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Keeping Track

Random Rewind: 2002, Game Sixty-two

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MINNESOTA 5, FLORIDA 3 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Saturday, June 8.

Batting stars:  Dustan Mohr was 2-for-4 with two doubles.  Jacque Jones was 2-for-4 with a walk and a double.  Torii Hunter was 2-for-4 with a double.

Pitching stars:  Tony Fiore pitched 1.2 scoreless innings, giving up a hit and a walk while striking out one.  Mike Jackson pitched a perfect inning while striking out one.  Eddie Guardado pitched a perfect inning while striking out one.

Opposition stars:  Cliff Floyd was 2-for-4 with a home run (his fourteenth), a double, and a walk.  Mike Lowell was 1-for-3 with a home run (his ninth) and a walk.  Andy Fox was 1-for-3 with a walk and a stolen base, his tenth.

The game:  The Marlins scored in the top of the first, as Luis Castillo led off with a single and scored on Floyd's double.  The Twins tied it in the second when Corey Koskie walked, went to third on a stolen base-plus-error, and scored on a Mohr double.  Hunter's two-run double in the third put the Twins ahead 3-1, but Florida come right back in the top of the fourth, getting back-to-back homers by Floyd and Lowell to tie it 3-3.

Mohr led off the bottom of the fourth with a double and scored on Jones' single to give the Twins a 4-3 advantage.  The Marlins led off the sixth with two walks, but Fiore came in to retire the next three batters to get out of the inning.  In the bottom of the sixth, back-to-back doubles by Luis Rivas and Jones made the score 5-3.

Florida put men on first and third with two out in the seventh, but J. C. Romero came on to retire Cliff Floyd on a ground out and the Marlins did not get a baserunner after that.

WP:  Matt Kinney (2-5).  LP:  Kevin Olsen (0-4).  S:  Guardado (18).

Notes:  Jones raised his average to .316.  Hunter went up to .314.  Mohr was batting .336.  A. J. Pierzynski was 1-for-4 to make his average .331.  Romero's ERA fell to 0.79.  Jackson now had an ERA of 1.07.

This was Luis Rivas' seventh game of the season.  He was batting .400 (10-for-25).  He would end the season at .256.

Koskie had stolen twenty-seven bases in 2001, more than double what he did in any other year.  He would steal ten in 2002 and eleven in 2003, the only years when he reached double digit stolen bases.  He had seventy-one for his career.

Kinney struck out six in five innings, giving up three runs on six hits and two walks.  Florida starter Kevin Olsen pitched 4.1 innings, giving up four runs on seven hits and three walks and striking out four.

This was one of only ten starts Olsen made in his major league career.  Florida drafted him in the twenty-sixth round in 1998.  He got a September call-up from AA in 2001 and pitched quite well, throwing seven shutout innings against Montreal on October 3.  He appears to have been the fifth starter for Florida at the start of the 2002 season, pitching out of the bullpen when a fifth starter was not needed due to off-days or rainouts.  He did okay in nine relief appearances, but was not very good in eight starts and was sent down in early July.  He was pitching really well in AAA Albuquerque in 2003 and came up to the majors in June.  He made on good appearance and three really bad ones.  In the last one, on June 27, he was hit in the head by a Todd Walker line drive, landing him on the disabled list.  He came back in September and had one really bad outing and two good ones.  He apparently was still dealing with injury in 2004, as he made just ten starts for Albuquerque.  He signed with Pittsburgh for 2005 but never threw a pitch for them all year and was released after the season.  He started 2006 in independent ball and finished it in AA for Oakland, doing very well in thirteen starts.  He made just two bad starts in AAA in 2007, however, before being released.  A quick Google search did not reveal whether the later injuries had to do with concussion symptoms or if they were independent of that.  He might not have done much in the majors anyway, but it's too bad that he couldn't stay healthy so he could find out for sure.

Record:  The Twins were 36-26, in first place in the American League Central, six games ahead of Chicago.  The Twins would end at 94-67 and would win the division by 13.5 games.

Florida was 30-31, in fourth place in the National League East, 5.5 games behind Atlanta.  The Marlins would finish 79-83 and would stay in fourth place. twenty-three games behind the Braves.

Keeping Track

Random Rewind: 2017, Game Sixty-two

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SEATTLE 6, MINNESOTA 4 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Wednesday, June 14.

Batting stars:  Byron Buxton was 3-for-3 with a home run (his fourth), a double, and two stolen bases (his eleventh and twelfth).  Miguel Sano was 2-for-4 with a two-run homer, his sixteenth.  Eduardo Escobar was 2-for-4 with a home run, his sixth.

Pitching stars:  Matt Belisle struck out two in a scoreless inning, giving up one hit.  Taylor Rogers pitched two perfect innings and struck out one.

Opposition stars:  Ben Gamel was 3-for-5 with a double and two runs.  Robinson Cano was 3-for-5.  Danny Valencia was 2-for-5.  Jarrod Dyson was 2-for-5.  Mitch Haniger was 1-for-3 with a two-run homer (his fifth) and a walk.  Mike Zunino was 1-for-4 with a three-run homer, his sixth.

The game: Gamel led off the game with a single and Haniger followed with a two-run homer, putting the Mariners up 2-0 two batters into the game.  They loaded the bases with two out in the second, but Cano grounded out to end the inning.  With two out in the third Valencia and Dyson singled and Zunino hit a three-run homer, giving Seattle a 5-0 lead.  The Mariners put men on second and third with two out in the fourth, but Kyle Seager flied out to keep the score 5-0.

The Twins got on the board in the bottom of the fifth on solo homers by Escobar and Buxton, cutting the margin to 5-2.  In the sixth, Gamel reached on an error, Cano singled, and Nelson Cruz was hit by a pitch, loading the bases with one out.  Seager flied out, but Valencia singled to drive in a run and make it 6-2 Seattle.

