TORONTO 5,  MINNESOTA 2 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Thursday, July 16.

Batting stars:  Steve Lombardozzi was 2-for-3 with a triple, a double, and a walk, driving in two.  Kent Hrbek was 2-for-4.  Tom Brunansky was 1-for-3 with a walk.

Pitching star:  Keith Atherton pitched a scoreless inning, giving up one hit.

Opposition stars:  Fred McGriff was 1-for-2 with a home run (his ninth) and two walks, scoring twice.  Jesse Barfield was 4-for-5 with a double and an RBI.  George Bell was 2-for-4 with a double and a walk, driving in one.

The game:  Lombardozzi's RBI triple tied it 1-1 in the third, but Bert Blyleven left a pitch up to Fred McGriff in the fourth, putting the Blue Jays up 2-1.  Two walks and two singles made it 4-1 in the fifth.  Lombardozzi doubled home a run in the bottom of the fifth, but the Twins left men on second and third and did not get another hit until the ninth.  Toronto scored in the eighth to make it 5-2.  The Twins opened the ninth with two singles and a two-out walk loaded the bases, but pinch-hitter Randy Bush struck out against Tom Henke to end the game.

Of note:  Kirby Puckett was 0-for-4 to drop his average to .333...Roy Smalley was 0-for-1 as a pinch-hitter and his average fell to .308...Blyleven pitched 7.2 innings, allowing five runs on ten hits and six walks with five strikeouts...Toronto starter Jimmy Key pitched six innings, giving up two runs on six hits and two walks with three strikeouts.

Record:  The Twins were 49-41, in first place, one game ahead of Oakland.

Notes:  This was the Twins' first game after the all-star break...Puckett had been the Twins' only representative at the all-star game and went 0-for-4 as the National League won 2-0 in thirteen innings...Mark Davidson played center field, with Puckett at DH.