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Keeping Track

1991 Rewind: Game Eighty-six

MINNESOTA 3, BOSTON 1 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Saturday, July 13.

Batting stars:  Shane Mack was 3-for-3 with a triple, a stolen base, and a walk.  Al Newman was 3-for-4.  Kirby Puckett was 2-for-4.

Pitching star:  Jack Morris pitched 8.1 innings, giving up one run on five hits and no walks and striking out two.

Opposition star:  Dennis Lamp pitched 2.1 scoreless innings, giving up one hit.

The game:  One-out singles by Newman and Puckett put men on first and third and Chili Davis followed with a sacrifice fly, giving the Twins a 1-0 lead.  Junior Ortiz led off the second with a single and two-out singles by Newman and Puckett made the score 2-0 Twins.  Mack hit a one-out triple in the fifth and scored on a sacrifice fly to increase the lead to 3-0.

The Red Sox didn't do much on offense for the first five innings, only once getting a man as far as second base.  They got on the board on the sixth, though, as Luis Rivera tripled and scored on a sacrifice fly.  They did not get a man to second base after that, and so the Twins took the 3-1 victory.

WP:  Morris (12-6).  LP:  Kevin Morton (1-1).  S: Rick Aguilera (24).

Notes:  Newman was in left field in place of Dan Gladden in this game.  Mack was in right.  Ortiz was once again behind the plate in place of Brian Harper.  Chuck Knoblauch moved up to the leadoff spot, with Newman batting second.  Jarvis Brown pinch-ran for Newman in the sixth and stayed in the game in right field, with Mack moving to left.

Puckett raised his average to .319.  Morris lowered his ERA to 3.50.  Aguilera came in to get the last two outs and had an ERA of 2.63.

This was the only game Newman played in left field in 1991 and the last game he started there in his career.  For his career he played eleven games there, six starts.  He seems like an odd choice to play left and to bat second, but given that he got three hits one has to say that it worked.

Given how he'd been used all season, it was surprising to see Morris come out of the game in the ninth.  He'd seemed to be in control, giving up just five hits.  One of those hits came with one out in the ninth, and resulted in his leaving the game.  He had thrown just ninety-two pitches.  I'm not arguing that it was the wrong move, and it certainly worked.  It's just that, given how long Morris had remained in games for the first part of the season, I'd have expected him to be given more of a chance to finish the game.

This was Kevin Morton's second career start.  He was just twenty-two years old.  He had made a tremendous debut, giving up just one run in a complete game victory over Detroit.  He didn't pitch badly here, either, going 5.2 innings and giving up three runs on nine hits and three walks and striking out two.  He was in the Boston rotation the rest of the season and was kind of up and down, as one would expect from a twenty-two year old rookie.  For the season, he was 6-5, 4.59, nothing to shout about but not bad given his age.  It would be his only season in the major leagues.  He was awful in Pawtucket in 1992 and pitched poorly in AA for Kansas City in 1993.  He did better, though not great, in AAA for the Mets in 1994, but did not pitch well in AAA for the Cubs in 1995 and then was done.  I wonder if he got hurt--he looked like a reasonably promising young pitcher in 1991, and then never really did anything after that.  I couldn't find anything out about that, but it does look like he's an instructor for IST Sports, which provides baseball instruction in Norwalk, Connecticut.

Texas lost to Toronto 3-2, so the Twins gained another game in the standings.

Record:  The Twins were 50-36, in first place in the American League West, three games ahead of Texas.

Keeping Track

1991 Rewind: Game Seventy-five

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CHICAGO 8, MINNESOTA 4 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Saturday, June 29.

Batting stars:  Kirby Puckett was 2-for-4 with a two-run homer (his tenth) and a double.  Chili Davis was 2-for-4 with a home run, his nineteenth.  Kent Hrbek was 1-for-4 with a home run, his seventh.

Pitching star:  Terry Leach pitched a scoreless inning, giving up two hits.

Opposition stars:  Dan Pasqua was 4-for-5 with a home run (his seventh), a triple, and three RBIs.  Ozzie Guillen was 3-for-4 with a stolen base (his thirteenth) and two RBIs.  Robin Ventura was 2-for-3 with a double and two walks.  Lance Johnson was 2-for-4 with a double and two runs.  Tim Raines was 2-for-5 with a double, two runs, and two RBIs.  Greg Hibbard pitched a complete game, giving up four runs on seven hits and a walk and striking out one.

