Blanton vs Blyleven
Twins 4, A's 2
Tied 2-2 after 6 1/2 innings pinch hitter Justin (credible) Morneau hit a 2 run shot off of a tiring Joe Blanton to give Bert Blyleven (1-2, 3.29) the lead for good. Minnesota had been nursing a 2-1 lead since the 4th, but Blyleven served up a solo shot to "Mr. October" Reggie Jackson, to tie the game at 2-2 in the top of the 7th. Blyleven fanned 10, while walking just 1 in this complete game effort, which put the Twins back over the .500 mark.
GAME 2
J.Parker vs Tapani
A's 7, Twins 6
After going up 6-0 and knocking Kevin Tapani out of the box the A's thought they had a laugher on their hands. A 5 run outburst in the bottom of the 6th knocked the underachieving men from the Bay area back down to reality. Starter Jarrod Parker, who cruised for 5 shutout innings headed for the showers. Reliever Tony Pierce wasn't all that stellar himself. In their defens, there wasn't much defense. Two errors by lead gloved third baseman Finigan helped open up the flood gates. Gerry Arrigo, who came on board in the 7th for Tapani, did a wonderful job keeping the A's at bay during his first 2 innings on the hill. In the top of the 9th the surprisingly powerless Mark McGwire hit his 4th bomb of the year to up the lead to 2. Big Mac's homer would loom large as the Twins scored a solo run in the bottom of the 9th off closer Andrew Bailey. To add to the drama Koskie made the final out on a warning track shot that Canseco bobbled before finally corralling.
GAME 3 - Oakland Coliseum
D.Stone vs Nash
A's 7, Twins 4
Jose Canseco scored in the bottom of the 5th on a ball that bounced in the dirt and went to the backstop. At the time the score was 4-1 Twins. That run broke Dean Stone's 35 consecutive scoreless innings streak on the mound. The following inning "The Glider" Ed Charles doubled home Cespedes to make it 4-2. With closer Doug Corbett on the mound in the bottom of the 8th to rescue a tiring Stone things still looked good for the visiting Twins. With runners on 1st and 2nd and one out Walt Weiss went against the book and bunted. Twin catcher Joe Mauer was caught napping. Mauer jumped out from behind the plate to get the ball. He pivoted to throw to second and in turn air mailed the ball into center, which allowed Dick Howser to score and make it 4-3. Pinch hitter Ben Grieve delivered a two run single to give Oakland their first lead on the day. After Reggie Jackson struck out looking for out number 2 Terry "Grapes of Wrath" Steinbach delivered a clutch 2 out two run single to make it 7-4. All 5 runs scored in the inning were unearned. Huston Street closed out the game and got the win, because he was on the hill for the final 4 outs.
All 3 games in this series could have gone either way. Special thanks to Twins Mgr Bill Schneider for managing a great game. Lots of chess match style moves by both skippers.
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