MINNESOTA 4, BALTIMORE 1 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Saturday, July 4.

Batting stars:  Kent Hrbek was 1-for-3 with a two-run homer (his twenty-first) and a walk.  Kirby Puckett was 1-for-3 with a run and an RBI.  Dan Gladden was 1-for-4 with a double, a run, and a stolen base (his thirteenth).

Pitching stars:  Les Straker pitched seven innings, giving up one run on four hits and a walk with five strikeouts.  Juan Berenguer pitched two shutout innings, giving up one hit and no walks with one strikeout.

Opposition stars:  Lee Lacy was 2-for-4 with a double, an RBI, and a stolen base (his second).  Larry Sheets was 1-for-3 with a run.  Mark Williamson retired all four batters he faced, striking out one.

The game:  In the first, Gladden doubled, stole third, and scored on a wild pitch to give the Twins a 1-0 lead.  The Orioles put together three singles in the third to tie it, but Hrbek hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the third to put the Twins back on top 3-1.  The Orioles only threatened once after that, when Eddie Murray got to third with two out in the sixth.  Puckett added an insurance run with an RBI single in the seventh.

Of note:  The Twins' search for a number two hitter continued, with Lombardozzi in the two spot in this game.  He went 0-for-4...Puckett raised his average to .354...Berenguer lowered his ERA to 2.88...Eric Bell started for Baltimore and pitched 6.2 innings, allowing four runs on seven hits and three walks with two strikeouts.

Record:  The Twins were 45-36 and remained tied for first place with Kansas City, which defeated Toronto 9-1.

Notes:  Puckett was at DH for this game, with Mark Davidson in center field and Roy Smalley out of the lineup.

Player profile:  Not really a profile, but I remember a huge deal being made about Straker not pitching any complete games in 1987 (other than the 4.1 inning rain-shortened complete game on June 29).  The feeling seemed to be that he couldn't really be considered a big league starter until he had a complete game, that it would be a huge step forward for him to get one, and that after he did he'd be someone we could really count on going forward.  He finally got a complete game on May 14, 1988, a four-hit shutout of Detroit that lowered his ERA to 2.35  He couldn't get out of the first inning in his next start and made only eight more major league starts in his career, posting an ERA of 5.24 in those eight starts.