You can make a solid case that first baseman Don Mincher was the best player on the 1969 Seattle Pilots. He played in 140 games, led the team with 25 home runs, was the team's only All Star and led all regulars with a .366 OBP and .454 slugging percentage. On this day at Sick's Stadium, however, he had his worst day.
The Twins led the Pilots 6-2 entering the eighth inning on this day, but the future Brewers scored a run in the eighth and three more in the ninth to tie it. Both teams scored a single run in the 15th before the Twins blew it open with four in the eighteenth to take an 11-7 victory. The Pilots scored seven runs on 20 hits in the game but none of them came from Mincher, who posted the only 0-for-9 line in franchise history.
Mincher, batting cleanup, flew out three times, struck out once, popped out twice and grounded out three times (once getting an RBI for doing so). He narrowly avoided repeating the feat eight days later when he went 1-for-9 in a 20 inning loss to the Red Sox.
With help from Brewerfan.net and the B-Ref Play Index, happy birthday today to:
- Huntsville Star Brian Garman, who turns 24.
- Tim Dillard, who turns 29.
- 2001 Brewer Gus Gandarillas, who turns 41.
Today is also the third anniversary of a 2009 trade that brought Felipe Lopez from Arizona to Milwaukee. We covered that event in this space last year.