Tag Archives: slumping Puckett

Keeping Track

1991 Rewind: Game Eighty-four

MINNESOTA 7, BOSTON 3 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Thursday, July 11.

Batting stars:  Mike Pagliarulo was 3-for-3 with a home run (his fourth), a double, two runs, and two RBIs.  Kent Hrbek was 2-for-3 with a walk.  Paul Sorrento was 1-for-1 with a pinch-hit three-run homer.

Pitching stars:  Carl Willis pitched 2.2 scoreless innings, giving up two hits.  Mark Guthrie pitched a scoreless inning, giving up a walk.

Opposition stars:  Mike Greenwell was 3-for-4 with a triple.  Tom Brunansky was 2-for-4 with a double.  Tony Pena was 2-for-4 with a double.  Wade Boggs was 2-for-5 with two doubles.

The game:  The Red Sox got a pair of one-out singles in the second, but did not score.  They broke through in the third, though.  Boggs hit a one-out double.  With two down, Mo Vaughn hit an RBI single.  Jack Clark singled, and Greenwell hit an RBI single, putting Boston up 2-0.

The Twins got even in the fourth.  Greg Gagne led off with a single and went to third on a Kirby Puckett single.  Hrbek singled home the Twins' first run and a force out brought home a second, making it 2-2.  Pagliarulo homered in the fifth to give the Twins a 3-2 lead, but the Red Sox got the run back in the sixth when Greenwell tripled and scored on Brunansky's single, making it 3-3.

The Twins took control in the seventh.  Chili Davis led off with a walk and was replaced on a force out by Randy Bush.  Jarvis Brown pinch-ran and stole second.  Shane Mack walked, Pagliarulo hit an RBI double, and pinch-hitter Sorrento hit a three-run homer, giving the Twins a 7-3 lead and the game.  Boston never got more than one man on base at a time after that.

WP:  Willis (4-2).  LP:  Greg Harris (5-8).  S:  None.

Notes:  Mack was in left field in place of Dan Gladden.  Gagne batted in the leadoff spot.  Bush was in right field.  Junior Ortiz was behind the plate in place of Brian Harper.

Brown stayed in the game in right field after his pinch-running appearance.  Sorrento batted for Ortiz, with Harper going behind the plate.

Puckett was 1-for-4 and was batting .314.  Since his four-hit game on July 1, he was 3-for-27.  His average had dropped from .332.  Willis had his ERA drop to 2.72.  Starter Kevin Tapani pitched 5.1 innings and gave up three runs, making his ERA 3.22.

The three-run homer was Sorrento's second hit in twelve at-bats since joining the Twins.

This was the Twins' first game after the all-star break.  Back then the all-star break was just three days, the way God intended it to be.

Boston starter Greg Harris pitched six innings, giving up four runs on five hits and two walks and striking out two.

Greenwell had six triples in 1991.  For his career, he had thirty-eight triples, with a high of eight in 1988.

Texas lost to Toronto 2-0, so the Twins moved back into first place.

Record:  The Twins were 48-36, in first place in the American League West, one game ahead of Texas.

 

Keeping Track

1991 Rewind: Game Eighty-one

CHICAGO 4, MINNESOTA 2 IN CHICAGO

Date:  Friday, July 5.

Batting star:  Mike Pagliarulo was 2-for-4 with two doubles and two runs.

Pitching star:  Jack Morris pitched an eight-inning complete game, giving up four runs on seven hits and four walks and striking out four.

Opposition stars:  Jack McDowell pitched 7.2 innings, giving up two runs on six hits and two walks and striking out four.  Dan Pasqua was 2-for-4 with a double.  Lance Johnson was 2-for-4 with a stolen base, his thirteenth.  Robin Ventura was 1-for-4 with a three-run homer, his fifth.

The game:  The Twins opened the second with a single and a walk, but a double play and a fly ball ended the inning.  The White Sox got a pair of one-out singles in the bottom of the second, but also did not score.  In the third, doubles by Pagliarulo and Chuck Knoblauch put the Twins up 1-0.

It stayed 1-0 until the sixth.  Frank Thomas led off with a walk, was bunted to second, and scored on Pasqua's double to tie it 1-1.  Chicago took the lead in the seventh.  Scott Fletcher singled, Tim Raines drew a one-out walk, and Robin Ventura hit a three-run homer to give the White Sox a 4-1 lead.

The Twins tried to get back into the game in the eighth.  Pagliarulo led off with a double and went to third on an Al Newman single.  With one out, a passed ball made it 4-2 and Pedro Munoz walked, bringing the lead run up to bat.  With Kirby Puckett and Kent Hrbek coming up. the Twins' chances looked good.  But Puckett flied to center and Hrbek lined to center, and the inning was over.

The Twins got the tying run to bat twice in the ninth, but Brian Harper hit into a double play and Pagliarulo flied out.

WP:  McDowell (10-4).  LP:  Morris (11-6).  S:  Bobby Thigpen (17).

Notes:  Shane Mack was again in the lineup in left field to replace Dan Gladden.  Munoz was in right.  Chuck Knoblauch was the leadoff batter, with Munoz second.

Al Newman pinch-hit for Scott Leius in the eighth and singled.  He stayed in the game at shortstop.  Randy Bush pinch-hit for Mack in the ninth, singled, and was replaced by pinch-runner Jarvis Brown.

Harper was 1-for-4 and was batting .324.  Puckett was 0-for-4 and was batting .316.

Morris threw ninety-seven pitches.

Since his four-hit game on July 1, Puckett has gone 0-for-15.  His average has fallen from .332.

The Twins had now scored just twenty runs in their last ten games.  They were 2-8 in those games.  They had given up just thirty-five runs in those ten games.

California lost to Texas 8-0, so the Twins remained in first place.  However, the win by the Rangers moved them into second place.  Despite their recent poor play, they were in first place at the half-way point of the season, something no one expected when the season began.

Record:  The Twins were 46-35, in first place in the American League West, one game ahead of Texas.