KANSAS CITY 6, MINNESOTA 4 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Friday, September 25.

Batting stars:  Dan Gladden was 2-for-3 with two walks and a stolen base (his twenty-fifth), scoring twice.  Kirby Puckett was 2-for-4 with a run and two RBIs.  Tom Brunansky was 2-for-4 with a walk and an RBI.

Pitching stars:  Mike Smithson pitched 3.2 scoreless innings of relief, giving up three hits and a walk with two strikeouts.  Keith Atherton pitched a scoreless inning, giving up a walk.

Opposition stars:  George Brett was 2-for-2 with a home run (his twenty-second), a double, and three walks, driving in three.  Steve Farr struck out four in 4.1 scoreless innings of relief, giving up two hits and a walk.  Danny Tartabull was 1-for-4 with a home run (his thirtieth) and a walk.

The game:  RBI singles by Puckett and Brunansky gave the Twins a 2-0 lead in the first inning.  Les Straker did not give up a hit until the Brett's RBI double in the fourth, which cut the lead to 2-1.  The Twins got two in the bottom of the fourth to go up 4-1, but the game turned in the fifth.  Jamie Quirk led off with a home run to make it 4-2.  Bill Pecota singled, stole second, and scored on a Kevin Seitzer single to make it 4-3.  Straker came out, Dan Schatzeder came in, and the first two batters he faced hit home runs.  Brett homered to give the Royals their first lead of the game at 5-4 and Tartabull followed with a home run to give Kansas City a 6-4 advantage.  Farr then came in and shut down the Twins offense.  They did load the bases on a walk and two errors, but Brunanasky flied out to end the inning.  The Twins did not get a man past first base after that.

Notes:  Puckett raised his average to .331...Gene Larkin was at first base, with Kent Hrbek out of the lineup.  Hrbek came in as a pinch-hitter in the seventh inning and struck out...Straker pitched 4.1 innings, allowing four runs (three earned) on five hits and two walks with three strikeouts...Kansas City starter Danny Jackson pitched four innings, allowing four runs on nine hits and four walks with one strikeout...Steve Farr had other good years, but he was a dominant reliever from 1990-92 (1990 with KC, 1991-92 with the Yankees).  He was not a closer in 1990, but was in 1991-92.  In those three years, he was 20-14, 54 saves, 1.95, 1.11 WHIP and 191 strikeouts in 249 innings (167 games).  His 1993 numbers look terrible--4.21 ERA, 1.53 WHIP--but they are skewed by two really bad appearances at the beginning of the season and two other really bad ones at the end.  Other than that, he had an ERA of 2.42 and a WHIP of 1.23.  The Yankees let him go at the end of the season, though, and he split 1994 between Cleveland and Boston, not pitching well for either team.  After that, his playing career was over.  At last report, Steve Farr owned a trucking company and was living in the Outer Banks area of North Carolina.

Record:  The Twins were 83-71, in first place by six games over both Oakland, who lost to the White Sox 2-1 in ten innings, and Kansas City.