MINNESOTA 7, TORONTO 6 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Sunday, July 19.

Batting stars:  Tom Brunansky was 2-for-4 with a home run (his twentieth) and three RBIs.  Dan Gladden was 1-for-3 with two walks and three stolen bases (his fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth), scoring once.  Gene Larkin was 2-for-4 with a run.

Pitching stars:  Dan Schatzeder struck out six in 3.2 scoreless innings, giving up two hits and a walk.  Keith Atherton retired all five men he faced, striking out one.

Opposition stars:  Ernie Whitt was 3-for-4 with a home run (his eighth) and a walk, driving in two.  Rick Leach was 2-for-4 with a double and a walk, scoring twice and driving in one.  Rance Mulliniks was 1-for-3 with a two-run homer, his sixth.

The game:  Toronto scored two in the top of the first, but Brunansky's two-run homer capped a four-run bottom of the first that put the Twins up 4-2.  Twins starter Mike Smithson couldn't hold the lead, as Mulliniks hit a two-run homer in the second to tie it and Whitt homered leading off the third to put the Blue Jays up 5-4.  In the fifth, Brunansky came through again, delivering an RBI single that tied it 5-5.  Greg Gagne led off the sixth with a single, was bunted to second, took third on a fly ball, and scored on a wild pitch to give the Twins a 6-5 advantage.  Gagne brought home a run in the eighth with a single-plus-error to give the Twins an insurance run and they needed it, because Cecil Fielder homered off Jeff Reardon in the ninth to make it 7-6.  Reardon gave up a two-out walk to Whitt but came out of the rest of the inning unscathed to preserve the win.

Of note:  Gagne was 2-for-4 and scored once...Gladden started in center field, with Kirby Puckett getting the day off.  He moved to left in the ninth when Mark Davidson came in as a defensive replacement for Randy Bush...Bush started in right and batted third, with Brunansky in left...Larkin was the DH, with Roy Smalley out of the lineup...Smithson lasted only 2.2 innings, giving up five runs on seven hits and three walks with one strikeout...Toronto starter Jose Nunez was not a whole lot better, going 4.2 innings and allowing five runs on seven hits and three walks while striking out five.

Record:  The Twins were 51-42, in first place, one game ahead of Oakland.

Player profile:  College football star Rick Leach had his best years as a part-time player for Toronto.  Drafted by Detroit with the thirteenth pick in 1979 (he was also drafted in the fifth round by the Denver Broncos), he reached the majors in 1981, spending half the season there.  He was with the Tigers for almost all of 1982 and really all of 1983, and for some reason I think of him mainly as a Tiger, although he spent more seasons with the Blue Jays.  He was primarily a reserve first baseman for Detroit, although he also played some outfield.  In his three years with the Tigers he batted .236/.307/.335 and had only seven runs in 543 at-bats.  Those aren't exactly the sort of numbers you're looking for in a first-round draft choice, so the Tigers released him during spring training of 1984.  He signed with Toronto and became primarily an outfielder.  He didn't do a lot his first two years there, and in fact he spent most of 1985 in the minors.  In 1986-87, though, he was a solid contributor to the Blue Jays as a reserve, batting .297/.351/.421 in 441 at-bats.  He left Toronto after the 1988 season, playing for Texas in 1989 and San Francisco in 1990.  He again put up good numbers as a reserve for the Giants:  .293/.372/.402 in 174 at-bats.  That was his last year, though, as he was released in spring training of 1991 and no one signed him.  He had failed a drug test in August 1990, which probably contributed to the end of his playing career.  For his career, Rick Leach hit .268/.335/.369.  At last report, he was living in Petosky, Michigan.