MINNESOTA 3, CLEVELAND 1 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Saturday, September 19.

Batting stars:  Greg Gagne was 2-for-4 with a home run (his eighth) and a double, scoring twice.  Gary Gaetti was 1-for-4 with a home run, his thirtieth.  Kirby Puckett was 2-for-4 with a stolen base (his twelfth) and an RBI.

Pitching stars:  Frank Viola pitched seven innings, giving up an unearned run on six hits and a walk with four strikeouts.  Jeff Reardon struck out three in two shutout innings, giving up one hit.

Opposition stars:  Tom Candiotti took a complete game loss, pitching eight innings and giving up three runs on eight hits and a walk with seven strikeouts.  Julio Franco was 3-for-4 with a run.  Brook Jacoby was 2-for-4 with a double.

The game:  Gagne homered in the first inning to give the Twins a 1-0 lead.  Gaetti homered in the fourth to make it 2-0.  Joe Carter's RBI single in the sixth cut the lead to 2-1, but Puckett delivered an RBI single of his own in the bottom of the sixth to make it 3-1.  The Indians had only one baserunner after that, on a two-out single in the eighth.

Of note:  Dan Gladden was once again out of the lineup, with Mark Davidson leading off and playing left field...Kent Hrbek remained out of the lineup, with Randy Bush playing first base and batting third...Puckett raised his average to .329...Viola lowered his ERA to 2.99.

Record:  The Twins were 79-70, in first place by 3.5 games over Oakland, who defeated Kansas City 9-5.