MILWAUKEE 6, MINNESOTA 0 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Sunday, September 6.

Batting stars:  None.  The Twins had two hits in the game, both singles.

Pitching stars:  Steve Carlton pitched seven innings, giving up two runs on three hits and six walks with six strikeouts.  Roy Smith retired all four batters he faced, striking out three.

Opposition stars:  Teddy Higuera pitched a complete-game shutout, giving up two hits and three walks while striking out seven.  Rob Deer was 2-for-3 with a home run (his twenty-seventh) and a walk, driving in four.  Glenn Braggs was 2-for-5 with a home run (his twelfth), scoring three times.

The game:  This was another instance of Carlton being matched against another team's ace.  Carlton held up his end of the bargain, but even thirty years ago the Twins could not win games when they scored zero runs.  Deer singled home a run in the first inning to give the Brewers a 1-0 lead.  There was no more scoring until the sixth, when Braggs led off with a home run.  George Frazier came in to pitch the eighth and it did not go well.  He retired Robin Yount, but two singles and Deer's three-run homer followed.  Bill Schroeder homered later in the inning to make it 6-0.  The Twins' biggest threat came in the third, when an error and a single put men on first and third with none out.  Kirby Puckett then lined into a double play and Gary Gaetti fouled out to end the inning.

Of note:  Al Newman again replaced Greg Gagne at shortstop and batted leadoff.  Gagne, however, replaced Newman in the top of the fourth, leading one to believe that Newman must have suffered a minor injury...Dan Gladden was again out of the lineup, with Mark Davidson playing left and batting second.  Gladden was used as a pinch-hitter in the eighth...Puckett was 1-for-4, dropping his average to .330.

Record:  The Twins were 73-65, in first place by three games over Oakland, which lost to Baltimore 7-6.