MINNESOTA 7, MILWAUKEE 3 IN MILWAUKEE
Date: Tuesday, June 16.
Batting stars: Greg Gagne was 3-for-4 with a triple and two doubles, driving in four. Kent Hrbek was 2-for-5 with a home run, his fourteenth. Kirby Puckett was 2-for-5 with a double, scoring once and driving in one.
Pitching star: Frank Viola struck out six in 6.1 innings, giving up an unearned run on four hits and no walks.
Opposition stars: Chuck Crim pitched 6.1 innings, giving up two runs on seven hits and two walks with two strikeouts. Bill Schroeder was 2-for-4 with a run. Dale Sveum was 1-for-2 with a walk and an RBI.
The game: Gagne hit a two-run triple in the second to open the scoring. Milwaukee got one back in the fifth, but the Twins broke it open with three in the eighth and two in the ninth. Hrbek opened the eighth with a home run and Gagne delivered a two-run double later in the inning. Milwaukee rallied in the ninth, scoring twice on four singles and bringing Jeff Reardon into the game. He threw a wild pitch but then retired Rick Manning on a fly ball for one of the easier saves of his career.
Of note: Roy Smalley was 2-for-4 with a walk, scoring once and driving in one, to make his average .317. Puckett raised his average to .327. Gene Larkin was 0-for-5, dropping his average to .318. Viola's ERA was 3.30.
Record: The Twins were 37-27. in first place, two games ahead of Oakland.
Notes: Smalley played third base, with Larkin at DH and Gary Gaetti out of the lineup.
Player profile: This was one of only six career starts Chuck Crim made. Five of them were in June of 1987, with this being his fourth. It was his rookie year--he started it in the bullpen and moved into the rotation on June 2. Two of his starts were fairly good, but as a starter he was 1-4, 5.17, 1.58 WHIP. He was pretty good as a reliever, though, and stayed pretty good through 1990. He led the league in appearances in 1988 and 1989 and came close in 1990, averaging over 100 relief innings in those three seasons. The workload may have taken a toll, though, because he never had a good season after 1990. He was with California from 1992-93, but was released at the end of May of 1993. He missed the rest of the season, came back with the Cubs in 1994, but then his playing career was over. He was never the closer, but for his career he was 47-43, 45 saves, 3.83, 1.35 WHIP. He was a coach for many years, most recently as the bullpen coach of the Dodgers from 2013-15, but does not appear to have a job in baseball at the moment.