Tag Archives: Tom Prince–pinch-runner

Keeping Track

2003 Rewind: Game Sixty-eight

KANSAS CITY 9, MINNESOTA 8 IN KANSAS CITY

Date:  Monday, June 16.

Batting stars:  Matthew LeCroy was 3-for-5 with a double and two RBIs.  Doug Mientkiewicz was 3-for-5.  Lew Ford was 2-for-2 with a three-run homer (his second), a double, a walk, and two runs.  Corey Koskie was 2-for-5 with a double and two runs.

Pitching star:  Micheal Nakamura pitched a perfect inning and struck out one.

Opposition stars:  Carlos Beltran was 2-for-2 with a double, a stolen base (his seventeenth), three walks, and two runs.  Mike Sweeney was 2-for-4 with a home run (his twelfth), a walk, two runs, and five RBIs.  Angel Berroa was 2-for-4 with a double.  Michael Tucker was 2-for-4 with a walk and two runs.  Raul Ibanez was 2-for-5.

The game:  It was all Royals early.  Beltran's two-out RBI double put Kansas City up 1-0 in the first.  It stayed 1-0 until the fourth, when Aaron Guiel hit a run-scoring single to make it 2-0.

Then the Royals really took control.  Sweeney hit a three-run homer in the fifth to take the lead to 5-0.  In the sixth a double and two walks loaded the bases, a ground out scored one, and Sweeney's two-run single made it 8-0 Kansas City.

Then the Twins mounted a comeback.  With one out in the seventh, Ford's double, a Mientkiewicz single, and a walk to Dustan Mohr loaded the bases.  A. J. Pierzynski singled to get the Twins on the board and a ground out made it 8-2.  In the eighth an error, a Koskie single, and Ford's three-run homer cut the lead to 8-5.  The Twins started the ninth with consecutive singles by Jacque Jones, Cristian Guzman, and Koskie to score one run and LeCroy doubled home to more to tie the score.  The Twins had the go-ahead run on second with none out, but could not take the lead.

It cost them.  Beltran walked to lead off the bottom of the ninth and went to second on a wild pitch.  Ibanez then singled him home for the deciding run.

WP:  Mike MacDougal (3-3).  LP:  Eddie Guardado (0-2).  S:  None.

Notes:  Ford pinch-hit for Torii Hunter in the seventh, leading one to think Ron Gardenhire had probably given up on the game at that point.  He stayed in the game in center field.  Bobby Kielty pinch-hit for Luis Rivas in the seventh.  Denny Hocking went to second in the eighth.  Justin Morneau pinch-hit for Hocking in the eighth.  He stayed in the game at first base, with Mientkiewicz moving to second.  Tom Prince pinch-ran for LeCroy in the ninth, which probably tells you all you need to know about LeCroy's speed.

Ford raised his average to .500.  Morneau was 0-for-1 and was batting .333.  Jones was 1-for-5 and was batting .307.  LeCroy was batting .305.  Pierzynski was 1-for-4 and slipped back below .300 at .299.

Kyle Lohse started for the Twins.  He did okay for four innings, but his line is five innings, five runs, eight hits, two walks, and three strikeouts.  His ERA went up to a still good 3.23.  Guardado gave up a run without retiring anyone, so his ERA went up to 2.83.

Nakamura had been on the team for nine games and had appeared in seven of them.  The Twins already had "Everyday Eddie"--was he "'Most every day Micheal"?

This was actually the second time Prince had been used as a pinch-runner this season.  The other time was on May 13, when he also ran for LeCroy.  I could not quickly find if he had any other pinch-running appearances in his career.

While the Twins were a good team, one thing that is becoming clear as we go through these games is how much they benefited from playing in a weak division.  I know it was commented on at the time, too, but the Twins' winning percentage would have put them in third place in four of the other five divisions.

Record:  The Twins were 38-30, in first place in the American League Central, three games ahead of Kansas City.

