MINNESOTA 4, TEXAS 0 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Thursday, September 24.

Batting stars:  Greg Gagne was 1-for-3 with a two-run homer, his tenth.  Gary Gaetti was 1-for-3 with a double, scoring once and driving in one.  Kent Hrbek was 1-for-2 with two walks.

Pitching stars:  Frank Viola struck out ten in eight shutout innings, giving up three hits and three walks.  Juan Berenguer struck out three and walked two in a scoreless inning.

Opposition stars:  Charlie Hough pitched a complete game, striking out eight in eight innings while allowing four runs on six hits and three walks.  Tom Paciorek was 1-for-3 with a walk.

The game:  In the second, Gaetti doubled and eventually scored on a wild pitch to put the Twins up 1-0.  Gaetti's sacrifice fly in the third made it 2-0.  With a man on first and one out in the sixth, Gagne hit a line drive to short center field which got past Bob Brower for an inside-the-park home run, giving the Twins a 4-0 lead.  Meanwhile, the Rangers did not get a hit until the sixth inning.  When they did, though, they got singles by Steve Buechele and Geno Petralli, followed by a one-out walk that loaded the bases.  Viola got Ruben Sierra to ground into a double play to end the threat.  Texas got men to first and second with two out in the seventh and the ninth, but could not dent the plate.

Notes:  Al Newman led off and played second base, replacing Steve Lombardozzi...Mark Davidson batted second and played left field, replacing Dan Gladden...Hrbek returned to the lineup after a nine-day absence...Viola lowered his ERA to 2.89...Berenguer got his ERA under four at 3.99...Hough pitched 107 complete games in his career.  In 1987 he led the league in starts (40), innings (285.1), and batters faced (1231).  All of those are his career highs.  He also led the league in hit batsmen (19), which is also his career high.  He hit three batters in this game, Don Baylor, Kirby Puckett, and Gagne...Puckett went 1-for-3, keeping his average at .329.

Record:  The win was the sixth straight for the Twins, who were 83-70, in first place by six games over Oakland, who lost to Chicago 4-2.  The Twins gained 2.5 games over Oakland in the six game winning streak.