1987 Rewind: Game Seventy

MINNESOTA 14, CLEVELAND 8 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Wednesday, June 24.

Batting stars:  Kirby Puckett was 3-for-4 with a triple and a walk, scoring three times and driving in two.  Al Newman was 2-for-3 with a double and two walks, scoring four times and driving in two.  Sal Butera was 2-for-4 with a double, scoring twice and driving in two.

Pitching star:  Juan Berenguer pitched two shutout innings, giving up three hits and no walks while striking out one.

Opposition stars:  Tony Bernazard was 3-for-6 with a two-run homer (his eleventh) and a stolen base (his fifth), scoring twice.  Julio Franco was 3-for-5 with a triple and walk, scoring once.  Mel Hall was 2-for-4 with a triple and three RBIs.

The game:  Kent Hrbek hit a three-run homer in a four-run fourth that put the Twins ahead 4-1.  Hall's two-run triple in the fifth made it 4-3, but Puckett had an RBI triple and later scored in the bottom of the fifth to put the Twins back up by three at 6-3.  Gary Gaetti had a two-run double in a three-run seventh that put the game out of reach at 9-3.  A five-run eighth made it 14-5 before the Indians scored three in the ninth to make the final score look better.

Of note:  Dan Gladden was 2-for-5 with a double and a run...Puckett raised his average to .339...Gene Larkin was 1-for-3 with a walk and a run, making his average .324...Greg Gagne was 2-for-4 with a run...Les Straker started and struck out six in five innings, but gave up three runs on nine hits and a walk...Berenguer lowered his ERA to 2.93...Cleveland starter (and future Twin) Greg Swindell pitched five innings, allowing six runs on five hits and four walks with four strikeouts.  Swindell had not yet pitched a full season in the majors, and he would not this year, either.  In fact, he would make only one more start before going to AAA for the rest of the season.  In 1988, though, he would become a star, going 18-14, 3.20, 1.15 WHIP in 242 innings.

Record:  The Twins were 41-29, in first place, four games ahead of Oakland.

Notes:  Newman started at second base in place of Steve Lombardozzi.  He batted second...Gaetti was back in the starting lineup and batted fourth...Larkin was the DH in place of Roy Smalley.