MINNESOTA 10, MILWAUKEE 6 IN MILWAUKEE

Date:  Sunday, August 30.

Batting stars:  Kirby Puckett was 6-for-6 with two home runs (his twentieth and twenty-first) and two doubles, scoring four times and driving in four.  Gary Gaetti was 2-for-5 with a double, a walk, and a stolen base (his seventh), scoring twice.  Al Newman was 2-for-5 with a walk, scoring once and driving in one.

Pitching stars:  Keith Atherton pitched 1.1 scoreless innings despite giving up a hit and two walks.  Jeff Reardon struck out three in two shutout innings, giving up a walk.

Opposition stars:  Bill Schroeder was 1-for-3 with a three-run homer (his tenth) and a walk.  Glenn Braggs was 3-for-4 with a stolen base (his tenth) and an RBI.  Paul Molitor was 2-for-4 with a walk, a run, and a stolen base (his thirty-first).

The game:  A number of members of the nation indicated they were on vacation in August of 1987.  I was not on vacation, but I was at a week-long meeting in Denver.  I remember hearing about the game Puckett had and being amazed.  Looking at it now, I'm still amazed.  It'd be hard to have a much better day.  6-for-6, two home runs, two doubles, four runs, four RBIs.

Puckett drove in the first run of the game in the first inning with a measly single.  He homered in the third to make it 2-0.  Schroeder hit a three-run homer in the fourth to give the Brewers a 3-2 lead.  The Twins scored three in the fifth, aided by three walks and a hit-by-pitch, to go ahead 5-3.  In the sixth Milwaukee scored three times, two of them scoring on a sacrifice fly-plus-error, to take a 6-5 lead.  Kent Hrbek brought home the tying run in the eighth on a sacrifice fly and Gene Larkin hit a two-run single to give the Twins an 8-6 lead.  Puckett hit a two-run homer in the ninth to put the game out of reach.

Of note:  Al Newman led off and was the designated hitter.  We laugh at that, but he was 2-for-5 with a walk, scoring once and driving in one.  Maybe TK knew something...Greg Gagne was 2-for-6 and scored twice...Puckett raised his average to .328...Dan Gladden was again out of the lineup, with Mark Davidson in right and Tom Brunansky in left...Frank Viola lasted only 3.1 innings, allowing three runs on seven hits and two walks with four strikeouts...Milwaukee starter Juan Nieves lasted 4.2 innings, giving up five runs on ten hits and three walks with five strikeouts.

Record:  The Twins were 69-63.  Oakland lost to Toronto 13-3, so the Twins moved back into first place, a game ahead of the Athletics.

Only twenty-three players have gone 6-for-6 in a nine-inning game since this game.  Oddly, the last two came on consecutive days last season, with C. J. Cron doing it for the Angels on July 2 and Wilmer Flores doing it for the Mets on July 3.  There are two other players who have gone 6-for-7 since this game.

Only one player has ever gone 7-for-7 in a nine-inning game.  Rennie Stennett did it for Pittsburgh on September 16, 1975.