  LP:  Jon Garland (8-8).  S:  None.

Notes:  Hunter raised his average to .310.

Kielty was 1-for-3 with a walk and a two-run homer, his eighth.  He raised his average to .328.

This was the fourth consecutive strong start by Lohse.  In those starts, he gave up just three earned runs in twenty-seven innings for an ERA of 1.00.

Romero lowered his ERA to 2.00.

Chicago starter Garland pitched 4.1 innings and allowed seven runs on nine hits and three walks and struck out two.  This was his first full year as a rotation starter, a position he held through 2010.  He was pretty much a league average pitcher--his ERA+ was between 91 and 111 every year from 2002-2010 with the exception of 2005, when it was 128.  That was his best season--he went 18-10, 3.50, 1.17 WHIP.  He made his only all-star team that season and finished sixth in Cy Young balloting.  But in each season from 2002-2010 he made either thirty-two or thirty-three starts and pitched 192-221 innings.  That's a very valuable man.  He stayed with the White Sox through 2007, was with the Angels in 2008, played for Arizona and the Dodgers in 2009, and was with San Diego in 2010.  He signed with the Dodgers for 2011, but made only nine starts before needing shoulder surgery.  He missed all of 2012.  He tried to come back in 2013, but lasted just twelve starts for Colorado before being released.  It sounds as if he would like to have given it another try, but no one was interested in letting him do that.  In fact, an article last summer said that he had started throwing and was contemplating a comeback, although it does not appear that anything came of it.  He's thirty-eight, so it wouldn't be impossible, although it would certainly be quite a story.

Record:  The Twins were 61-42, in first place, leading Chicago by fourteen games.

CHICAGO 8, MINNESOTA 7 IN CHICAGO

Date:  Tuesday, July 23.

Batting stars:  Cristian Guzman was 2-for-4 with two doubles, a walk, and a stolen base, his seventh.  Michael Cuddyer was 2-for-5 with a double.  Denny Hocking was 2-for-4 with a double.

Pitching stars:  Bob Wells retired all seven men he faced.  LaTroy Hawkins struck out two in two shutout innings, giving up one hit.

Opposition stars:  Magglio Ordonez was 2-for-4 with a three-run homer, his twentieth.  Aaron Rowand was 2-for-4 with a home run, his second.  Bob Howry struck out three in two perfect innings.

The game:  Corey Koskie singled in a run in the first to give the Twins a 1-0 lead but it was quickly erased, as Ordonez hit a three-run homer in the bottom of the first to give the White Sox a 3-1 lead.  It went to 8-1 in the fourth, as Frank Thomas and Rowand each hit two-run homers and Royce Clayton had an RBI single.  The Twins fought back.  They scored two in the fifth to make it 8-3 and Doug Mientkiewicz hit a three-run homer in the sixth to cut the lead to 8-6.  The Twins opened the seventh with two walks but could not score.  In the ninth, a single, a walk, and a double steal put men on second and third with one out.  David Ortiz grounded out, scoring one but making the second out, and Torii Hunter grounded out to end the game.

WP:  Mark Buehrle (13-7).  LP:  Johan Santana (4-2).  S:  Antonio Osuna (7).

Notes:  Hunter was 0-for-5 to drop his average to .306.

Cuddyer raised his average to .320.

Matthew LeCroy was the catcher in place of A. J. Pierzynski.  He was 1-for-4.

Hocking was again the second baseman, replacing Luis Rivas.  Rivas would return to the lineup the next day.

This was easily the worst start Santana had all season.  He lasted just 3.2 innings and allowed eight runs on seven hits and two walks.  He did strike out four.  His ERA went up by over a run, from 2.62 to 3.83.  He would make one more start, be skipped once in the rotation, make five more starts, and then be sent to the bullpen for September.

Wells had not pitched since June 11.  He would make ten consecutive scoreless appearances, dropping his ERA from 7.36 to 5.28, before giving up three on August 22.

The White Sox never did settle on a closer in 2002.  They had started the season with Damaso Marte.  At this juncture, it was Osuna.  Keith Foulke would eventually lead the team in saves with eleven.  Three other pitchers had one each.