The game:  The White Sox opened the game with singles by Raines, Ventura, and Frank Thomas, taking a 1-0 lead.  A strikeout and a double play prevented further damage, and the Twins bounced back in the bottom of the first.  Chuck Knoblauch singled, Puckett hit a two-run homer, and Davis homered, putting the Twins up 3-1.

It stayed 3-1 until the fourth, when Pasqua led off with a homer to make it 3-2.  It stayed 3-2 until the seventh, when Chicago exploded for five runs.  Singles by Matt Merullo and Johnson started the inning.  With one out, Guillen had an RBI single to tie it and Raines' two-run double put the White Sox ahead.  Ventura was intentionally walked, and with two out Pasqua hit a two-run triple, giving Chicago a 7-3 lead.

It was pretty much over at that point.  Hrbek homered in the seventh to cut the lead to 7-4, but the White Sox got the run back in the eighth when Johnson doubled and scored on a Guillen single.  After the Hrbek homer the Twins got only one baserunner, a Davis single in the ninth.

WP:  Hibbard (6-6).  LP:  Scott Erickson (12-3).  S:  None.

Notes:  Shane Mack was in left replacing Dan Gladden.  Pedro Munoz was in right.  With Erickson pitching, Junior Ortiz was behind the plate in place of Brian Harper.

Puckett raised his average to .322.  Erickson pitched 6.1 innings, allowing seven runs on eleven hits and two walks and striking out one.  His ERA went up to 1.83.  Leach lowered his ERA to 3.16.

Erickson pitched well for six innings.  He would not pitch again, however, until July 15 and was not really the same pitcher the rest of the season.  He obviously could not be expected to keep up the pace of a 1.39 ERA, which he had going into this game, but it seems logical to think overuse played a part in his pitching.  He was twenty-three years old in 1991 and this was his sixteenth start.  He pitched 122.2 innings, never pitching fewer than six and only three times pitching fewer than seven.  He threw a hundred pitches or more eleven times, more than 110 seven times, one hundred twenty or more three times, and over 130 once (134).  Erickson would go on to have some good years in his career, but he was never the dominant pitcher he was for the first half of 1991.  Maybe he'd have gotten hurt at some point anyway, or maybe he wouldn't have remained dominant, but one has to wonder what his career might have looked like if the Twins had taken batter care of him.

Greg Hibbard was a solid major league starter for five seasons.  He came up with the White Sox in 1989 at age twenty-four and had his best season in 1990, when he went 14-9, 3.16, 1.22 WHIP.  He was with the White Sox through 1992, but they left him unprotected in the expansion draft and he was chosen by Florida.  They immediately traded him to the Cubs, for whom he pitched in 1993.  He became a free agent after the season and signed with Seattle in 1994.  He immediately began to have shoulder problems, tried to pitch through it with awful results, and was done after the 1994 season.  He has been a minor league pitching coach since 1999, most recently for the Frisco RoughRiders in the Rangers organization.  For his career he was 57-50, 4.05, 1.35 WHIP in 990 innings.  Not a superstar, but in his good years he was someone you'd be happy to have to fill out your rotation.

Their hot streak ended, the Twins had now lost four in a row, all at home, and their best pitcher was now injured.  Was their hot month just an illusion?  We'll see.

Record:  The Twins were 44-31, in first place in the American League West, two games ahead of California.

Keeping Track

1991 Rewind: Game Seventy-one

MINNESOTA 8, TORONTO 6 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Tuesday, June 25.

Batting stars:  Gene Larkin was 3-for-3 with a walk.  Dan Gladden was 2-for-4 with a double and a walk.  Chuck Knoblauch was 2-for-5.  Chili Davis was 1-for-2 with a two-run homer (his seventeenth), three walks, and two runs.  Mike Pagliarulo was 1-for-3 with a two-run homer, his third.

Pitching star:  Rick Aguilera pitched a perfect inning.

Opposition stars:  Greg Myers was 4-for-4 with a home run (his third) and two runs.  Devon White was 2-for-4 with a stolen base, his sixteenth.  Kelly Gruber was 1-for-4 with a home run, his fifth.  John Olerud was 1-for-4 with a home run, his eighth.

The game:  In the first inning, Knoblauch hit a one-out single and Davis hit a two-out two-run homer to put the Twins up 2-0.  In the third, Gladden and Knoblauch singled and Kirby Puckett drew a walk to load the bases with one out.  Brian Harper hit a sacrifice fly and Larkin singled home a run to make it 4-0.

