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Keeping Track

2003 Rewind: Game One Hundred Sixty-two

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DETROIT 9, MINNESOTA 4 IN DETROIT

Date:  Sunday, September 28.

Batting stars:  Chris Gomez was 2-for-3 with a home run.  Michael Ryan was 2-for-3 with two doubles.  Matthew LeCroy was 2-for-3 with a double.

Pitching stars:  Kyle Lohse pitched three innings, giving up one run on three hits and no walks and striking out one.  Juan Rincon pitched a perfect inning.  Grant Balfour struck out two in a scoreless inning, giving up two hits.

Opposition stars:  Dmitri Young was 3-for-4 with a hit-by-pitch.  Bobby Higginson was 2-for-4 with a home run (his fourteenth), a double, and two runs.  Brandon Inge was 2-for-4 with a double.  Ramon Santiago was 2-for-4 with a stolen base, his tenth.  Craig Monroe was 2-for-4 with a two-run homer, his twenty-third.  Mike Maroth pitched six innings, giving up two runs on eight hits and a walk and striking out two.

The game:  The Twins loaded the bases with one out in the top of the first but did not score.  It cost them, as the Tigers got on the board in the bottom of the first on Higginson's home run.  Detroit had a man on third with one out in the third but did not score.  The Twins got a two-out double from Ryan in the fourth but did not score.  So, it was still 1-0 going to the fifth.

With two out in the fifth, Gomez homered and Justin Morneau and LeCroy hit back-to-back doubles, giving the Twins a 2-1 lead.  In the bottom of the fifth, Shane Halter walked and scored from first on Inge's double to tie it 2-2.

Then came the sixth.  The Twins brought in Adam Johnson to pitch.  It would be the last appearance of his major league career, and let's just say he did not go out on a high note.  Higginson doubled and scored on Young's single.  Monroe hit a two-run homer.  Carlos Pena popped up, but Shane Halter, Inge, and Santiago all singled to bring home another run.  Kenny Rogers then came in and gave up a run-scoring double to Alex Sanchez and an RBI single to Warren Morris.  It was 9-2 and Johnson was charged with six runs in a third of an inning.

The Twins got a couple runs back in the eighth when Alex Prieto reached on an error, Michael Cuddyer doubled, and Michael Restovich and Lew Ford had RBI singles.  But the Twins never threatened to get back into the game.

WP:  Maroth (9-21).  LP:  Johnson (0-1).  S:  None.

Notes:  It was another spring training game for the Twins.  LeCroy was behind the plate in place of A. J. Pierzynski.  Denny Hocking was at short in place of Cristian Guzman.  Dustan Mohr was in left, Ford in center, and Cuddyer in right, with Ryan at DH.

There were also numerous substitutions.  Justin Morneau pinch-ran for Mientkiewicz in the third and stayed in the game at first base.  Gomez replaced Luis Rivas at second base in the fourth.  Prieto came in for Corey Koskie in the fifth.  Prieto went to second, with Gomez moving to short and Hocking to third.  Rob Bowen replaced LeCroy behind the plate in the seventh.  Restovich pinch-hit for Ryan in the eighth.

Ryan ended the season batting .393.  Ford was at .329.  Mientkiewicz was 1-for-3 and was at .300.  Bowen was 0-for-2 and ended at .100.

The Twins' bullpen was Brad Thomas, Johnson, Rogers, Rincon, and Balfour.  Thomas had an ERA of 7.71.  Johnson's ERA was 47.25.

Detroit avoided equaling the Mets' expansion era record for losses, ending the season at 43-119.

Record:  The Twins ended the season at 90-72, in first place in the American League Central, four games ahead of Chicago.  They would play the Yankees (101-61) in the American League Divisional Series.

Keeping Track

2003 Rewind: Game One Hundred Sixty-one

DETROIT 9, MINNESOTA 8 IN DETROIT

Date:  Saturday, September 27.

