CLEVELAND 6, MINNESOTA 3 IN CLEVELAND

Date:  Thursday, May 21.

Batting stars:  Tim Laudner was 2-for-4 with a two-run homer, his second.  Kirby Puckett was 2-for-4 with a double.  Gene Larkin, in his first major league game, was 2-for-4 with an RBI.

Pitching star:  Mark Portugal, who had pitched 2.2 innings two days earlier, pitched three innings, giving up one run on two hits and a walk with two strikeouts.

Opposition stars:  Greg Swindell pitched a complete game, giving up three runs on nine hits and no walks with seven strikeouts.  Cory Snyder was 3-for-4 with three solo homers, his seventh, eighth, and ninth.  Mel Hall was 2-for-4 with a home run, his sixth.  Tony Bernazard was 2-for-4 with a home run, his fifth.

The game:  Bert Blyleven left a pitch up to Sndyer in the second, Joe Carter singled in a run in the third, and Blyleven left pitches up to Snyder and Bernazard in the fifth and Hall in the sixth.  All the home runs were solo shots, but I guess solo home runs can hurt if you give up enough of them.  Trailing 5-0, the Twins got on the board when Laudner hit a two-run homer in the seventh, but never got closer than three runs.

Of note:  Puckett raised his average to .335...Laudner got his average into triple digits for the first time in nearly a month and was batting .122...Blyleven pitched five innings, giving up five runs on eleven hits and one walk with four strikeouts.

Record:  The Twins were 20-20, in fifth place, 3.5 games behind Kansas City.

Notes:  Mark Davidson played right field, with Tom Brunansky at DH and Roy Smalley out of the lineup.

Player profile:  1987 was easily the best year of Brook Jacoby's career.  He had an OPS of .928 that year--he never topped .800 in any other.  He hit 32 homers that year--his next highest was 20.  He came up with Atlanta, but the Braves had Bob Horner to play third and did not have room for him, so he was traded to Cleveland after the 1993 season as a player to be named later (along with Brett Butler) for Len Barker.  The Indians made him their starting third sacker in 1984 and he stayed in the lineup into 1991, although he started playing quite a bit of first base in 1990.  He was twice an all-star, in 1986 and in 1990.  Oddly, he did not make the team in 1987, losing out to Wade Boggs and Kevin Seitzer.  That last one seems strange, but Seitzer batted .323 that year, so one can understand it.  In 1988 he had a pretty substantial regression to the mean, hitting only nine homers and batting .241.  He bounced back, though, and remained a productive player through 1990.  He havd a poor year in 1991 and was traded to Oakland at the July deadline, but came back to the Indians as a free agent in 1992.  He went to Japan for 1993, then his playing career was over.  He has remained in baseball and is the batting coach for the Toronto Blue Jays.

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.