The Blue Jays came storming back in the fifth.  Gruber led off with a home run and Olerud hit a one-out homer to cut the lead to 4-2.  Myers singled and Manny Lee hit a single-plus-error, scoring Myers and making it 4-3.  Mookie Wilson then hit a sacrifice fly to tie it 4-4.  Toronto wasn't done, as White singled and stole second and then scored on a Roberto Alomar single to put the Blue Jays up 5-4.

It stayed 5-4 until the sixth, when Larkin singled and Pagliarulo hit a two-run homer to put the Twins back in front 6-5.  They got a couple of insurance runs in the seventh.  Puckett was hit by a pitch and Davis walked.  A bunt moved the runners up, Mack's sacrifice fly scored one, and an Al Newman single made the score 8-5.

Myers homered in the eighth to make it 8-6, but that was the only hit Toronto had after the sixth inning.

WP:  Jack Morris (10-5).  LP:  Todd Stottlemyre (8-3).  S:  Aguilera (20).

Notes:  Larkin remained at first base, as Kent Hrbek was still out of the lineup.  Newman pinch-hit for Pagliarulo in the seventh and stayed in the game at third base.

Harper was 1-for-3 and was batting .340.  Puckett was 1-for-4 and was batting .327.  Aguilera lowered his ERA to 2.78.

Morris pitched seven innings, allowing five runs on nine hits and two walks and striking out four.  He pitched really well other than in the fourth inning.  Again, I would suggest that any other pitcher would've come out of the game in that fourth inning--Morris allowed five runs on six hits, including two home runs, in that inning.  For whatever reason, Tom Kelly stuck with Morris.  I guess you can say it worked, as Morris pitched well after that inning and the Twins came back and won.  It could be suggested, however, that it would've been better to not have lost the lead in the first place, and that using a relief pitcher might have accomplished that.

Stottlemyre pitched six innings, allowing six runs on ten hits and three walks and striking out six.  Stottlemyre had a really good year in 1991, this game notwithstanding.  He went 15-8, 3.78, 1.23 WHIP.  That was the highest win total of his career, the second-lowest ERA (3.74 in 1998), and the second-lowest WHIP (1.22 in 1997).  He never made an all-star team and never got any Cy Young votes, but he was a solid rotation starter for eleven seasons.  For his career, he was 138-121, 4.28, 1.38 WHIP.

Record:  The Twins were 44-27, in first place in the American League West, 4.5 games ahead of both California and Oakland.

Keeping Track

1991 Rewind: Game Sixty-six

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MINNESOTA 8, BALTIMORE 4 IN BALTIMORE

Date:  Wednesday, June 19.

Batting stars:  Mike Pagliarulo was 2-for-3 with a hit-by-pitch.  Kent Hrbek was 2-for-5 with a double.  Chili Davis was 1-for-5 with a three-run homer, his sixteenth.

Pitching star:  Jack Morris pitched a complete game, giving up four runs on six hits and three walks and striking out six.

Opposition stars:  Jeff Robinson pitched 7.2 innings, giving up three runs on five hits and no walks and striking out five.  David Segui was 2-for-3.  Leo Gomez was 1-for-2 with a two-run homer (his third), two walks, and two runs.

The game:  The Twins again jumped out to an early lead with a two-out first inning rally.  Kirby Puckett was hit by a pitch, Hrbek singled, and Davis hit a three-run homer to give the Twins a 3-0 lead.  The Twins threatened to blow it open early, as in the second they put men on second and third with one out, but a short fly ball and a strikeout ended the threat.  The failure allowed the Orioles to get back into the game, as Joe Orsulak drew a one-out walk in the bottom of the second and Gomez followed with a two-run homer, cutting the lead to 3-2.

Baltimore threatened to tie it in the fifth, as Gomez led off with a walk and Segui singled, but a long fly out and a double play ended the threat.  The Orioles did more than threaten in the seventh.  With one out Orsulak singled and Gomez walked.  Consecutive RBI singles by Segui and Ernie Whitt put Baltimore ahead 4-3.  The score remained there through eight innings.

But in the ninth the Twins came back, with plenty of help from the Orioles.  They began the inning with singles by Brian Harper, Gene Larkin, and Pagliarulo to tie it 4-4.  With one out, a wild pitch moved the runners to second and third, resulting in an intentional walk to Randy Bush.  A wild pitch-plus-error scored two runs and yet another wild pitch scored a third run, making the score 7-4.  Shane Mack then singled and scored from first on Puckett's single, making it 8-4.  Baltimore went down in order in the bottom of the ninth.

