Win–loss record 19–27 Role Baseball player Earned run average 5.29 Height 1.96 m | Strikeouts 297 Weight 104 kg Name Matt Kinney Education Bangor High School | |
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Matthew John Kinney (born December 16, 1976) is a former American professional baseball pitcher. He spent 2008 with the Saitama Seibu Lions of Japan's Pacific League. Kinney is a graduate of Bangor High School. Kinney and his Little League team was featured in the Stephen King essay "Head Down", featured in King's Nightmares and Dreamscapes collection.
Career
Kinney was drafted out of Bangor High School in the sixth round of the 1995 amateur draft by the Boston Red Sox. He was traded to the Minnesota Twins along with John Barnes for Orlando Merced and Greg Swindell in July 1998. Kinney made his MLB debut in 2000 with the Twins, going 2-2 with a 5.10 ERA in 8 starts. In 2002, he had just a 4.64 ERA with the Minnesota Twins, but went 2-7 that year. He was traded in the 2002 off-season to the Milwaukee Brewers. In 2003 and 2004 with the Brewers, he combined for a 13-17 record. On August 6, 2004, Kinney was designated for assignment by the Brewers and was claimed off waivers by the Kansas City Royals. He made 11 relief appearances with the Royals that season. During the 2007-2008 offseason, Kinney signed with the Saitama Seibu Lions, playing in Japan for a single season. Kinney returned to the United States in 2009 to play with the Fresno Grizzlies, the AAA affiliate of the San Francisco Giants.
Kinney gave up Barry Bonds' 660th home run, which tied Bonds with his godfather Willie Mays.
On August 24, 2010, while with the Triple-A Fresno Grizzlies of the Pacific Coast League, Kinney received a 50-game suspension after testing positive for an amphetamine, a banned performance-enhancing substance. Kinney took responsibility for the suspension but explained that the amphetamine in question was contained in Adderall, a drug he has been taking since 2005 to treat his attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and was taken for medical reasons, not to boost his on-field performance. The suspension came as a result of his forgetting to file the proper paperwork with Major League Baseball when he signed with the Giants earlier in the year.