MINNESOTA 6, CHICAGO 3 IN CHICAGO
Date: Sunday, June 14.
Batting stars: Tim Laudner was 1-for-4 with a grand slam (his sixth homer), driving in five. Tom Brunansky was 1-for-3 with two walks and two runs. Steve Lombardozzi was 3-for-4 with a hit-by-pitch and a run.
Pitching stars: Joe Niekro pitched six innings, giving up three runs on six hits and three walks with five strikeouts. Juan Berenguer struck out three in three perfect innings.
Opposition stars: Bryan Clark pitched 4.1 innings of relief, giving up one run on five hits and two walks with three strikeouts. Ray Searage struck out three in three shutout innings, giving up a hit and a walk. Ivan Calderon was 2-for-3 with a double and a walk, scoring once and driving in two.
The game: Laudner hit a grand slam in a five-run second that put the Twins in the lead to stay. The White Sox got back in the game with three in the fourth, getting a two-run double from Calderon and an RBI double by Donnie Hill. The Twins added a run in the fifth.
Of note: Kirby Puckett was 3-for-4 with a walk and was batting .318. Roy Smalley was 0-for-3 with two walks and was batting .315. Chicago starter Jose De Leon lasted only 1.2 innings, surrendering five runs on six hits and two walks with no strikeouts.
Record: The Twins were 35-27, in first place, two games ahead of Oakland.
Notes: Randy Bush was in right field, with Brunansky in left and Dan Gladden out of the lineup. Steve Lombardozzi batted leadoff, with Bush second.
Player profile: We all know that Ken Williams is the general manager of the White Sox, but I don't remember anything about his playing career. An outfielder, he was drafted by the White Sox in the third round in 1982 and came to the big leagues as a September call-up in 1986. He started 1987 in AAA but came up to Chicago in mid-May and was their starting center fielder the rest of the season. He did pretty well for a twenty-three-year-old rookie: .281/.314/.422 with 11 homers and 21 stolen bases. The White Sox decided to move him to third base in 1988, playing Dave Gallagher in center. It did not go well for Williams--he was batting just .165 when he was sent to the minors in late May, and when he came back at the end of June he was a reserve outfielder. Chicago traded him to Detroit in March of 1989 for Eric King. He did little for the Tigers in a season and a half and was waived in mid-June of 1990, selected by Toronto. The Blue Jays waived him in June of 1991 and he was taken by Montreal. He was a reserve outfielder for them for most of the rest of the season and did okay in that role, batting .271 with an OPS of .711. He signed with Milwaukee for 1992 but spent the season in AAA. He did well there, but apparently not well enough to impress anyone, and his playing career ended after that. He joined the White Sox front office the next season, working his way up to general manager in 2000. One wonders what might have happened if the White Sox had left him in center field, but things seem to have worked out pretty well for Ken Williams anyway.