OAKLAND 6, MINNESOTA 5 IN OAKLAND (11 INNINGS)

Date:  Sunday, August 2.

Batting stars:  Gene Larkin was 3-for-4 with a home run, his fourth.  Kent Hrbek was 2-for-5 with a double and a run.  Al Newman was 2-for-5 with a double and a run.

Pitching stars:  Les Straker pitched five innings, giving up two runs on four hits and a walk with two strikeouts.  Keith Atherton pitched a scoreless inning, giving up one hit and striking out one.  George Frazier pitched 1.1 scoreless innings despite giving up three hits and a walk while striking out one.

Opposition stars:  Terry Steinbach was 4-for-5 with a two-run homer (his eleventh), scoring twice.  Alfredo Griffin was 3-for-5 with a double and a stolen base (his twentieth), driving in two.  Carney Lansford was 1-for-4 with a home run (his twelfth) and two walks.

The game:  Steinbach's two-run homer in the second put Oakland up 2-1, but Gaetti singled in a run in the third to tie it and Larkin homered in the fourth to give the Twins a 3-2 advantage.  The score stayed there until the sixth, when Lansford homered tie it 3-3.  Griffin's two-run single in the seventh gave Oakland the lead at 5-3, but Tom Brunansky homered in the eighth to cut the margin to 5-4.  In the ninth, Larkin led off with a single and was replaced by pinch-runner Mark Davidson.  Davidson took second on a passed ball, went to third on a fly to center, and scored on a wild pitch to tie it up 5-5 and send the game to extra innings.  In the eleventh, a two-out single by Jose Canseco scored Luis Polonia with the winning run.

Of note:  Newman was at shortstop, replacing Greg Gagne and batting second.  Gagne would enter the game in the ninth, with Newman moving to second base...Kirby Puckett was 0-for-5, dropping his average to .321...Larkin was the designated hitter in this game.  Roy Smalley was used as a pinch-hitter in the eleventh...Oakland starter Curt Young lasted only 3.2 innings, allowing three runs on seven hits and no walks with two strikeouts.  He was replaced by Dennis Eckersley, who had seven saves to this point in the season but was still considered the setup man for Jay Howell.  Eckersley pitched 4.1 innings of relief, which was only tied for his fifth-longest outing of the season.  He had one start of 6.1 innings and relief appearances of six, five, and 4.2 innings.  He would become Oakland's closer in mid-August and remain their closer through 1995.

Record:  The Twins were 56-50, in first place, one game ahead of Oakland.

We hope to resume player profiles either late this week or early next.