WP:  Morris (9-5).  LP:  Olson (0-3).  S:  None.

Notes:  Al Newman replaced Chuck Knoblauch at second base, and his .286 OBP was placed in the leadoff spot.  He went 0-for-4.  Mack was in left in place of Dan Gladden and batted second.  Pedro Munoz started in right.

The Twins made a bunch of changes in the ninth inning.  Gene Larkin pinch-hit for Munoz.  Knoblauch then pinch-ran for Larkin and went to second base.  Gladden pinch-ran for Harper and stayed in the game in left field, with Mack moving to right.  Bush pinch-hit for Newman.

Harper was 1-for-4 and was batting .344.  Puckett was 1-for-4 and was batting .328.

As I go through Morris' games, I wonder if Tom Kelly was a little intimidated by him.  Maybe not, maybe Kelly just had that much confidence in him.  But Morris was allowed to stay in games much longer than any other pitcher would have been, even in 1991, and this is one example of that.  Morris had pitched well for six innings and the Twins led 3-2.  He struck out the first batter he faced, but then he gave up a hit.  Then he walked a batter.  His pitch count was approaching a hundred.  But he stayed in the game.  Then he gave up another hit, tying the score and putting men on first and third.  Still, he stayed in the game.  He gave up another hit, losing the lead.  Still, he stayed in the game.  He got a double play to end the inning, then cruised through the eighth and ninth.  The Twins came back and won, so it worked out, but there's no other pitcher who would've been allowed to stay in the game through the seventh inning.

This was Davis' seventh home run in June.  He would go on to hit ten in June, more than a third of his season total and twice as many as he would hit in any other month.  His other June numbers were not particularly outstanding--in June he batted .253/.345/.596, his season numbers were .277/.385/.507.  I don't know that we can contribute his June homers to anything but coincidence, but it's kind of interesting.

The Twins had now won seventeen of eighteen and twenty of twenty-two.

Record:  The Twins were 40-26, in first place in the American League West, 1.5 games ahead of Oakland.

Keeping Track

1991 Rewind: Game Sixty-one

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MINNESOTA 7, CLEVELAND 0 IN CLEVELAND

Date:  Friday, June 14.

Batting stars:  Shane Mack was 3-for-4 with a grand slam (his fifth homer), a double, and five RBIs.  Brian Harper was 2-for-4.  Dan Gladden was 2-for-5.  Kent Hrbek was 1-for-4 with a two-run homer, his sixth.

Pitching stars:  Jack Morris pitched seven shutout innings, giving up three hits and five walks and striking out four.  He threw 120 pitches.  Carl Willis pitched two shutout innings, giving up one hit.

Opposition star:  Jesse Orosco pitched a perfect inning.

The game:  The Twins put men on second and third with one out in the second, but did not score.  No problem.  In the third, Chuck Knoblauch drew a one-out walk and Hrbek followed with a two-out two-run homer, putting the Twins up 2-0.  The Indians got a couple of walks in the bottom of the third but did not score.  In the fourth, Randy Bush tripled and scored on Mack's single to make the score 3-0.

The Twins put the game out of reach in the fifth.  Kirby Puckett was hit by a pitch with one out.  With two out, Harper singled and Bush was hit by a pitch, loading the bases.  Cleveland starter Jeff Shaw was then replaced by Rod Nichols, whose first pitch was hit over the fence for a grand slam by Mack to make the score 7-0.

The Indians' biggest threat came in the sixth, when they put men on second and third with two out.  They also put two men on in the seventh.  But the shutout held and it was another victory for the Twins.

WP:  Morris (8-5).  LP:  Shaw (0-1).  S:  None.

Notes:  Bush was the DH in place of Chili Davis.  The Twins made a number of defensive changes in the eighth inning.  Gene Larkin went to first base in place of Hrbek.  Al Newman went to second, replacing Knoblauch.  The two flip-flopped in the batting order, with Newman batting in Hrbek's spot and Larkin taking Knoblauch's spot.  Pedro Munoz replaced Puckett and went to right field, with Mack moving to center.

Harper raised his average to .335.  Puckett was 1-for-3 and went to .321.  Munoz was 0-for-1 and was batting .303.  Willis dropped his ERA to 2.81.

Bush was 1-for-3 to raise his average to .196.

Morris' ERA was 3.69, the lowest it had been all season.  One wonders if he tried to convince Tom Kelly to leave him in the game to pitch the eighth, even though the outcome was not in doubt and he had thrown 120 pitches.

