NEW YORK 11, MINNESOTA 2 IN NEW YORK
Date: Sunday, June 23.
Batting stars: Randy Bush was 2-for-4 with two home runs. Dan Gladden was 2-for-5 with a stolen base, his seventh.
Pitching stars: None.
Opposition stars: Scott Kamieniecki pitched 7.2 innings, giving up two runs on six hits and a walk and striking out three. Roberto Kelly was 5-for-5 with a home run (his eighth), three stolen bases (his thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth), two runs, and three RBIs. Hensley Meulens was 3-for-5 with a double, two runs, and two RBIs. Steve Sax was 2-for-3 with a walk. Bob Geren was 2-for-4 with a double and two RBIs.
The game: The Yankees took control early, scoring six runs in the second. Consecutive one-out singles by Meulens, Alvaro Espinoza, and Geren plated the first run. Pat Kelly was hit by a pitch to load the bases. A ground out scored the second run, an error plated the third, and Roberto Kelly hit a three-run homer, putting the Yankees up 6-0.
The Twins got on the board in the third when Bush hit a home run. Brian Harper hit a leadoff double in the fourth, but nothing came of it. New York added a run in the bottom of the fourth when Pat Kelly singled, stole second, and scored on a Roberto Kelly single to make the score 7-1. The Yankees added three more in the seventh on a two-run double by Meulens and an RBI double by Geren, increasing their lead to 10-1.
Bush hit his second home run in the eighth to cut the lead to 10-2. New York got the run back in the bottom of the inning on Carlos Rodriguez' RBI single.
WP: Kamieniecki (2-0). LP: Allan Anderson (4-5). S: None.
Notes: Surprisingly, Gladden was in the lineup for a day game. He did well, although it obviously didn't help the Twins much. Bush was at first base in place of Kent Hrbek, who apparently was dealing with a minor injury, as he would not play again until June 28. Gene Larkin was in right field, with Shane Mack moving to center and Kirby Puckett out of the lineup. Junior Ortiz come in to catch in the eighth inning, replacing Harper.
Harper was 1-for-3 and was batting .340.
Allan Anderson was the Twins starter. He lasted just 1.2 innings, his shortest start of the season. He allowed six runs (two earned) on six hits and a walk and struck out none. His next start would actually be pretty good, but he would make only two more after that before being pulled from the rotation.
Paul Abbott pitched 5.1 innings of relief. He did quite well until his fifth inning, when he allowed the three-run seventh. Still, he saved the bullpen, as the only other pitcher used was Terry Leach in the eighth.
Tom Kelly did have a point about Gladden and day games, at least in 1991. He batted .263/.321/.387 in night games, .192/.257/.250 during the day. For his career, however, there's not much difference. He batted .272/.319/.386 in night games, .266/.335/.375 during the day.
This was Kamieniecki's rookie year and just his second major league start. He made nine starts for the Yankees in 1991 and did pretty well, really: 4-4, 3.90, 1.37. He was already twenty-seven, but still managed to pitch in the majors for nine seasons. He was with the Yankees through 1996, with Baltimore from 1997-1999, and with Cleveland and Atlanta in 2000. For his career he was 53-59, 4.52, 1.49 WHIP in 975.2 innings. He was never anything great, but he was a fairly solid rotation starter through 1997.
Record: The Twins were 42-27, in first place in the American League West, three games ahead of Oakland.