Erickson's attempt at a comeback in 1994 started with merciless beatings in three of his first four starts, and then - in start No. 5 - he pitched a no-hitter against the Milwaukee Brewers.
Erickson took that no-hit streak into Tuesday night's start against the Brewers, this time in County Stadium. When his effort was over, Erickson's pitching career remained what it has been since June 1991: an intriguing, frustrating mystery.
The no-hit drama lasted until Erickson's second pitch, which Darryl Hamilton bounced high toward first base.
Steve Dunn, making his big league debut, moved to field it, then saw Erickson do the same and started to retreat to cover first base.
"I would have made it back to the bag, but I fell," Dunn said. "I felt sorry for Scotty. That shouldn't have been a hit."
That is what it turned out to be when Hamilton dove for the bag and Erickson ran, and the dive arrived first.
So Erickson's no-hit run was over immediately, and so was the shutout streak a few minutes later, when Greg Vaughn was served a fat slider and drilled it into the left field bleachers for a three-run homer.
Vaughn had been the last out in the no-hitter.
"[Last week's final pitch] was a slider near the center of the plate, and Vaughn popped it up to left," said Dick Such, the Twins pitching coach. "Tonight, Scotty gave him a slider near the center of the plate, and Vaughn hit it out. Some nights, everything goes your way; other nights, nothing happens for you."
Brian Harper was Erickson's big league catcher until this year. Harper now is employed by the Brewers. The suggestion that Vaughn's three-run homer came on a pitch similar to the slider he popped up to end the no-hitter was mentioned to Harper.
"That slider was in the same area of the plate, but lower," Harper said. "It was 4, 5 inches lower. Four, 5 inches in location makes all the difference in this game. Scotty made a few mistakes with his breaking ball tonight. He didn't make those mistakes back in Minnesota."
Erickson trailed 3-2 after Vaughn's home run. The Twins and their Milwaukee ally, shortstop Jose Valentin, had Erickson back in the lead 4-3 by the fourth.
The Twins' lack of power has been manifesting itself in the statistics - 50 home runs allowed and 18 hit so far - and there has been talk of the need to manufacture runs.
The manufactured-runs fans would have been proud of the Twins' third run in the third: a two-base throwing error by Valentin, followed by two wild pitches by Milwaukee starter Bill Wegman to score Kirby Puckett.
Valentin had four throws across the diamound, and he launched three over and around first baseman John Jaha.
Alarmed by this dangerous situation, President Clinton has called for an emergency addition on the controversial anti-gun bill: He now wants to ban 19 types of assault rifles and Jose Valentin from playing shortstop.
Erickson retired eight straight hitters after Vaughn's home run, and he took that 4-3 lead into the fifth. Then this happened with one out: Hamilton, Kevin Seitzer and Turner Ward singled to load the bases, Vaughn doubled for two more RBI, and Dave Nilsson singled for two RBI to make it 7-4.
Six days after the no-hitter, Erickson was gone after five innings, his ERA was back to 6.31, and the mystery had continued.
A reporter expressed his favorite theory - Erickson comes apart when he has to throw numerous pitches from the stretch - to Such and Harper.
"We emphasize to our pitchers the need to be quick to the plate when they are in the stretch, and Scotty had been real good with that this year," Such said.
"He had more trouble in the stretch last year, when he would rush himself - there's a difference between being quick and rushing - and get under some pitches, rather than coming over the top. He threw a couple of pitches like that, but I can't say pitching from a stretch is much more of a problem for Scotty than it is for any pitcher."
Harper said: "If the quality of his pitches were that much different from the stretch last season, I didn't notice. I would say, with Scotty . . . it's hard for me to give you an answer. He has good stuff. He really does. But he's like every other pitcher. He can't make mistakes."
Thanks to Debbie for sending me this article