This was the first major league appearance of the season for Jeff Shaw, and his only start of the season.  He would make one more start in 1992, make eight starts for Montreal in 1993 (and forty-seven relief appearances), then go to the bullpen for good.  He was really a fairly mediocre pitcher through 1995, but then he signed with Cincinnati and his career took off.  He went 8-6, 2.49, 1.22 WHIP with four saves in 1996.  He then became the closer and led the league in saves with 42 in 1997.  He stayed with Cincinnati until July 4, 1998, when he was traded to the Dodgers.  He stayed there and was their closer for the rest of his career.  He had a down season in 2000, but came back to make the all-star team in 2001.  There's no apparent reason he could not have pitched for at least a few more years, but he retired after the 2001 season instead.  He had 203 saves for his career and averaged 39 per season once he became a closer.  If he'd had three or four more good years, he might have had a case for the Hall of Fame.  He chose not to do that, though, there's certainly nothing wrong with that.

The Twins had now won thirteen in a row and sixteen out of seventeen.  That's pretty impressive.  How long could they keep it going?

Record:  The Twins were 36-25, in second place in the American League West, one game behind Oakland.  They were two games ahead of second place California.

Keeping Track

1991 Rewind: Game Fifty-five

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MINNESOTA 2, CLEVELAND 1 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Saturday, June 8.

Batting stars:  Kirby Puckett was 1-for-2 with two walks.  Dan Gladden was 1-for-3 with a double and a walk.

Pitching star:  Scott Erickson pitched 8.2 innings, giving up one run on nine hits and two walks and striking out seven.  He threw 115 pitches.

Opposition stars:  Alex Cole was 3-for-4 with a walk.  Chris James was 2-for-4 with a double.  Charles Nagy pitched 6.2 innings, giving up two runs on six hits and five walks and striking out four.

The game:  The Twins put men on first and second in the first, but a strikeout and a ground out ended the inning.  Gladden led off with a double in the third but could not get past third base.  Mark Lewis led off with a double in the sixth but also could not get past third base.

The Twins finally got on the board in the sixth.  With one out, Puckett singled, Kent Hrbek walked, and Chili Davis delivered an RBI double to give the Twins a 1-0 lead.  They added another run in the seventh.  Gladden drew a one-out walk and went to second on a ground out.  Puckett was intentionally walked, but Hrbek came through with a single to make the score 2-0.

The Indians rallied in the ninth.  Erickson retired the first two batters, but James singled, Jerry Browne singled, and Turner Ward drove home a run with a single to cut the lead to 2-1.  Rick Aguilera came in and walked Cole to load the bases, but Lewis flied to right to end the game.

WP:  Scott Erickson (9-2).  LP:  Nagy (2-6).  S:  Aguilera (15).

Notes:  Gene Larkin was the right fielder, replacing Shane Mack.  Mack came in for defense in the ninth inning.  With Erickson pitching, Lenny Webster was the catcher rather than Brian Harper.

Puckett raised his average to .326.  Greg Gagne was 1-for-4 and was batting .308.  Davis was 1-for-4 and was batting .303.  Erickson's ERA went to 1.53.  Aguilera lowered his ERA to 2.22.

In twelve starts so far, Erickson had not pitched fewer than 6.1 innings or thrown fewer than 84 pitches in a game.  He also had only one game score below fifty.

Nagy was in the second year of his career.  This was his twelfth start, too, and Cleveland was 3-9 in his starts.  It wasn't his fault--in the nine losses, the Indians scored a total of seventeen runs.  Twice they were shut out.  In one of the victories they scored two runs and in another they scored one.  It's hard to get wins with that kind of run support.

Jesse Orosco pitched in both yesterday's game and in this one.  He was already a veteran, in the twelfth year of his career at age thirty-four.  He would, of course, pitch twelve more years, including appearing in eight games with the Twins in 2003.

This was the Twins' seventh consecutive win.  Again, the streak was driven by pitching--the Twins had scored just 27 runs (less than four per game) but had allowed just fourteen (two per game).  They continued to move up in the standings, as you'll see below.

Record:  The Twins were 30-25, in third place in the American League West, three games behind Oakland.  They were 1.5 games behind second-place California and a half game ahead of fourth-place Seattle.

Keeping Track

1991 Rewind: Game Fifty-one

MINNESOTA 3, BALTIMORE 2 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Monday, June 3.

