MINNESOTA 5, OAKLAND 4 IN MINNESOTA (12 INNINGS)
Date: Friday, August 16.
Batting stars: Chuck Knoblauch was 4-for-6 with a double. Kirby Puckett was 2-for-5 with two stolen bases, his ninth and tenth.
Pitching stars: Steve Bedrosian retired all ten men he faced, striking out four of them. Rick Aguilera pitched a scoreless inning, giving up one hit and striking out one.
Opposition stars: Mike Moore pitched 7.2 innings, giving up two runs (one earned) on six hits and a walk and striking out six. Jaime Quirk was 3-for-4 with a double and two RBIs. Jose Canseco was 2-for-5 with two home runs, his thirty-second and thirty-third. Harold Baines was 2-for-5 with a double.
The game: The Twins took the early lead. In the second, Brian Harper hit a one-out single and scored from first on a Shane Mack double. In the third, Dan Gladden reached third on a single-plus error and scored on a sacrifice fly to make it 2-0.
The Athletics tied the game in the fourth. Canseco led off the inning with a home run. Baines followed with a double and scored on Quirk's one-out single to even the score at 2-2. Oakland took the lead in the sixth inning. Canseco again led off with a home run. Mark McGwire drew a one-out walk and scored from first on Quirk's double, giving the Athletics a 4-2 advantage.
It stayed 4-2 until the ninth. Chili Davis led off with a single-plus-error, reaching third base, and scored on a ground out to cut the margin to 4-3. Still, there was no one on with one out. Randy Bush then delivered a pinch-hit double and pinch-runner Scott Leius scored on Mike Pagliarulo single to tie it up 4-4.
The Twins had a chance in the tenth when Puckett reached third base with two out, but Davis struck out to end the inning. Gene Larkin hit a one-out double in the eleventh but did not advance. In the twelfth, Knoblauch doubled with one out. Puckett's infield single put men on first and third, and Kent Hrbek delivered an RBI single to win the game for the Twins.
WP: Aguilera (3-4). LP: Gene Nelson (1-4). S: None.
Notes: As noted above, Bush pinch-hit for Mack in the ninth. Leius then pinch-ran for Bush and Larkin went to right field in the tenth inning. Al Newman pinch-hit for Greg Gagne in the fifth inning, presumably due to an injury to Gagne. Gagne would miss one game, play one game, then miss two more before returning to the starting lineup.
Puckett raised his average to .324. Harper was 1-for-5 and 3-for-20. His average fell to .302.
Kevin Tapani started for the Twins. He pitched 7.1 innings and allowed four runs on eight hits and three walks and struck out five. His ERA went to 3.06. Aguilera's ERA fell to 2.52.
Bedrosian had been struggling coming into this game. He had allowed at least one run in each of his last four appearances. His ERA had jumped from 3.54 to 3.97 over that span. He sure came through in this game, though, and could well be considered the player of the game.
Bush had an awesome year as a pinch-hitter in 1991. He went 13-for-34 with two doubles and two home runs. He also walked eight times, giving him a line of .382/.500/.618 as a pinch-hitter. His pinch-hitting numbers for his career are nowhere near that, but are still not bad for that role. In 362 pinch-hitting appearances, he batted .242/.346/.353.
Mike Moore had a really good year in 1991, going 17-8, 2.96, 1.34 WHIP. His best year was probably 1989, when he went 19-11, 2.61, 1.14 WHIP, made the all-star team for the third time, and finished third in Cy Young voting. He also had solid years in 1985 and 1988. Other than those years, he was a below average pitcher. I don't know if he just got lucky, if the defense made a difference, or if he just was able to put it together some years but not others. For his career he was 161-176, 4.39, 1.42 WHIP. If you caught him in one of his good years, though, he was a very valuable pitcher.
The victory snapped a three-game losing streak. The White Sox lost the Yankees 6-5, so the Twins gained a game.
Record: The Twins were 69-48, in first place in the American League West, 2.5 games ahead of Chicago.