October 18, 2018

Let’s remember a time when the Twins crushed the Red Sox, Part 3

The Boston Red Sox beat the Houston Astros again Wednesday night and now have a commanding 3-1 lead in the seven-game series. If you’re rooting against the Red Sox, keep reading.

That’s because this is another installment of a time when the Red Sox had no answer for the Twins. It happened in 1977, it happened in 1965 and now we flash forward to May 20, 1994. Metropolitan Stadium is gone and the Twins now play indoors at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome, which could quickly become a house of horrors for visiting teams unfamiliar with its dimensions and unforgiving turf.

This time, the Red Sox come to town and immediately get into trouble. The Twins waste no time before about 20,000 fans on a Friday night, according to Baseball-Reference.com. They score 10 runs in the first four innings, then pile on with 11 more in the bottom of the fifth en route to a 21-2 takedown of Beantown.

The Twins score 21 runs on 22 hits and get contributions from every player in the lineup, except for designated hitter and future Hall of Famer Dave Winfield. Winfield didn’t get a hit that night, but he still draws a walk and scores a run. The 22 hits includes five doubles, one home run and plenty of singles.

The hero of the night, as he was so many times in his career, was none other than Kirby Puckett, who went 3-for-3, including a home run, and drove in seven RBI. Chuck Knoblauch, Scott Leius, Shane Mack, Dave McCarty, Matt Wallbeck and Pat Meares all have two or more hits in the game. The Twins also are a sizzling 13-for-21 with runners in scoring position.

On the mound for the Twins was Carlos Pulido. He never pitched with distinction, but after a team scores that many runs, you’re bound to win. And so he did, improving to 2-3 with a 4.62 ERA.

COMMENTS

Hi, I’m Rolf Boone, Twins fan.

I became a fan of the Minnesota Twins after a friendly wager in the early 1980s. I survived Ron Davis, the meltdown in Cleveland, Phil Bradley at the Kingdome and then marveled at a rising generation of stars and two World Series wins in 1987 and 1991. Brad Radke made the 1990s bearable, while Kirby Puckett’s eye injury, exit from the game and eventual death made it almost too much to bear. The new century ushered in more talent — Joe Mauer, Johan Santana, Joe Nathan, Torii Hunter, Justin Morneau — and consecutive seasons of playoff baseball, followed by consecutive seasons of losing baseball. A winning season returned in 2015. So here we are. Go Twins.