MILWAUKEE 8, MINNESOTA 1 IN MILWAUKEE
Date: Saturday, June 21.
Batting star: Corey Koskie was 1-for-4 with a home run, his tenth.
Pitching star: Micheal Nakamura pitched two perfect innings and struck out one.
Opposition stars: Wayne Franklin pitched seven innings, giving up one run on five hits and three walks and striking out two. Wes Helms was 3-for-5 with two home runs (his twelfth and thirteenth), three runs, and five RBIs. John Vander Wal was 2-for-3 with a home run (his seventh), a walk, two runs, and two RBIs.
The game: Two singles and a walk loaded the bases with none out in the first inning for the Brewers. John Vander Wal drove in one with a single and a sacrifice fly brought home another to put Milwaukee up 2-0 in the first.
The Twins put runners on second and third with one out in the third but did not score. In the fourth, however, Koskie led off with a home run to get the Twins on the board and cut the lead to 2-1. But in the bottom of the fourth Vander Wal and Helms led off with back-to-back homers to make it 4-1. In the sixth Helms hit a three-run homer to increase the lead to 7-1.
The Twins put a couple of guys on with walks in the seventh but nothing came of it. Milwaukee loaded the bases with one out in the eighth and got a sacrifice fly to conclude the scoring.
WP: Franklin (4-5). LP: Kyle Lohse (6-5). S: None.
Notes: Lew Ford was in left in place of Jacque Jones. Bobby Kielty was in right. There was no DH.
Ford was 0-for-4 and was batting .375. Justin Morneau pinch-hit and was 0-for-1, falling to .333. Doug Mientkiewicz was 0-for-3 and was batting .302. Matthew LeCroy was 0-for-1 and was batting .301. Koskie was batting .300.
Lohse had his second consecutive poor game. He pitched five innings and allowed seven runs on seven hits and two walks. He struck out four.
I have no memory that there was ever a pitcher named "Wayne Franklin". This was his only year as a starter, and he wasn't particularly good: 10-13, 5.50, 1.52 WHIP. He'd made four really good starts as a September call-up in 2002: 2-1, 2.63, 17 strikeouts in 24 innings. I imagine Brewers fans really thought they had something, but it didn't work out that way. He'd been a reliever every year before 2002, and returned to the bullpen after 2003. 2003 was his only full season in the majors, but he pitched in part of every season from 2000-2006. His record was 14-16, 5.54, 1.55 WHIP. He was in 143 games, 40 of them starts, and pitched 323 innings. He pitched in Taiwan and in independent ball in 2007, in Mexico and independent ball in 2008, and then exclusively in independent ball in 2009, 2010, and 2014, when he apparently made a comeback. He has stayed in baseball through coaching, and is a coach in the San Diego League, a collegiate wood bat league.
Since their hot streak ended, the Twins had now gone 8-14.
Record: The Twins were 39-34, in first place in the American League Central, one game ahead of Kansas City.