MINNESOTA 7, CALIFORNIA 2 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Tuesday, August 11, 1987.

Batting stars:  Gary Gaetti was 2-for-4 with a home run (his twenty-fourth) and two runs.  Mark Davidson was 2-for-3 with a double, scoring once and driving in two.  Tom Brunansky was 2-for-4 with a double, scoring once and driving in two.

Pitching stars:  Frank Viola pitched eight innings, giving up two runs on nine hits and one walk with six strikeouts.  Keith Atherton pitched a perfect inning with two strikeouts.

Opposition star:  George Hendrick was 2-for-3 with a double and a walk, driving in two.

The game:  An RBI double by Brunansky and a two-run double by Davidson put the Twins up 3-0 in the second.  Greg Gagne tripled home a run in the fourth to make it 4-0.  Hendrick had a two-run double in the sixth to cut the lead to 4-2, but Gaetti homered leading off the seventh to make it 5-2.  RBI singles by Al Newman in the seventh and Brunansky in the eighth rounded out the scoring.  Viola started the ninth inning, but after giving up a walk and a single to the first to batters was replaced by Atherton.

Of note:  Dan Gladden was back in the leadoff spot and was apparently recovered from whatever was wrong with him...Newman batted second and played second in place of Steve Lombardozzi...Gene Larkin was at first base, replacing Kent Hrbek...Brunansky was the DH, with Davidson in right field...John Candelaria started for California, going five innings and giving up four runs on six hits and no walks with one strikeout...The win was the Twins' fifth in a row...This was the third consecutive series the Twins played against one of their top two challengers.

Record:  The Twins were 62-52, in first place, 4.5 games ahead of California and Oakland.