Batting stars:  Michael Ryan was 4-for-4 with a two-run homer (his fifth) and two runs.  Cristian Guzman was 2-for-3 with two RBIs.  Jacque Jones was 1-for-3 with a home run, his sixteenth.

Pitching star:  Brad Radke pitched five innings, giving up one run on eight hits and one walk, striking out three.

Opposition stars:  Craig Monroe was 4-for-5 with a double and three RBIs.  Warren Morris was 2-for-5 with a double and three runs.  Carlos Pena was 2-for-5 with four RBIs.  Brian Schmack pitched three shutout innings of relief, giving up three hits and no walks and striking out one.

The game:  The Twins again treated this like a spring training game and it cost them in the end, although they may not have cared.  It looked good early.  Shannon Stewart reached on a two-base error, went to third on a passed ball, and scored on a sacrifice fly, giving the Twins a run before they had a hit.  The Twins had men on second and third with one out in the third but did not score, so it was 1-0 through three.

The Twins appeared to take control in the fourth.  Consecutive doubles by Corey Koskie, Torii Hunter, and A. J. Pierzynski made it 3-0.  Singles by Ryan and Guzman plated two more runs to make it 5-0.  The Tigers left the bases loaded in the bottom of the fourth, and the Twins added some more runs in the fifth.  Jones led off with a home run, Koskie walked, and Ryan hit a two-out two-run homer to give the Twins an 8-0 lead.  Detroit got on the board in the bottom of the fifth, when Morris doubled and scored on a Monroe single, but it was still 8-1 and the game appeared to be well in hand.

It didn't work out that way.  In the seventh Morris singled, Bobby Higginson reached on an error, Monroe doubled home one, and Pena singled home two to cut the lead to 8-4.  In the eighth, four walks brought home a run, Monroe had an RBI single,  and Pena brought home two with a single, tying the score 8-8.

The Twins got a leadoff double from Justin Morneau in the ninth but left him on third.  With one out in the bottom of the ninth, Alex Sanchez walked, stole second and third, and scored on a wild pitch.  The first Twins run and the last Tigers run scored without a hit, but the last one decided the game in favor of Detroit.

WP:  Fernando Rodney (1-3).  LP:  Jesse Orosco (2-2).  S:  None.

Notes:  It was essentially the regular lineup, with Stewart in left and Ryan in right.  As yesterday, however, most of them came out a little over halfway through the game.

Michael Restovich pinch-ran for Stewart in the third inning and stayed in the game in left field.  Lew Ford pinch-ran for Hunter in the fourth inning and stayed in the game in center field.  Michael Cuddyer pinch-ran for Koskie in the fifth and stayed in the game at third base.  Denny Hocking pinch-hit for Luis Rivas in the sixth and stayed in the game at first base.  Justin Morneau pinch-hit for DH Jacque Jones in the sixth inning.  Alex Prieto replaced Doug Mientkiewicz in the batting order in the sixth inning and went to second base.  Rob Bowen replaced Pierzynski behind the plate in the sixth inning.  Chris Gomez pinch-hit for Guzman in the seventh and stayed in the game at shortstop.

Ryan was batting .379.  Ford was 0-for-3 and was batting .319.  Pierzynski was 1-for-3 and was batting .312.  Stewart was 1-for-2 and was batting .307.  Jones was 1-for-3 and was batting .304.

Bowen was 1-for-2 and was batting .125.  Prieto was 0-for-1 and was batting .111.

After Radke was done the Twins went with the B bullpen:  Carlos Pulido, Juan Rincon, J. C. Romero, and Orosco.  Orosco's ERA went up to 7.68.

Gary Knotts started for Detroit.  He pitched 3.2 innings, giving up five runs (four earned) on eight hits and no walks and striking out two.

This was the only year Brian Schmack would be in the majors, and this was the last game of his career.  At least he got to end on a high note.  He was 29 and had spent three years in AAA.  He had been in AA before the Tigers brought him up in late August.  He was 1-0, 3.46, 1.39 WHIP in 11 games (13 innings).

