NEW YORK 12, MINNESOTA 7 IN NEW YORK
Date: Tuesday, July 7.
Batting stars: Dan Gladden was 3-for-5 with a stolen base (his fourteenth), scoring twice and driving in one. Tim Laudner was 1-for-3 with a home run (his eleventh) and a walk, scoring twice. Steve Lombardozzi was 2-for-3 with two runs.
Pitching star: Joe Niekro pitched 6.1 innings, giving up one run on five hits and a walk with two strikeouts.
Opposition stars: Claudell Washington was 2-for-5 with a home run (his fifth), scoring twice and driving in four. Rickey Henderson was 1-for-3 with a two-run homer (his eleventh) and two walks, scoring twice. Don Mattingly was 3-for-5 with a double, scoring twice and driving in one.
The game: It looked good for quite a while. The Twins got two in the first to go ahead 2-0. Laudner homered and Mark Davidson had an RBI single in the fifth to make it 4-0. The Twins added three in the seventh to make it 7-0. Then the roof fell in, or at least that would be appropriate if they'd been playing in the Metrodome. Mike Pagliarulo hit a solo homer with one out in the seventh to get the Yankees on the board. Niekro gave way to Dan Schatzeder. Rick Cerone reached on an error, Wayne Tolleson fanned, and Henderson hit a two-run homer to make it 7-3. A walk was followed by three consecutive singles, making it 7-5 and bringing in Keith Atherton. Another single tied it 7-7. In the eighth the Yankees started with a walk, a bunt, and another walk. Juan Berenguer came in and uncorked two wild pitches (wild pitches are always uncorked), a walk, a single, and (following a popup) a three-run homer to Washington, putting the Yankees up 12-7.
Of note: Kirby Puckett was 1-for-4 with two RBIs, making his average .345...New York starter Tommy John pitched 6.1 innings, giving up
Record: The Twins were 47-37, in first place by a game over Kansas City.
Notes: Davidson started in center field and batted second. Puckett was the DH, with Roy Smalley out of the lineup...By game scores, this was tied for Niekro's best start as a Twin. In both cases, the Twins lost the game.
Just a thought: each of the posts in WGOM has a PREVIOUS POST and a NEXT POST link at the bottom, but it would sure be nice if there was also a previous and next post within the category, so we could for instance travel from one 1987 rewind to the next within the Keeping Track category.
The Keeping Track category also holds the birthday posts and minor league updates. I'll have to take a look at how the next and previous links work to see if they can be extended to categories.