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Minnesota Twins Winning Wednesdays: July 5, 1992

By Collin Kottke |

Random season: 1992.

Random game of the year: 80.

July 5, 1992. Baltimore Orioles vs. Minnesota Twins. Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome.

Minnesota Twins Starting Lineup

  1. Shane Mack – LF
  2. Chuck Knoblauch – 2B
  3. Kirby Puckett – CF
  4. Kent Hrbek – 1B
  5. Chili Davis – DH
  6. Brian Harper – C
  7. Pedro Munoz – RF
  8. Scott Leius – 3B
  9. Greg Gagne – SS

Kevin Tapani – P

Baltimore Orioles Starting Lineup

  1. Brady Anderson – LF
  2. Mike Devereaux – CF
  3. Cal Ripken – SS
  4. Sam Horn – DH
  5. Randy Milligan – 1B
  6. Joe Orsulak – RF
  7. Leo Gomez – 3B
  8. Mark McLemore – 2B
  9. Jeff Tackett – C

Rick Sutcliffe – P

The game went as you’d expect for a matchup that tilted Rick Sutcliffe and Kevin Tapani against each other. It was a pitcher’s duel to the bitter end and when I say pitcher’s duel, I mean the starters went deep into the ballgame.

Tapani went all nine innings in the ballgame, but did not surrender an earned run. The only Oriole run was scored via a throwing error from third baseman Scott Leius in the third. The Orioles would keep that lead until the ninth.

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Sutcliffe ran into some trouble in the ninth. The first out came easy as pinch hitter J.T. Bruett grounded out to second, but things got interesting when another pinch hitter was used by manager Tom Kelly for the next at-bat.

Randy Bush stepped up to the bat and laced a single to get on base. Donnie Hill then pinch hit and hit a double to right field to put the tying run on third and the winning run on second. Gene Larkin was then called on to pinch hit and was intentionally walked by Sutcliffe to load the bases with one out.

Greg Olson was called in from the pen, but Olson did not have the best day at work.

Chuck Knoblauch was the first batter up and grounded into a fielder’s choice, but Bush scored from third to tie the game up at 1-1. Kirby Puckett stepped in next and drew a walk to re-load the bases, setting the stage for hometown hero Kent Hrbek.

Hrbek stepped up to the plate and hit a single right up the middle to score the winning run, leading the Twins to a 2-1 victory.

Full boxscore for the winning game can be found here thanks to Baseball-Reference.

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