'Cooters-gate'. Misdemeanor charges against Aguilera were eventually dropped. In the 1986 postseason, Aguilera pitched five scoreless innings in relief against the Houston Astros in the NLCS. Despite a 12.00 ERA in the World Series, he was the pitcher of record in the Mets' dramatic Game 6 comeback victory, getting the win despite giving up the two runs which surrendered the lead to Boston in the top of the 10th inning. Injuries slowed him the next two years, as he was limited to 17 starts in 1987 and 3 starts in 1988 by an elbow injury that required surgery. With injury concerns and seven innings of one-run relief in the 1988 NLCS, the Mets decided to experiment with Aguilera as a reliever. After returning to the team in 1989, he was converted to a long reliever. Although he was unhappy in a low-leverage bullpen role and asked to be traded, Aguilera thrived in the role, going 6–6 with a 2.34 ERA, 80 strikeouts and 7 saves in 36 appearances. When Dwight Gooden was placed on the disabled list in early July 1989, the Mets began looking for a veteran starting pitcher via trade, rather than promote from within into the open rotation slot, with young pitchers such as Aguilera, Kevin Tapani, and David West rumored as trade bait. After the Mets lost their seventh game in a row ahead of the trade deadline, Aguilera was included in a last-minute deadline deal, along with West, Tapani, reliever Tim Drummond and a player to be named (which on October 16 became reliever Jack Savage), for Minnesota Twins ace Frank Viola. Minnesota Twins Although he got his wish and completed the season with the Twins as a starter, going 3–5 with a 3.72 ERA and 3 complete games in innings, he was shifted to the closer's role in 1990 and responded by saving 32 games for a team that went 74–88. The next year, his relief pitching was instrumental in the Twins' surprising division title, as he saved 42 games with a 2.35 ERA, a team record that would stand until Eddie Guardado broke it in 2002 with 45 saves. He went on to save three of four victories in the ALCS and the first two games of the World Series against the Atlanta Braves. In Game 3, he became the first pitcher to pinch hit in a World Series game since Don Drysdale