MINNESOTA 7, MILWAUKEE 2 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Wednesday, May 27.

Batting stars:  Gary Gaetti was 1-for-3 with a home run (his eleventh) and a walk, scoring twice.  Greg Gagne was 2-for-5 with a double, scoring once and driving in one.  Kent Hrbek was 2-for-4 with a double and a run.

Pitching stars:  Frank Viola struck out seven in six innings, giving up two runs on five hits and two walks.  George Frazier pitched three shutout innings, giving up a hit and a walk while striking out two.

Opposition stars:  Robin Yount was 1-for-2 with a double and two walks, scoring once.  Jim Paciorek was 2-for-3 with a double and an RBI.

The game:  The Twins scored single runs in the second, fourth, and fifth, but the Brewers got two in the sixth to cut the margin to 3-2.  The Twins responded with four in the bottom of the sixth to put the game out of reach.  They were aided by two Milwaukee errors, two walks, and a wild pitch.

Of note:  Kirby Puckett was 1-for-4 with an RBI, dropping his average to .319...Milwaukee starter Bill Wegman pitched five innings, allowing six runs on eight hits and two walks while striking out three.

Record:  The Twins were 23-22, tied for second with Seattle, four games behind Kansas City.

Notes:  This was the first of two saves Frazier would get in 1987.  The second would come nearly a month later, June 23, against Cleveland...Despite the two Milwaukee errors in the sixth, only one of the Twins runs was unearned.

Player profile:  The younger brother of Tom Paciorek, this would be Jim Paciorek's only season in the majors.  It was only about two-thirds of a season, at that--he was sent to AAA in mid-July, coming back as a September callup.  He was drafted by Milwaukee in the eighth round in 1982.  A corner infielder, mostly, he hit for fine averages in the minors and drew a lot of walks but had very little power.  He hit .309 in Vancouver with a .398 OBP in 1986, which is what landed him with Milwaukee the next year.  The Brewers' main third baseman was Ernie Riles, who wasn't all that much, but they still played Paciorek sparingly, giving him only 101 at-bats in 48 games.  It must be admitted that he didn't do much with the playing time they did give him, batting just .228, but given his minor league record it seems like he deserved more of a chance.  He apparently decided that if he couldn't beat out Ernie Riles there wasn't much point in continuing, so he went to Japan after the season and played there through 1993 before ending his playing career.

Further note:  Jim Paciorek had another brother who played in the majors, John Paciorek.  John Paciorek played in one game for Houston on September 29, 1963, the last day of the season.  He went 3-for-3 with two walks, four runs, and three RBIs.  His career line is 1.000/1.000/1.000, which of course makes his career OPS 2.000.  He was eighteen years old and had played one season of professional ball, batting .219 for Class A Modesto, so why he got a September callup is unclear, but one has to say he made the most of it.  He was back in Class A in 1964 and stayed there through 1968.  He finally reached AA in 1969, but played only twenty-nine games for Waterbury.  He was apparently injured frequently during his career, dealing with back and shoulder injuries.  The injury that ended his career in 1969 was a torn achilles tendon.  He later became a physical education teacher and has written two books on batting.