Batting stars:  Chili Davis was 2-for-3 with a double and a walk.  Kent Hrbek was 2-for-4 with a home run (his fifth) and a double.

Pitching stars:  Jack Morris pitched eight innings, giving up two runs on seven hits and a walk and striking out five.  Rick Aguilera pitched a scoreless inning, giving up a hit and a walk and striking out one.

Opposition stars:  Cal Ripken was 3-for-4 with a double.  David Segui was 2-for-4.  Todd Frohwirth retired all seven batters he faced, striking out one.

The game:  The Twins got a one-out double from Chuck Knoblauch in the first and from Pedro Munoz in the third, but could not bring either of them home.  With one out in the fourth, however, Hrbek hit a home run to make it 1-0.  The Twins added to their lead in the fifth.  Greg Gagne singled with one out.  With two down, Puckett reached on a single-plus-error, scoring Gagne, and Hrbek followed with a double to make it 3-0.

The Orioles got on the board in the sixth when Tim Hulett drew a two-out walk and scored on Ripken's double.  They threatened in the seventh when Ernie Whitt hit a one-out double, but the score stayed 3-1 going to the ninth.

Morris started the ninth inning, but came out after giving up a leadoff single to Ripken.  He had thrown 129 pitches.  Aguilera came in to strike out Joe Orsulak, but Sam Horn delivered an RBI double, cutting the lead to 3-2 and putting the tying run in scoring position.  David Segui hit into a fielder's choice, with pinch-runner Chris Hoiles out trying to advance to third on a ground ball to the pitcher.  But Ernie Whitt walked, putting the tying run back in scoring position and the lead run on base.  Jeff McKnight then fouled to third to end the game.

WP:  Morris (6-5).  LP:  Jeff Robinson (3-5).  S:  Aguilera (12).

Notes:  Dan Gladden was again out of the lineup, with Pedro Munoz in left and Gene Larkin in right.  Gladden entered the game as a pinch-runner in the fourth when Larkin was hit by a pitch.  He remained in the game in left field, with Munoz moving to right.  Gagne manned the leadoff spot in the batting order.

Al Newman entered the game in the seventh inning as a defensive replacement for Mike Pagliarulo at third base.

Puckett was 1-for-4 and was batting .333.  Brian Harper was 0-for-4 and dropped to .324.  He was 1-for-17 in his last five games.  Gagne was 1-for-4 and was batting .317.  Aguilera's ERA fell to 1.75.

Morris' 129 pitches were the most he had thrown in a game to this point in the season.  He would top that number only once.  It was, however, the seventh consecutive game and tenth of twelve in which he had thrown more than a hundred pitches.  His low to this point was ninety-six, on April 28.  His average was one hundred eleven.

It was the fifth appearance of the season for Todd Frohwirth.  In those five appearances, covering six innings, he had not allowed a baserunner.  No hits, no walks, no hit batsmen, nothing.  He would give up a walk in his next appearance, but would not give up a hit or a run June 8, when he surrendered two of each to Toronto.

The Twins had won three in a row to climb back over .500.  Could they stay there?  We'll see.

Record:  The Twins were 26-25, in fifth place in the American League West, 4.5 games behind Oakland.  They were two games ahead of sixth-place Chicago and a game behind fourth-place Seattle.

Keeping Track

1991 Rewind: Game Fifty

MINNESOTA 4, KANSAS CITY 1 IN KANSAS CITY

Date:  Sunday, June 2.

Batting stars:  Greg Gagne was 3-for-5 with a double.  Kirby Puckett was 2-for-4 with a home run (his sixth), a double, a walk, and two RBIs.  Lenny Webster was 1-for-2 with a double and two walks.

Pitching star:  Scott Erickson pitched 8.1 innings, giving up one run on five hits and a walk and striking out eight.  He threw 119 pitches.

Opposition stars:  Jim Eisenreich was 3-for-4 with a double.  Luis Aquino pitched four shutout innings, giving up three hits and a walk and striking out two.

The game:  The Twins scored exactly one run in each of the first four innings.  In the first, Chuck Knoblauch tripled followed by a Puckett double.  In the second, Mike Pagliarulo doubled, went to third on a wild pitch, and scored on Gagne's single.  In the third, Puckett homered.

The Royals got on the board in the bottom of the third, as Terry Shumpert walked, went to second on a ground out, and scored on Kirk Gibson's single.  Webster homered in the fourth to make the score 4-1.

