DETROIT 10, MINNESOTA 8 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Wednesday, August 26.

Batting stars:  Kent Hrbek was 3-for-4 with a double and a walk, scoring three times and driving in one.  Greg Gagne was 2-for-4 with a home run (his sixth) and three RBIs.  Tom Brunansky was 2-for-5 with a home run, his twenty-seventh.

Pitching star:  Keith Atherton pitched a perfect inning.

Opposition stars:  Chet Lemon was 3-for-5 with two home runs, scoring three times and driving in four.  Jim Morrison was 1-for-5 with a three-run homer, his thirteenth).  Dan Petry struck out four in four innings of relief, giving up one run on four hits and no walks.

The game:  I don't specifically remember this game, but it must have felt like a devastating loss at the time.  Sacrifice flies in each of the first two innings put the Twins ahead 2-0.  Morrison hit a three-run homer in the fourth to give Detroit a 3-2 advantage.  Brunansky homered in the bottom of the fourth to tie it and Gagne delivered an RBI single later in the inning to put the Twins up 4-3.  Kirby Puckett drove in a run with a single in the fifth to make it 5-3.  Lemon homered in the sixth and Alan Trammell had a run-scoring single in the seventh to tie it 5-5.  Gagne then homered in the eighth to again put the Twins up 6-5 and Jeff Reardon, who hadn't given up a run since August 9, came in to pitch the ninth.  A walk, a strikeout, a walk, a fly out, and an infield single loaded the bases with two down.  Matt Nokes then lined a single to bring home two runs and Lemon hit a three-run homer, and Detroit was ahead 10-6.  To the Twins credit, they came back to score twice (despite having a runner thrown out at the plate trying to score from second on a single) and had the bases loaded with two out before Willie Hernandez came in to get Al Newman to pop up and end the game.

Of note:  Newman led off and played second in place of Steve Lombardozzi.  He was 3-for-6 with a run and two stolen bases (his fifteenth and sixteenth)...Mark Davidson batted second and played left in place of Dan Gladden...Kirby Puckett was 2-for-4 with a double and two RBIs, batting .318...Frank Viola started and pitched seven innings, giving up five runs on eleven hits and no walks with six strikeouts...Detroit starter Frank Tanana lasted only four innings, allowing five runs on eight hits and three walks with two strikeouts.

Record:  The Twins were 67-62, in first place by a half game over Oakland.  They had now lost eight out of their last nine games and five of their last six to the Tigers.

We hope to get back to player profiles yet this week.