DETROIT 5, MINNESOTA 4 IN MINNESOTA
Date: Tuesday, August 25.
Batting stars: Kent Hrbek was 2-for-4 with a double, scoring once and driving in two. Kirby Puckett was 1-for-3 with a walk and a run. Steve Lombardozzi was 1-for-4 with two runs.
Pitching stars: Juan Berenguer struck out three in 2.1 scoreless innings, giving up only a walk. Keith Atherton pitched a scoreless inning, giving up two hits and striking out one.
Opposition stars: Chet Lemon was 2-for-5 with a double and two RBIs. Kirk Gibson was 2-for-5 with two RBIs. Darrell Evans was 0-for-2 with three walks, a run, and a stolen base, his fifth.
The game: Lemon had a two-run double in a three-run third to give Detroit a 3-0 lead. The Twins scored two in the fourth to make it 3-2, but Gibson's two-run single in the sixth put the Tigers up 5-2. Hrbek singled home a run in the bottom of the sixth to cut the lead to 5-3. In the eighth, Randy Bush delivered an RBI triple to make it 5-4 and put the tying run on third base with one out, but the last five Twins were retired to end the game.
Of note: Dan Gladden was again out of the lineup. Lombardozzi led off, with Bush batting second and playing right field. Brunansky was in left...Puckett's average went to .316...Twins starter Joe Niekro pitched 5.2 innings, giving up five runs on only four hits but seven walks with four strikeouts...Detroit starter Doyle Alexander pitched 7.1 innings, allowing four runs on seven hits and two walks with three strikeouts.
Record: The Twins were 67-61, in first place by one game over Oakland.
We will try to get back to player profiles later in the week.
In 1987 I lived in Washington, DC and watched the Twins amazing season from afar. In August, I went on a six-week backpacking trip through Europe, which meant that I was really removed from American Baseball. For most of my trip I had no idea how the Twins were doing. Had they collapsed? (Which was my default sense since I am a Minnesotan). It wasn't until sometime near the end of August that I was able to find an International Herald Tribune -- in Poland of all places -- where I discovered that the Twins were still playing well and were in First Place. Imagine my relief when I discovered that even though I couldn't see what they were doing day-to-day, I knew that we would have a pennant race once I got back in Mid-September.
I don't know if it was this exact game that I finally was able to see how the Twins were doing, but it was around this time, so that's why I decided to share this story.
You'd have to go much further afield than Europe to accomplish the same today. The internet giveth, and the internet taketh away.
I remember during the pennant run in 91 being anxious about going on vacation to the lake for a week because I would miss games. The owner of the resort got the paper, though, and we would make sure to catch him during the day to get the sports section (which is how I got 85% of my game knowledge back then, what with one game on TV per week usually). Every once in a while the paper would go to print before the game ended and nobody would know what happened unless they had a radio. Blarg.
I remember regretting the late game/no boxscore mornings, too. And staying up late waiting for the Sportscenter blurb with the final score that always happened when I looked away for a minute.
No doubt, I'd probably be watching the games on my MLB app while sitting in a cafe in Zagreb.
Living the dream!