And that was it.  Erickson was in control after that, retiring ten straight batters at one point and not allowing a man past second base.  Rick Aguilera came on with one out in the ninth to complete the game.

WP:  Erickson (8-2).  LP:  Tom Gordon (4-3).  S:  Aguilera (11).

Notes:  Pedro Munoz replaced Dan Gladden in left.  Gagne was the leadoff batter.  Gene Larkin was in right field.  Gladden was used as a pinch-runner for Larkin in the eighth and went to left field, with Munoz moving to right.  Al Newman pinch-ran for Pagliarulo, also in the eighth inning, and remained in the game at third base.  With the injury to Junior Ortiz, Webster was called up and made his 1991 debut.  He had been up briefly in 1989 and 1990, getting a total of twenty-six at-bats, but his home run in this game was the first of his major league career.  It's interesting that Tom Kelly continued to use someone other than Brian Harper to catch Erickson.

Webster, after his debut, was batting .500.  Puckett raised his average to .335.  Gagne raised his average to .319.  Erickson lowered his ERA to 1.58.  Aguilera dropped his ERA to 1.82.

Despite the fact that Erickson was only twenty-three and in his first full year in the majors, TK was not hesitant to leave him out there.  This was his eleventh start, and he had thrown over one hundred pitches in eight of them.  In six of them he was over one hundred ten and four he had one hundred twenty or more.  His high was 134 on April 16 and his low was 84 in his next start on April 21.  His average in those eleven starts was one hundred ten.

Eisenreich apparently enjoyed playing against his former team.  For his career, he batted .341/.364/.514 in 179 at-bats against the Twins.  The only team against whom he had a higher career OPS was the Dodgers, whom he destroyed to the tune of .405/.468/.620 in 205 at-bats.  He hit seven homers against the Dodgers and no more than four against any other club.  In 1991 Eisenreich batted .423/.444/.615 against Minnesota.  Obviously, he did not play against the Dodgers that year.

The Twins had finally pulled back up to .500.  Could they get above .500?  Could they stay there?  We shall see.

Record:  The Twins were 25-25, in fifth place in the American League West, 4.5 games behind Oakland.  They were one game ahead of sixth-place Chicago and 1.5 games behind fourth-place Seattle.

Keeping Track

1991 Rewind: Game Twenty-six

3 Comments

MINNESOTA 9, BOSTON 3 IN BOSTON

Date:  Tuesday, May 7.

Batting stars:  Chili Davis was 3-for-4 with two doubles, a walk, and three RBIs.  Greg Gagne was 2-for-4 with a double, a walk, a stolen base (his second), and two runs.  Dan Gladden was 2-for-4 with a walk and two runs.  Kirby Puckett was 2-for-5.  Shane Mack was 1-for-2 with a three-run homer, his second.

Pitching star:  Scott Erickson pitched a complete game, giving up three runs (two earned) on seven hits and two walks and struck out five.  He threw 120 pitches.

Opposition stars:  Ellis Burks was 2-for-3 with a walk.  Carlos Quintana was 2-for-4.  Tom Brunansky was 1-for-3 with a walk and a three-run homer, his fifth.

The game:  It was close most of the way.  The Twins started the game with singles by Gladden, Chuck Knoblauch, and Puckett to take a 1-0 lead, but could do no more.  The Red Sox got two singles in the bottom of the first but still sent only three men to the plate, losing one runner on a caught stealing and the other on a double play.

Neither team did much after that until the fifth.  Mike Pagliarulo opened the inning with a single and Gagne followed with a double.  Gladden drew a walk, loading the bases with none out.  Knoblauch hit a sacrifice fly and Davis doubled, giving the Twins a 3-0 lead.  It went to 6-0 in the seventh, when Puckett got a one-out single, Davis followed with another single, and Mack delivered a pinch-hit three-run homer.  The Twins added three more in the eighth, again with one out.  Gagne walked, Gladden and pinch-hitter Al Newman singled, and Davis doubled.

Boston did manage to get on the board in the ninth.  Ellis Burks singled, Jack Clark reached on an error, and with one out ex-Twin Brunansky hit a three-run homer.

WP:  Erickson (4-2).  LP:  Greg Harris (1-3).  S:  None.

Notes:  Randy Bush started in right field, with Mack pinch-hitting for him in the seventh and remaining in the game in right.  Ortiz was at catcher with Erickson on the mound.  Gene Larkin was at first base in place of Kent Hrbek.  Carmelo Castillo pinch-hit for him in the ninth and Brian Harper finished the game at first base.