The walk Radke gave up was the only walk he allowed in the month of September (35 innings).

Detroit would not set an expansion era record for worst record.  They could still tie the record for most losses with a loss in their last game.

Record:  The Twins were 90-71, in first place in the American League Central, five games ahead of Chicago.  The White Sox had clinched second place.

Keeping Track

2003 Rewind: Game One Hundred Sixty

MINNESOTA 5, DETROIT 4 IN DETROIT (11 INNINGS)

Date:  Friday, September 26.

Batting stars:  A. J. Pierzynski was 2-for-2 with a double and a walk.  Matthew LeCroy was 2-for-3 with a double, two walks, and two runs.  Corey Koskie was 2-for-3.  Michael Cuddyer was 2-for-5 with a home run (his fourth) and two RBIs.

Pitching stars:  Rick Reed pitched two perfect innings and struck out one.  Kenny Rogers pitched a scoreless inning, giving up a hit and striking out one.  Grant Balfour pitched a scoreless inning, giving up a hit and a walk.  LaTroy Hawkins pitched a scoreless inning, walking one and striking out one.

Opposition stars:  Dmitri Young was 4-for-5 with a home run (his twenty-ninth), a double, and two RBIs.  Alex Sanchez was 3-for-5 with a stolen base, his forty-eighth.  Shane Halter was 2-for-5 with a stolen base, his second.  Nate Cornejo pitched seven innings, giving up three runs on eight hits and four walks and striking out one.

The game:  The Tigers took the early lead when singles by Sanchez, Craig Monroe, and Young brought home one run in the first and a sacrifice fly brought home another.  The Twins had men on second and third in the second and Detroit had men on first and second in the second and third, but it stayed 2-0 until the fourth.  Jacque Jones singled, LeCroy walked, and Koskie singled home a run.  A walk to Pierzynski loaded the bases and a Cuddyer single tied it at 2-2.

Young homered in the fifth to put the Tigers back up 3-2, but the Twins got the run back in the sixth when LeCroy doubled and scored on a Pierzynski single.  The Twins had men on first and third with one out in the seventh, but a double play took them out of the inning.  They had men on second and third with two out in the eighth, but again could not score.  Detroit had men on first and second in the ninth, but similarly failed to touch home plate, so the game went to extra innings.

With two out in the tenth, Justin Morneau walked and scored from first on a Lew Ford double to give the Twins their first lead.  But the Tigers tied it in the tenth when Young doubled and pinch-runner Andres Torres scored on a Halter single.  Cuddyer led off the eleventh with a home run.  Detroit got a leadoff walk in the bottom of the eleventh and bunted the man to second, but there he stayed and the game went to the Twins.

WP:  Eddie Guardado (3-5).  LP:  Franklyn German (2-4).  S:  Hawkins (2).

Notes:  Ron Gardenhire treated this like a late spring training game, starting many of the regulars but taking them out early.  An exception was that Cuddyer started at first base in place of Doug Mientkiewicz.  Shannon Stewart was in left, Jones in right, and LeCroy at DH.

Michael Ryan replaced Stewart in the fifth.  Dustan Mohr replaced Jones in the fifth.  Rob Bowen replaced Pierzynski in the sixth.  Morneau went to first base in the sixth, with Cuddyer moving to third and Koskie coming out of the game.  Ford went to center in place of Torii Hunter in the sixth.  Chris Gomez pinch-hit for Luis Rivas in the seventh and stayed in the game at second base.  Alex Prieto replaced Cristian Guzman at short in the seventh.

Ford was 1-for-2 and was batting .333.  Ryan was 0-for-2 and was also batting .333.  Pierzynski raised his average to .312.  Stewart was 0-for-3 and was batting .306.  Jones was 1-for-3 and was batting .304.

