MILWAUKEE 1, MINNESOTA 0 IN MILWAUKEE

Date: August 28, 1987.

Batting star:  Kent Hrbek was 1-for-2 with a walk.

Pitching stars:  Les Straker pitched seven innings, giving up one run on six hits and one walk with two strikeouts.  Juan Berenguer struck out two in a perfect inning.

Opposition stars:  Chris Bosio pitched a complete game shutout, giving up two hits and three walks with eight strikeouts.  Robin Yount was 2-for-4 with a run and a stolen base, his thirteenth.  Greg Brock was 1-for-3 with a double and an RBI.

The game:  The familiar refrain is "We finally get some pitching and we can't hit."  Straker pitched very well, but the Twins managed only two hits off Bosio, a one-out single by Greg Gagne in the first and a one-out single by Hrbek in the seventh.  Both times the runner was erased by a double play.  The Twins' biggest threat, if you want to call it that, came in the second inning, when Gene Larkin was hit by a pitch and stole second with two out.  It was the only time the Twins advanced a man into scoring position.  The game's only run came in the sixth, when Yount singled, stole second, and scored on Brock's double.

Of note:  Dan Gladden was again out of the lineup, with Randy Bush in right field and leading off.  Tom Brunansky played left...Kirby Puckett was 0-for-4, dropping his average to .315...This was Bosio's rookie season.  This was his first complete game, and obviously his first shutout.  He would have 39 complete games and 9 shutouts in his career...The Twins had lost nine of their last ten games.

Record:  The Twins were 67-63, tied for first place with Oakland.  Oakland actually had a slightly higher winning percentage, .516 to .515.  That winning percentage would have merited fifth place in the American League East.

We won't get back to player profiles this week after all.  We'll try again next week.