Gagne raised his average to .338.  Davis was batting .325.  Knoblauch and Puckett were each batting .316.  Erickson's ERA was 1.65.

Scott Leius pinch-hit for Pagliarulo in the eighth and went 0-for-2.  He was batting .185.  Mack raised his average to .190.

There's no way that, today, Erickson would've been allowed to throw 120 pitches in a game that the Twins were winning 9-0 going to the ninth.  It really didn't make a whole lot of sense then, either.  But he had a shutout going, and that's just the way things were done at the time.  I doubt if anyone really thought about it much.

As you probably know, playing a position other than catcher was nothing new for Brian Harper.  Early in his career, he was blocked by people like Tony Pena, Lance Parrish, and Terry Steinbach, and so--in John Gordon's phrase--he played around.  He played 114 games in the outfield and a handful of games at third as well as first.  It wasn't until he got to the Twins in 1988, where the incumbent backstop was Tim Laudner, that he actually got a shot at the catching job.  When he did, he made the most of it.  In his six seasons with the Twins, he batted over .300 four times and was over .290 the other two times.  He didn't get a regular job in the majors until he was twenty-nine--had he gotten started earlier, he might have had an even better career.  As it was, he played in parts of sixteen seasons, had well over three thousand plate appearances, and put up a line of .295/.329/.419.  That's a pretty respectable career.

After that 2-9 start, the Twins finally got back to .500.  Would they stay there?  We'll find out tomorrow!

Record:  The Twins were 13-13, tied for fifth with California in the American League West, 3.5 games behind Oakland.  Only one game separated the second through sixth place teams.

Keeping Track

1991 Rewind: Game Seventeen

MINNESOTA 6, SEATTLE 0 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Friday, April 26.

Batting stars:  Dan Gladden was 3-for-4 with a double, a walk, and two RBIs.  Kirby Puckett was 3-for-4.   Chili Davis was 2-for-2 with a home run (his fourth), two walks, and two RBIs.  Junior Ortiz was 2-for-3 with two walks.  Chuck Knoblauch was 2-for-4 with two runs.

Pitching star:  Scott Erickson pitched a complete game shutout, giving up five hits and four walks and striking out one.

Opposition star:  Alvin Davis was 1-for-2 with two walks.

The game:  Each team loaded the bases in the first inning but did not score.  In the second, two out walks to Scott Leius and Greg Gagne were followed by Gladden's two-run double to put the Twins up 2-0.  Davis homered leading off the third to make it 3-0.  In the fourth, a walk to Gladden was followed by two-out singles by Puckett and Davis to make it 4-0.

With one out in the sixth, singles by Knoblauch and Puckett and a walk to Davis again loaded the bases.  A force out scored one run and an Ortiz single brought home another to make it 6-0.

Other than the first inning, the biggest Mariner threat came in the eighth.  Ken Griffey, Jr. led off with a double and Davis singled to put men on first and third with one out.  Pete O'Brien lined back to the pitcher, who turned it into a double play to end the inning.

WP:  Erickson (2-2).  LP:  Randy Johnson (2-2).  S:  None.

Notes:  Gene Larkin was at first base, with Kent Hrbek getting the day off.  Ortiz was in the game as Erickson's personal catcher.

Larkin was 1-for-5 and was batting .381.  Puckett raised his average to .353.  Knoblauch was batting .333 and was 7-for-12 in his last three games.  Davis raised his average to .315.  Erickson had an ERA of 2.03.

Shane Mack was back in the lineup in center field but was 0-for-4, dropping his average to .118.  Randy Bush was 0-for-1 and was batting .130.  Carmelo Castillo was 1-for-1 and was batting .143.  Leius was 0-for-3 with two walks and was batting .150.  Gladden raised his average to .155.

Erickson threw 124 pitches in his complete game.  Johnson threw 111 pitches in just five innings, allowing four runs on eight hits and seven walks and striking out three.  While Johnson wasn't the star he would ultimately become, he was already a good pitcher and had made the all-star team in 1990.  He just hadn't found his control yet.  1991 was the second of three consecutive seasons in which he would lead the league in walks.

The Twins had played all of their first seventeen games against west coast teams.  It would go to nineteen games before they played their first non-west coast team, Boston on April 30.

The Twins had won three in a row and five of six.

Record:  The Twins were 7-10, in seventh (last) place in the American League West, 3.5 games behind the White Sox.  They one game behind Seattle and Texas, who were tied for fifth.