May 26, 1993: George Tsamis records a win in ‘wet and wild’ matchup with Athletics

On a rainy Wednesday afternoon, the Minnesota Twins were at the Oakland Coliseum to play the second of a two-game series against the Oakland Athletics. Twins manager Tom Kelly had penciled in Kevin Tapani as his team’s starter, while A’s manager Tony La Russa picked Ron Darling. Darling was struggling, going winless in eight starts.1 This was their first series since 1986 in which neither team was “in contention.”2 The Twins, at 17-25, were mired in an eight-game losing skid.3 The A’s weren’t faring much better at 18-23, though they had won four of their last five. After a 49-minute rain delay, the crowd of 18,276 finally saw the game start at 1:04 P.M. Conditions were unusual for any major-league game, but the cold rain was very unexpected in the California park. Kirby Puckett of the Twins summed it up: “I tell you what, it was nasty out there. It was a tough game to play. When I was growing up in Chicago, I never played when it was this cold. I’m soaking wet.”4 Exactly four hours long, the game produced 31 hits, 23 runs, 22 men left on base, 15 walks, 13 pitchers, 6 lead changes, 5 wild pitches, 4 errors, 3 blown saves, two tired teams, and one win for George Tsamis.5

The first inning was uneventful, as each pitcher quickly retired the batters in order. In the top of the second, the Twins got a hit but were unable to capitalize on it. By the bottom of the second, pitchers and fielders started struggling with the ball. Oakland’s Dave Henderson made it home because of a wild pitch from Tapani.6 The advantage did not last; the weather contributed. Minnesota catcher Terry Steinbach’s wild throw after an RBI single by Dave McCarty put the Twins ahead 2-1 in the top of the third inning. McCarty scored on a single by Puckett, who then came home when cleanup hitter Kent Hrbek hit a two-run homer. The Twins had a 5-1 lead with nobody out. With Darling struggling, A’s manager La Russa called in reliever Kelly Downs. Darling finished the day giving up five runs on five hits with two walks and one strikeout in two innings of work.7 Downs started out shaky, hitting the first batter he faced, Brian Harper, but shut down the Twins onslaught.

The A’s immediately cut the deficit by two in the bottom of the inning. Both runs were unearned, thanks in large part to misplays because of the rain. Rickey Henderson reached second on shortstop Pat Meares’s wild throw, which Meares blamed on the “sopping wet baseball.”8 Henderson took third on an infield hit by Brent Gates. Henderson scored on a single by Rubén Sierra; Gates came home on a single by Terry Steinbach. In the fourth, Oakland’s Marcos Armas collected his first career hit, a double, and scored on two wild pitches by Tapani.9 The A’s tied the score on Gates’s homer in the fifth. After Steinbach doubled, Twins manager Kelly replaced Tapani with Mike Trombley. Tapani ended his day with 4⅔ innings pitched, giving up eight hits, five runs (three earned), a walk, and three wild pitches. Trombley got Troy Neel to fly out, retiring the side.

The A’s charged ahead in the bottom of the sixth. Trombley walked the bases full, then gave up a bases-clearing double to Sierra. He would then move up to third on McCarty’s error on the play, giving Oakland an 8-5 lead.

Goose Gossage replaced Kelly Downs to start the seventh for the A’s. Downs had shut down the Twins for four innings while the A’s hitters gained the lead. Gossage pitched a scoreless seventh, but the Twins regained the lead in the eighth. Chuck Knoblauch hit a double, took third on a wild pitch by Gossage, and scored on a single by Puckett. Rick Honeycutt replaced Gossage and surrendered a single to Hrbek, sending Puckett to third base. Reigning American League MVP and Cy Young Award winner Dennis Eckersley then relieved Honeycutt and yielded an RBI single to Brian Harper and an RBI double to Gene Larkin, giving the Twins a 9-8 lead. It was Eckersley’s fifth blown save of the season. In 1992 he had just three blown saves all season.10

In the bottom of the eighth, Carl Willis relieved Trombley. After Rickey Henderson doubled with one out, Mark Guthrie replaced Willis. Guthrie got one out, but after an intentional walk to Sierra, Kelly brought in closer Rick Aguilera. Aguilera walked Lance Blankenship, loading the bases. Struggling with his footing on the mound, Aguilera walked in two runs, putting the A’s ahead 10-9. In his first poor performance of the season after 12 successful saves, Aguilera mentioned how difficult it was to get past the weather: “I needed to stay more focused on the game than the weather, and I let it affect me. I’d rather give up three hits than three walks.”11

Kelly talked with umpire crew chief Larry Barnett about the deteriorating field conditions. Barnett said he would have “a drying substance” put on the mound after the inning ended. Kelly declined, saying, “I just didn’t think it was right he would fix it for one team.”12 Instead Kelly made yet another pitching change, bringing in rookie George Tsamis. The pressure was on to get the last out of the inning without letting the A’s add to their one-run lead. Tsamis said, “I don’t think I’ve ever been so nervous. My knees were shaking. I just wanted to get the ball over the plate. Thank God Sveum took it.”13 Tsamis struck out Kevin Seitzer, pitch-hitting for Dale Sveum, for the third out.

