1987 Rewind: Game Thirty-nine

MINNESOTA 8, CLEVELAND 2 IN CLEVELAND

Date:  Wednesday, May 20.

Batting stars:  Tom Brunansky was 1-for-3 with a grand slam (his seventh homer) and a walk.  Kirby Puckett was 3-for-5 with a double, scoring twice and driving in one.  Randy Bush was 1-for-4 with a stolen base (his third) and a run.

Pitching stars:  Juan Berenguer struck out eight in 6.1 innings, giving up two runs on eight hits and two walks.  Keith Atherton struck out two in 1.2 scoreless innings, giving up a walk.  Jeff Reardon struck out three in a scoreless inning, giving up a hit and a walk.

Opposition stars:  Brett Butler was 1-for-2 with a home run and three walks, scoring twice.  Joe Carter was 2-for-3 with a stolen base (his ninth) and an RBI.  Carmelo Castillo was 2-for-2 with a double.

The game:  It was 2-2 through five.  In the sixth, a single and two walks loaded the bases and Brunansky hit a two-out grand slam to put the Twins up 6-2.  They added two more in the ninth.

Of note:  Puckett raised his average to .331...Tim Laudner was 1-for-4 with an RBI to raise his average to .089...Berenguer's ERA went up to 2.17...Cleveland starter Tom Candiotti pitched seven innings, allowing six runs on five hits and three walks with five strikeouts.

Record:  The Twins were 20-19, tied with Oakland for fourth place, three games behind Kansas City.

Notes:  Al Newman was again at shortstop in place of Greg Gagne...Randy Bush was again in right field, with Brunansky in left and Dan Gladden on the bench...Berenguer made his second consecutive strong start.

 

5 thoughts on “1987 Rewind: Game Thirty-nine”

    1. Maybe because that's how the Twins viewed him. His best year was actually 1988, when he went 7-5, 3.41, 1.18 WHIP in 74 innings (49 games). The Twins were so impressed that the next spring they traded him for Carmelo Castillo.

      1. 1988 was pretty much every Twins player's best year, certainly better than their 1987. I don't get why people thought the Twins were slackers in 1988, it was just that the A's were so outstanding.

        1. My recollection is not of them being slackers. I remember them having a better record but not ever really being in the race. If some think of them as slackers in '88, it was probably because they got off to a bad start and were 11-18 and 12 games out of first place on May 9. They did get within 3 games of first in July but were pretty much out of it at the end of August.

          1. The standard opinion was that there was a big fall off after winning the WS, but like I said most all of the Twins had outstanding years, it's just that the A's improved so much more. I seem to remember they were swept in an important race series against the A's in August, but they still weren't the team that the A's were.

Comments are closed.