Bowen got his first major league hit in this game, a single to center in the eighth, and went 1-for-2.  He was batting .167.  Prieto was 0-for-2 and was batting .125.

Eric Milton started and pitched five innings, giving up three runs on eight hits and a walk and striking out one.  His ERA was 2.65.  Reed lowered his ERA to 5.07.  Guardado gave up a run in one inning and had an ERA of 2.89.  Hawkins lowered his ERA to 1.86.

Sanchez would end up with 52 stolen bases.  That was only good for third in the league, behind Juan Pierre (65) and Carl Crawford (55).  The last time someone stole as many as 52 bases in a season was 2017, when Dee Gordon stole 60.  The last time it happened in the American League was 2014, when Jose Altuve stole 56.

This was not only Rogers' first relief appearance of the season, it was the first time he had been used in relief since 1997.

The Tigers had now lost 119 games, one away from the expansion era record of 120 set by the 1962 Mets.

Record:  The Twins were 90-70, in first place in the American League Central, six games ahead of Chicago.

Keeping Track

1991 Rewind: Game One Hundred Forty-five

MINNESOTA 9, KANSAS CITY 0 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Monday, September 16.

Batting star:  Brian Harper was 2-for-3 with a three-run homer (his tenth) and two runs.

Pitching stars:  Kevin Tapani pitched 7.1 scoreless innings, giving up three hits and two walks and striking out seven.  Paul Abbott struck out three in 1.2 scoreless innings, giving up a walk.

Opposition stars:  Bill Pecota was 2-for-4.  Storm Davis struck out three in three innings of relief, giving up one run on three hits.

The game:  Singles by Dan Gladden and Chuck Knoblauch put men on first and third with none out.  Gladden scored on a sacrifice fly.  Knoblauch then went to third on a stolen base-plus-error and scored on a ground out, making it 2-0 Twins.  In the fourth, Kent Hrbek and Chili Davis started the inning with back-to-back doubles.  Harper singled and Shane Mack was hit by a pitch, loading the bases.  A pair of sacrifice flies made it 5-0.

Meanwhile, the Royals did not get a hit for the first four innings.  They got a pair of singles in the fifth, but nothing came of it.  The Twins put the game out of reach in the bottom of the fifth when Hrbek and Davis walked and Harper followed with a three-run homer, making it 8-0.  In the eighth, Lenny Webster doubled and Mike Pagliarulo singled to bring the final to 9-0.

WP:  Tapani (15-8).  LP:  Mark Gubicza (8-10).  S:  None.

Notes:  The box score looks like a spring training game, with Pagliarulo the only Twin to play the whole game.  Sadly, with the roster restrictions, we won't see this any more.  Scott Leius pinch-hit for Greg Gagne in the sixth and stayed in the game at shortstop.  Paul Sorrento replaced Kent Hrbek at first base in the seventh.  Al Newman replaced Knoblauch at second base in the seventh.  Pedro Munoz replaced Gladden in left field in the seventh.  Gene Larkin replaced Mack in right field in the seventh.  Jarvis Brown replaced Kirby Puckett in center in the eighth.  Lenny Webster replaced Harper at catcher in the eighth.  Randy Bush pinch-hit for Davis in the eighth.

Puckett was 0-for-3 and was batting .324.  Harper raised his average to .314.  Mack was 1-for-2 to make his average .313.  Webster was 1-for-1 and was batting .409.  Tapani lowered his ERA to 2.83.

Sorrento was 0-for-1 and was batting .167.

Tapani's game score of 77 was his second-highest of the year.  It was topped only by an 82 in a complete game shutout on April 12, his first start of the season.

The White Sox did not play, so the Twins gained a half-game.

Record:  The Twins were 87-58, in first place in the American League West, eight games ahead of Chicago.

In the East, Toronto lost to Seattle 6-5 but Boston lost to Baltimore 9-2, so the Blue Jays' lead remained 3.5 games.