With his closer already used, La Russa brought in Joe Boever to preserve the 10-9 lead in the ninth. Boever struggled, and on his first four pitches the Twins tied the game (leadoff double by Mike Pagliarulo, triple by Meares). With the score tied, Boever walked Chuck Knoblauch. Dave McCarty was safe on a bad throw by third baseman Seitzer on his groundball. With the bases loaded, Kirby Puckett came up to the plate and lined a two-run single to center, giving the Twins a 12-10 lead. Mike Mohler replaced Boever, setting a team record for the most pitchers used in a nine-inning game (seven).14 Mohler retired the side but the damage was done.

Tsamis returned to the mound in the bottom of the ninth, in position to pick up his first major-league win. Marcos Armas led off with a homer, the first of his career, making the score 12-11, and Mike Bordick singled.15 Tsamis got Rickey Henderson to ground into a double play. The A’s got their third hit of the inning on a single by Brent Gates, but Tsamis got the final out when Sierra flied to Knoblauch, who “pumped his hands in the air,” celebrating the catch.16 After the game, Tsamis told reporters, “It’s my first win, but I’m more upset about it than I am happy about it because of the way I pitched in the last inning.”17

At the end of the game, umpire crew chief Barnett admitted that “it was a mess out there.” He thought about delaying the game several times, but Oakland had only a four-man grounds crew. Barrett felt they wouldn’t be able to put the tarp on or take it off if the rain stopped.18 A tarp that covers a major-league diamond weighs about 1,500 pounds with the roller and it would be extremely difficult for a crew of four to be able to apply or remove it.19 Barnett summed up the game for everyone: “I’m glad the game’s over and no one broke their neck.”20

Acknowledgments

This article was fact-checked by Bruce Slutsky and copy-edited by Len Levin.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com and Retrosheet.org for pertinent information, including the box score and play-by-play.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/OAK/OAK199305260.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1993/B05260OAK1993.htm

Notes

1 “Stewart to Start Against Ex-Mates,” Oakland Tribune, May 27, 1993: D4.

2 John Hickey, “A’s Calfpen Flubs Another,” Oakland Tribune, May 27, 1993: D1, D4.

3 Carl Steward, “A’s and Twins, or the Hounds of War,” Oakland Tribune, May 27, 1993: D1.

4 Jim Souhan, “Like It or Not, Tsamis Earns His First Victory,” Minneapolis Star Tribune, May 27, 1993: 5C.

5 Steward.

6 Souhan, “Like It or Not.”

7 Hickey.

8 Steward.

9 Hickey.

10 Associated Press, “Puckett’s Hit Stops Twins’ Slide, Ends 4-Hour Game,” Des Moines Register, May 27, 1993: 3S.

11 Souhan, “Like It or Not.”

12 Souhan, “Like It or Not.”

13 Souhan, “Like It or Not.” Tsamis erred; he struck out Seitzer, not Sveum.

14 “Stewart to Start Against Ex-Mates.”

15 Souhan, “Like It or Not.”

16 Jim Souhan, “Finally: Twins End Skid with a Wild One,” Minneapolis Star Tribune, May 27, 1993: 5C.

17 Associated Press, “It Rains: Hits, Runs, Blown Saves and Raindrops,” Reno Gazette-Journal, May 27, 1993: 2E.

18 “It Rains: Hits, Runs, Blown Saves and Raindrops.”

19 “Groundskeeper Lives to Laugh About Tarp Fiasco,” Yahoo! Sports, April 16, 2011. https://www.yahoo.com/news/groundskeeper-lives-laugh-tarp-fiasco-052400848–mlb.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAJSB6lENl5F2kAPELnhyU8PiUen63D1XAW4sgJ8A9aRSgCrmHUCZyU3w16J62xolUwez7unQu5RcYaGYOQfls_FTu_A5_NSUTGEx-7TIUjNa_7NO2xqnYUCBLfVXlxPFSZ_expyLX1tPY8gV9iPuQa1HeqB_VRSO3hK6gBEeQIT6. Accessed January 9, 2023.

20 Associated Press, “Puckett’s Hit Stops Twins’ Slide, Ends 4-Hour Game.”