MINNESOTA 6, OAKLAND 4 IN MINNESOTA
Date: Sunday, August 18.
Batting stars: Mike Pagliarulo was 2-for-3 with a walk. Shane Mack was 2-for-4. Kirby Puckett was 2-for-4.
Pitching stars: Carl Willis pitched five innings of relief, giving up one run on two hits and no walks and striking out four. Rick Aguilera pitched a perfect inning and struck out one.
Opposition stars: Dave Stewart pitched 6.2 innings, giving up three runs on seven hits and five walks and striking out five. Dave Henderson was 2-for-3 with a double, a walk, and two runs.
The game: The Athletics again took the early lead, scoring twice in the first inning. Rickey Henderson led off with a single and Dave Henderson walked. The Hendersons then pulled off a double steal-plus-error, with Rickey scoring and Dave going to third. A ground out scored Dave and gave Oakland a 2-0 lead. The Hendersons produced another run in the third when Rickey walked and scored from first on Dave's double.
The Twins got on the board in the bottom of the third when Dan Gladden walked and scored from first on Chuck Knoblauch's double. The Athletics got the run back in the sixth when Dave Henderson singled, went to third on a Jose Canseco single, and scored on a ground out. Just like yesterday, Oakland led 4-1.
The Twins got a pair of walks in the sixth but did not score. In the seventh, however, Mike Pagliarulo walked, Greg Gagne singled, and Dan Gladden was hit by a pitch, loading the bases. A sacrifice fly scored one run and Puckett singled home another, cutting the lead to 4-3. The Twins continued the comeback in the eighth. Chili Davis led off with a single and Brian Harper delivered an RBI triple, tying the score. Mack singled to put the Twins ahead. He went to third on a Pagliarulo single and scored on a ground out to give the Twins a 6-4 advantage. The Athletics went down in order in the ninth.
WP: Willis (7-2). LP: Rick Honeycutt (2-3). S: Aguilera (32).
Notes: Al Newman pinch-ran for Harper in the eighth. Gene Larkin pinch-hit for Gagne, also in the eighth. In the ninth, Newman went to shortstop and Junior Ortiz replaced Larkin and went behind the plate.
Puckett raised his average to .326. He was 6-for-14 in the series so far. Harper was 1-for-4 and was batting .304. Willis lowered his ERA to 1.93. Aguilera's ERA was 2.47.
Willie Banks started for the Twins but pitched just three innings, giving up three runs (two earned) on two hits and three walks and striking out one. His ERA was 6.28.
I've written about this before, but Carl Willis was an incredibly valuable pitcher for the Twins in 1991. Time after time, he came in and pitched multiple innings out of the bullpen. He either retained a lead or kept the Twins in the game over and over again, and saved the rest of the bullpen. He would wear down and have a poor September, but I think it's safe to say the Twins might well have not won the division without him.
Rick Honeycutt came up in 1977 with Seattle and had a fine career as a starter through 1986. He then moved to the bullpen and had a fine career as a reliever through 1996. For his career, he posted an ERA of 3.84 and a WHIP of 1.35 in 268 starts. He posted an ERA 3.36 and a WHIP of 1.22 in 529 relief appearances. He came up at age 23 and was in the majors until age 43. He made two all-star teams and led the league in ERA in 1983. Not a Hall-of-Famer or anything, but still, that's a career to be proud of.
Oakland entered this series trailing the Twins by four games. They now trailed by seven. The White Sox defeated the Yankees 11-3, so the gap between those two teams remained the same.
Record: The Twins were 71-48, in first place in the American League West, 3.5 games ahead of Chicago.