Bob Howry pitched a lot longer than I remembered.  He came up with the White Sox in 1998 and was a mainstay in their bullpen, appearing in over sixty games each season from 1999-2002, when he was traded to Boston at the July deadline.  He was their closer in 1999, getting 28 saves, and was a set-up man thereafter.  He was injured much of 2003, appearing in only four games with the Red Sox, and was released after the season.  He went to Cleveland in 2004 and had two outstanding seasons there, going 11-6, 2.57, 0.99 WHIP.  He then signed with the Cubs and was solid for them in 2006-2007, but had a bad 2008.  He signed with San Francisco for 2009 and had a very good year with the Giants.  It was his last good year, though.  He had a bad 2010 split between Arizona and the Cubs and then his playing career ended.  It was a pretty good career, though:  45-52, 3.84, 66 saves, 1.25 WHIP.  For a set-up man, he was very consistent, having only two down years from 1998-2009.  At last report, Bob Howry was living in the Phoenix area and was helping coach high school baseball there.

Record:  The Twins were 60-42, in first place, leading Chicago by thirteen games.

MINNESOTA 11, CHICAGO 6 IN CHICAGO

Date:  Monday, July 22.

Batting stars:  Jacque Jones was 5-for-6 with a home run (his fifteenth) and two doubles.  Dustan Mohr was 2-for-5 with a three-run homer, his ninth.  David Ortiz was 2-for-5 with a double and a stolen base.

Pitching star:  Tony Fiore pitched three innings, giving up one run on three hits and no walks and striking out one.

Opposition stars:  Ray Durham was 3-for-5 with three doubles.  Carlos Lee was 2-for-4 with a home run (his sixteenth), a double, and a walk, driving in four.  Frank Thomas was 2-for-4 with a home run, his fifteenth.

The game:  The Twins took an early lead, as Bobby Kielty singled home a run in the first and Jones hit a two-run homer in the second to make it 3-0.  Three singles and a walk failed to produce a Twins run in the third, as they lost two men on the bases.  Ray Durham got the White Sox on the board in the bottom of the third with an RBI double, but the Twins got two in the fifth on a run-scoring double by Doug Mientkiewicz and an RBI single by Denny Hocking.  Chicago closed to 5-3 in the bottom of the fifth, as Lee hit a two-run homer.  The Twins took control of the game with a six-run sixth.  Ortiz brought home two with a double, one scored on a fielder's choice, and Mohr hit a three-run homer.  Thomas hit a solo homer in the sixth and Lee doubled home two in the ninth, but the White Sox did not get back into the game.

WP:  Rick Reed (8-5).  LP:  Todd Ritchie (5-14).  S:  None.

Notes:  Kielty again played center field, withi Torii Hunter out of the lineup.  Hunter would return the next day.  Kielty went 2-for-5 to make his average .328.

Hocking was again at second base, replacing Luis Rivas.  Rivas would miss one more game and then be back in the lineup.  Hocking went 1-for-4 with a walk.

Reed pitched five innings, giving up three runs on six hits and a walk, striking out one.

This was Ortiz' first stolen base of the season.  It was also his last stolen base of the season.  It came in the third inning with two out and no one else on.  He had seventeen stolen bases in his career, with a high of four in 2013, when he was thirty-seven.  He was caught stealing nine times.

I chose Rocky Biddle for today's profile for no reason other than his name is Rocky Biddle.  His given name is Lee Francis Biddle--I don't know why he was called Rocky, but Rocky Biddle sounds like a lot better ballplayer than Lee Biddle.   A right-handed pitcher, the White Sox drafted him in the first round in 1997.  He did not pitch very well in the low minors from 1997-98, then had Tommy John surgery and missed all of 1999.  He came back strong in 2000, having an excellent year in AA and getting four starts in August with Chicago.  He had his first full season in the majors in 2001, but was not very good--7-8, 5.39.  He moved to the bullpen in 2002 and did somewhat better, though nothing to get too excited about.  He was traded to Montreal for the 2003 season and took up space in their bullpen for a couple of years, posting a combined ERA of 5.83 and a combined WHIP of 1.60.  For some reason, the Expos made him their closer in 2003, and he picked up 34 saves despite an ERA of 4.65, a WHIP of 1.55, and an ERA plus of 97.  That's worse than Ron Davis.  He was in the majors for four full seasons and part of a fifth despite never posting an ERA under four and never posting a WHIP under 1.40.  His career numbers are 20-30, 5.47, 46 saves, 1.53 WHIP.  Some guys tear up the minors for years and never get a chance, other guys do nothing in the majors and get chance after chance and even get put in positions of prominence.  Nobody ever said baseball was fair.

Record:  The Twins were 60-41, in first place, leading Chicago by fourteen games.