Keeping Track

2003 Rewind: Game Thirty-eight

MINNESOTA 4, KANSAS CITY 2 IN MINNESOTA (10 INNINGS)

Date:  Tuesday, May 13.

Batting stars:  Matthew LeCroy was 2-for-3 with a double.  Dustan Mohr was 2-for-4.  Todd Sears was 1-for-1 with a two-run homer and a walk.

Pitching stars:  Kyle Lohse struck out seven in seven innings, giving up one run on eight hits and no walks and striking out seven.  LaTroy Hawkins pitched two shutout innings, giving up one hit and striking out one.

Opposition stars:  Kyle Snyder pitched 6.1 innings, giving up one run on five hits and no walks and striking out three.  Desi Relaford was 3-for-4 with a stolen base, his fifth.  Ken Harvey was 2-for-4 with a double.  Carlos Beltran was 2-for-4 with a walk and a stolen base, his fourth.  Mike Sweeney was 2-for-5.

The game:  The Royals had a man on third with two out in the first and had two on with none out in the fifth, but it was still scoreless through five.  Beltran led off the sixth with a single.  A force out meant that it was Raul Ibanez on first with two down.  Harvey singled, and then Relaford delivered an RBI single.  Relaford was out trying to stretch it to a double, but it was till 1-0 Kansas City.

The Twins tied it in the seventh.  LeCroy hit a one-out double and scored on a two-out single by Doug Mientkiewicz.  The tie lasted until the next half-inning.  In the eighth, Beltran and Ibanez walked and Harvey delivered a double to put the Royals back up 2-1.

It was still 2-1 until the bottom of the ninth.  But Chris Gomez led off with a single, went to second on a wild pitch, and scored on a Bobby Kielty single to tie it 2-2.

We went to the tenth.  Kansas City got a two-out single, but no more.  In the bottom of the inning, Mohr singled with one out.  With two out, Sears hit a walkoff two-run homer to give the Twins a 4-2 victory.

WP:  Hawkins (2-0).  LP:  Albie Lopez (4-2).  S:  None.

Notes:  Chris Gomez was at shortstop in place of Cristian Guzman.  Mohr was in left in place of Jacque Jones.  Denny Hocking was in right field.

Tom Prince pinch-ran for LeCroy in the seventh.  Sears pinch-hit for Hocking in the eighth and stayed in the game at first base, with Mientkiewicz moving to right field.  Jacque Jones pinch-hit for Luis Rivas in the eighth.  Cristian Guzman then came in to play short, with Gomez moving to second.  Bobby Kielty pinch-hit for Prince in the ninth.

Jones was 0-for-1 and was batting .340.  LeCroy raised his average to .318.  Kielty was 1-for-1 and was batting .306.  Mohr was batting .302.

Hocking was 0-for-2 and was batting .095.

Lohse lowered his ERA to 3.27.  Johan Santana gave up one run in one inning to make his ERA 1.57.  Hawkins lowered his ERA to 1.62.

LeCroy was 9-for-20 in his last five games and 15-for-39 in his last ten games.

I mentioned Sears' first home run the other day.  This was his second and last.  He didn't have a long or particularly good career, but he has this one story of a walkoff home run that he can tell his grandchildren some day.

Neither starter walked a batter, and there were only three walks in the entire game.  Either the pitchers had excellent control, the batters were swinging at everything, or the umpire had a really big strike zone.

If you remember Mike Sweeney as a Twins-killer, you're right.  For his career he batted .325/.384/.554 with twenty-five home runs against them.  His slugging average and OPS were higher against the Twins than against any other team, excluding National League teams against which he had fewer than fifty at-bats.  In 2003, however, not so much:  he hit .281/.369/.421 with just two home runs..  That's good, but it's nothing to get particularly excited about.

I couldn't quickly find out how many times Prince was used as a pinch-runner in his career, but it can't be very many.  That he was used in this game, at age thirty-eight, when he'd lost any little bit of speed he had, says something about LeCroy's running ability.

Record:  The Twins were 21-17, in second place in the American League Central, 2.5 games behind Kansas City.