CHICAGO 4, MINNESOTA 3 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Tuesday, September 8.

Batting stars:  Gary Gaetti was 2-for-4 with a home run (his twenty-ninth) and a double, scoring twice.  Don Baylor was 3-for-4 with a double and an RBI.

Pitching star:  Bert Blyleven pitched a complete game, giving up four runs on eight hits and three walks with four strikeouts.

Opposition stars:  Gary Redus was 3-for-4 with a two-run homer (his tenth) a double, and a stolen base (his forty-seventh), scoring twice.  Floyd Bannister pitched seven innings, giving up three runs on seven hits and one walk with five strikeouts.  Ivan Calderon was 2-for-4 with a triple and a run.

The game:  Baylor's RBI double in the second put the Twins up 1-0.  Greg Walker singled in a run in the fourth to tie it 1-1, but Gaetti led off the bottom of the fourth with a homer to give the Twins a 2-1 lead.  Mark Davidson delivered a run-scoring single in the fifth to make it 3-1.  A sacrifice fly cut it to 3-2 in the sixth.  With a man on second and two out in the seventh, Blyleven left a pitch up to Redus, who homered to give the White Sox a 4-3 lead.  The Twins tried to rally in the ninth.  With one out, Gene Larkin singled, Kent Hrbek walked, and Randy Bush had an infield single to load the bases.  Roy Smalley then hit a fly ball to center field and pinch-runner Al Newman was thrown out at the plate to end the game.

Of note:  Steve Lombardozzi was put in the leadoff spot in this game in Dan Gladden's continued absence...Davidson batted second and played left...Kirby Puckett was 0-for-4, dropping his average to .325...Larkin played first base, with Hrbek used as a pinch-hitter in the ninth...Redus hit twelve homers in 1987 and ninety for his career.  I would not have guessed he had that many.  He stole fifty-two bases in 1987 (a career high) and 322 in his career.

Record:  The Twins were 74-66, in first place by three games over Oakland, which lost 12-1 to Texas.