SEATTLE 6, MINNESOTA 5 IN SEATTLE

Date:  Saturday, April 11.

Batting stars:  Kirby Puckett was 3-for-4 with a home run, his third.  Randy Bush was 2-for-5 with a home run, his second.  Roy Smalley was 2-for-4.

Pitching star:  Keith Atherton pitched four shutout innings of relief, giving up two hits and a walk with one strikeout.  Apparently, the rules allowed relief pitchers to work more than one inning back then.

Opposition stars:  Donell Nixon was 2-for-3 with a double, a walk, and two stolen bases, scoring once and driving in one.  Ken Phelps was 2-for-3 with a home run, a walk, and two RBIs.  Rey Quinones was 3-for-4 with a run and an RBI.

The game:  The Twins trailed 5-2 after five, but a Puckett home run in the sixth, an RBI groundout in the eighth, and a sacrifice fly in the ninth tied it 5-5.  Jeff Reardon came on to work the ninth.  He retired the first batter, but Scott Bradley singled, Mickey Brantley doubled, and Mike Kingery singled home the winning run.

Of note:  Les Straker started but lasted only four innings, allowing five runs (three earned) on six hits and four walks with one strikeout...Greg Gagne was 1-for-3 with a run...Mark Davidson was used as a pinch-runner and stole a base.

Record:  The Twins were 4-1, falling into a tie for first with California.

Notes:  Gladden remained out of the starting lineup, with Tom Brunansky starting in left and Bush in right.  He was used as a pinch-hitter and hit a game-tying sacrifice fly in the ninth...Davidson stole nine bases in 1987 and was caught stealing only twice...1987 was one of the better years of Minnesota native Mike Kingery's career, as he batted .280 with 25 doubles.  The next two years he would bat .204 and .223 and see substantial time in the minors.  He signed with the Giants for 1990 and bounced back to bat .295 in part-time play, although with an OPS of just .673.  The next two seasons he again spent substantial time in the minors and could not top the Mendoza line in his major league time.  He wasn't in the majors at all in 1993, but he signed with Colorado for 1994 and had the best season of his career at age 33, batting .349 with an OPS of .933 in 349 at-bats.  He had a decent year in 1995, but didn't do much upon moving to Pittsburgh in 1996 and was done after that.  It appears that he returned to Minnesota and operates the Solid Foundation Baseball School in Grove City.