With one out in the bottom of the sixth, Joe Mauer singled and Sano hit a two-run homer to cut the lead to 6-4.  But that was it.  The Twins did get the tying run on in both the eighth and the ninth.  With two out in the eighth Sano singled and Robbie Grossman walked, but Kennys Vargas struck out to end the inning.  In the ninth Jason Castro drew a one-out walk and Byron Buxton singled.  With two out, pinch-runner Ehire Adrianza and Buxton pulled off a double steal, meaning a hit to the outfield would tie the game.  Brian Dozier hit a fly ball to deep center, but it was caught and the game was over.

WP:  Sam Gaviglio (3-1).  LP:  Ervin Santana (8-4).  S:  Edwin Diaz (11).

Notes:  Eduardo Escobar was at shortstop in place of Jorge Polanco, who was apparently just being given a day off.

Neither starter pitched particularly well.  Santana pitched five innings, allowing five runs on nine hits and one walk and striking out five.  Gaviglio pitched 5.1 innings, giving up four runs on five hits and no walks and striking out five.

This was Diaz' first full season as a closer.  He had taken over from Steve Cishek in 2016.

Gaviglio joined the Mariners' rotation in mid-May.  He would stay there until mid-July.  He was waived and taken by Kansas City on September 1.

This was Santana's best season as a Twin and among the best of his career, although you can't tell it by this game.  He would end up 16-8, 3.28, 1.13 WHIP.

Three members of the Seattle starting lineup have Twins connections:  Cruz (DH), Valencia (1B), and Taylor Motter (SS).

Of Twins who played in this game, the batting average leader was Sano at .292.

Record:  The Twins were 33-29, first in the American League Central, two games ahead of Cleveland.  They would finish 85-77, second in the American League Central, but winning the wild card.

The Mariners were 33-34, in third place in the American League West, twelve games behind Houston.  They would finish 78-84, third in the American League West, twenty-three games behind Houston.

Keeping Track

Random Rewind: 1968, Game One Hundred Four

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DETROIT 6, MINNESOTA 5 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Friday, August 2.

Batting stars:  Ron Clark was 3-for-4 with a home run.  Rod Carew was 3-for-4 with a double.  Ted Uhlaender was 3-for-5 with two doubles.  Rich Reese was 2-for-5 with a two-run homer (his third) and two runs.  Cesar Tovar was 2-for-5.

Pitching stars:  Al Worthington pitched 3.1 scoreless innings of relief, giving up only a walk and striking out two.  Ron Perranoski pitched a perfect inning and struck out one.

Opposition stars:  Don McMahon pitched four shutout innings of relief, giving up four hits and striking out three.  Bill Freehan was 2-for-4 with a double and three RBIs.  Dick McAuliffe was 2-for-4.

The game:  The Tigers jumped on Twins starter Jim Merritt early.  McAuliffe led off with a single and Mickey Stanley walked.  With one out, Willie Horton walked to load the bases.  Freehan then doubled in two runs, Jim Northrup hit a sacrifice fly, and Don Wert delivered an RBI single.  It was 4-0 Detroit before the Twins even came up to bat.

The Twins tried to battle back.  They threatened in the first, when uhlaender hit a two-out double, and in the second, when Carew hit a one-out double and Frank Quilici walked.  Clark then singled, but apparently Carew rounded third too far and was thrown out, taking them out of the inning.

The Twins finally broke through in the third.  Reese hit a one-out single, Uhlaender doubled, and Bob Allison walked, loading the bases.  John Roseboro hit a sacrifice fly and Carew had an RBI single, cutting the margin to 4-2.  They took the lead in the fourth.  Clark led off with a home run.  With one out, Tovar singled and Reese hit a two-run homer to put the Twins up 5-4.

It wouldn't last.  The first two Tigers went out in the fifth.  Then came consecutive singles by Stanley, Al Kaline, Horton, and Freehan, resulting in two runs and a 6-5 advantage for the Tigers.

The Twins had consecutive singles to open the fifth, but nothing came of it.  They did not get a man past first base after that, and the score remained 6-5.

WP:  McMahon (3-1).  LP:  Bob Miller (0-2).  S:  Daryl Patterson (5).

Notes:  Tovar was in right field in place of Tony Oliva, who was out for about ten days, presumably with an injury.  Reese was at first base in place of Harmon Killebrew, who you may remember was injured in the all-star game.  Frank Quilici was at third base.  Clark was at shortstop.

Merritt was the starter for the Twins, but he lasted just two-thirds of an inning, allowing four runs on three hits and two walks.  He struck out one.  The Detroit starter was Joe Sparma.  He lasted just 2.2 innings, allowing two runs on six hits and two walks and striking out one.  Mickey Lolich was used in relief, one of seven times he relived for the Tigers in 1968.  The Tigers really didn't have a closer that year--I guess with a rotation of Denny McLain, Earl Wilson, Lolich, and Sparma, they really didn't need one.  Patterson was tied with Pat Dobson for the team lead with seven.

Clark's home run was the only one he would hit in 1968.  He would hit five in his career.

Reese did not have much power early in his career.  He would hit four home runs in 1968, the same amount he had hit in 1967 in about a third as many at-bats.  He would set his career high, 16, the following year of 1969.

Of the players in the starting lineup this day, Uhlaender led the team in batting (at this point of the season) at .299.  Carew was second at .296.

Record:  At this point of the season, the Twins were 49-55, in seventh place in the American League, sixteen games behind first-place Detroit.  The Tigers would go on to win the American League pennant.  The Twins would finish 79-83 and in seventh place.