MINNESOTA 3, NEW YORK 1 IN MINNESOTA
Date: Wednesday, July 22.
Batting stars: Kent Hrbek was 1-for-1 with a two-run homer (his twenty-fourth) and three walks. Kirby Puckett was 2-for-4 with a home run, his fifteenth. Dan Gladden was 1-for-4 with a walk and a stolen base (his eighteenth), scoring once.
Pitching stars: Frank Viola pitched eight innings, giving up one run on four hits and two walks with six strikeouts. Jeff Reardon pitched a scoreless inning, giving up one hit.
Opposition stars: Claudell Washington was 1-for-4 with a home run, his seventh. Rick Cerone was 1-for-3 with a double. Bobby Meacham was 1-for-2 with a walk.
The game: Hrbek hit a two-run homer in the first inning to give the Twins all the runs they needed. Puckett homered in the fifth to make it 3-0. The Yankees didn't get a hit until the fourth and did not get a man past first base until the sixth, when Washington homered. The only other Yankee threat came in the seventh, when Cerone hit a two-out double followed by a walk to Meacham. Wayne Tolleson then struck out to end the inning.
Of note: Puckett raised his average to .327...Greg Gagne batted second...Yankee starter Rick Rhoden pitched 6.1 innings, giving up three runs on nine hits and four walks with five strikeouts...The Twins stranded eleven and went 1-for-9 with men in scoring position, with the "one" being the Hrbek homer...The Yankees were 0-for-1 with men in scoring position.
Record: The Twins were 53-43, in first place, two games ahead of Oakland.
Player profile: I remember Bobby Meacham being touted as a really good prospect, but it didn't happen for him. He was a first-round draft choice, chosen by St. Louis with the eighth pick in 1981. He had a couple of lackluster years in the Cardinals organization, then was traded to the Yankees with Stan Javier for Steve Finch, Bob Helsom, and Marty Mason, none of whom made the majors. Meacham at least did better than that, getting a September call-up in 1983 and spending most of 1984-88 with the big club, although he was sent back to AAA for periods of time in most of those years. He was the semi-regular shortstop for them in 1984, sharing the position with Tim Foli and Andre Robertson but getting the majority of the starts. He was their full-time shortstop in 1985, starting all but nine games. Unfortunately, he didn't do much with the chance, batting .218/.302/.266 in 1985 and striking out 102 times. He did lead the league in sacrifice hits with 23. He had a shot at getting the shortstop job back in 1986, as the Yankees used seven different players there, but his numbers that year were remarkably similar to 1985 in far less playing time. In fact, the Yankees really didn't find a shortstop until 1996, when Derek Jeter came along--their starters in that period included Wayne Tolleson, Rafael Santana, Alvaro Espinoza, Andy Stankiewicz, Spike Owen, Mike Gallego, and Tony Fernandez. Meacham was not around for most of that, though--he was a part-time player for the Yankees through 1988, then spent a couple of years in AAA for Pittsburgh and Kansas City before his playing career ended. For his career, Meacham hit .236/.313/.308 in 1371 at-bats. He stayed in baseball as a minor league coach and manager, and in 2016 was the manager of the New Hampshire Fisher Cats in the Toronto organization.