The 55 Twins hosted the Cubs in the second game of their semifinal series at A Diamond. After surrendering a lead off single to Carlos Espada, Twins starting pitcher Gary Webber retired the next three Cubs in the top of the first but Espada, who had stolen 2nd scored on a fielders choice to the right side, scored. 1-0 Cubs. JEFF WHITEHEAD led off for the Twins and ripped double and was followed by Frank Owens who singled. Ricky Saidenberg lifted a fly to fairly deep centerfield knocking in the Twins first run as WHITEHEAD crossed the plate. Steve RYCHCIK followed with a single bringing Owens home. The inning ended with the Twins up 2-1. The Cubs loaded the bases with one out in the top of the second but Webber forced a ground ball that turned into an inning ending double play. Nothing for the Twins in the bottom of the second. Often this season the Twins have been their own worst enemy, making errors at the most inopportune times and that is what happened in the top of the third. The Cubs scored three unearned runs with just one hit as the Twins infield made two crucial errors. Cubs up 4-2 after 3. No runs scored in the fourth inning. However, the Cubs added one more run in the fifth inning as CUTLER hit a one out triple and scored on a Girard single to right centerfield. 5-2 Cubs. The Twins had runners at first and second with no outs in both the fifth and sixth inning, but could not convert them into runs. Top of the seventh saw the Cubs score two more runs on three hits, including doubles by Cutler and REUTTER. Final score, Cubs win 7-2 and move on to the finals against whoever wins Wednesdays third game of the Yankees Whiz series. The Twins made two costly errors while the Cubs made one. Five hits for the Twins and 10 hits for the Cubs. Leading hitter for the Twins was JEFF WHITEHEAD with a single and double making him 5-5 (3 doubles) in the 2 semifinal games against the Cubs. I will note that the second hit of the game for Whitehead last night was a clean line drive to left centerfield that was technically not a hit as JEFF could barely go up the first baseline at normal walking speed due to the muscle pull from the first inning and he was thrown out long before he reached first. But, in my book, Im giving him a single out of the great respect I have for him still trying to help his team when he was under great duress. For the Cubs, MARTONE, REUTTER, and CUTLER had two hits each. Mike Girard was the winning pitcher and Webber took the loss. Both pitchers went the full 7. The Twins final overall record was 9-9-1. We will take this season as a maturing exercise. I cant tell you what a pleasure it has been to be the GM of this Twins team.
-- Edited by crowbait on Tuesday 16th of September 2025 08:53:24 AM
-- Edited by crowbait on Tuesday 16th of September 2025 10:48:43 AM
