Keeping Track

1987 Rewind: Game One Hundred Fifty-one

MINNESOTA 6, TEXAS 4 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Tuesday, September 22.

Batting stars:  Tom Brunansky was 2-for-4 with a home run (his thirty-first) and a double, driving in two.  Gary Gaetti was 3-for-4 with a double, scoring once and driving in one.  Kirby Puckett was 1-for-3 with a two-run homer (his twenty-seventh)  and a walk.

Pitching stars:  Keith Atherton retired all seven batters he faced, striking out one.  Jeff Reardon pitched a scoreless inning, striking out one.

Opposition stars:  Pete O'Brien was 2-for-4 with two doubles and two RBIs.  Oddibe McDowell was 1-for-3 with a home run (his twelfth), a walk, and a stolen base (his twenty-first).  Jeff Russell pitched 4.2 innings of relief, giving up one run on two hits and no walks with two strikeouts.

The game:  Most of the scoring came early.  Puckett hit a two-run homer in the first to give the Twins a 2-0 lead.  McDowell homered in the second to make it 2-1.  O'Brien hit a two-run double in the third to put the Rangers up 3-2, but in the bottom of the third Greg Gagne homered to tie it and Gaetti hit an RBI single to put the Twins in front 4-3.  Brunansky homered in the fourth to make it 5-3, but Bob Brower created a run in the fifth on a single, a stolen base, and a stolen base-plus-error, cutting the margin to 5-4.  Then the scoring pretty much ran dry.  The Rangers put a man on third with one out in the sixth and one second with one out in the ninth, but could do nothing with them.  The last Twins run came in the eighth on Brunansky's RBI double.

Of note:  Kent Hrbek remained out of the lineup, with Randy Bush again playing first base and batting third with Puckett dropping to fourth...Gene Larkin was the DH in this game and the prior game.  Apparently TK believed that Bush's first base defense was superior to Larkin's.  Or, possibly, he believed that Bush would hit better if he played in the field...Puckett held his average at .332.

Record:  The Twins were 81-70, in first place by four games over Oakland.  Oakland had lost the previous day while the Twins were idle; they won this day, defeating Cleveland 10-2.