TEXAS 7, MINNESOTA 5 IN TEXAS
Date: Tuesday, September 29.
Batting stars: Randy Bush was 1-for-3 with a home run (his eleventh) and two RBIs. Gary Gaetti was 1-for-4 with a double, scoring twice and driving in one. Gene Larkin was 1-for-4 with a double.
Pitching star: George Frazier struck out four in three shutout innings of relief, giving up no hits and one walk.
Opposition stars: Geno Petralli was 2-for-2 with two home runs, his sixth and seventh. Pete O'Brien was 1-for-4 with a home run, his twenty-third. Charlie Hough pitched a complete game, giving up five runs (three earned) on eight hits and two walks with three strikeouts.
The game: The Twins scored three in the first, with the last one scoring on a two-out strikeout/passed ball, to take a 3-0 lead. Texas tied it with three in the bottom of the third off Dan Schatzeder, normally a reliever but starting in this game. Gene Larkin's RBi double in the fourth put the Twins back on top 4-3 and Bush homered in the seventh to make it 5-3. Texas tied it in the seventh as Petralli led off with a home run and Ruben Sierra got an RBI single later in the inning. The Rangers took their first lead, and the only one they would need, in the eighth on back-to-back homers by O'Brien and Petralli.
Notes: With the pennant clinched the night before, it would be an exaggeration to say that this was even a B lineup...Chris Pittaro led off and started at second base in place of Steve Lombardozzi, who was used as a pinch-runner in the ninth...Mark Davidson batted second and started in center field in place of Kirby Puckett, who pinch-hit in the ninth...Bush batted third and played left field in place of Dan Gladden...Larkin played first base in place of Kent Hrbek, who had a pinch-hit double in the ninth...Billy Beane started in right field in place of Tom Brunansky...Schatzeder made his only start of the season, although he had pitched as many as 5.2 innings in a game in relief...It's a credit to the Twins that despite this lineup, they were in the game right up to the end...There was much consternation at the time that the Twins lost their last five games of the regular season, but as I recall (and as certainly seems apparent in this game), the Twins did not exactly go all out to try to win them. I'm sure the players were trying while they were on the field, but they mostly looked at these games as tune-ups for the playoffs, which seems like a sensible approach. Of course, it's easy to say that in hindsight, when we already know the happy ending.
Record: The Twins were 85-73, in first place by six games over Kansas City.