MINNESOTA 5, DETROIT 3 IN DETROIT

Date:  Sunday, October 11.

Batting stars:  Greg Gagne was 2-for-4 with a home run (his second of the series) and a double, scoring twice.  Kirby Puckett was 2-for-5 with a home run and two runs.  Gene Larkin was 1-for-1 with a double and an RBI.

Pitching stars:  Juan Berenguer pitched 2.2 scoreless innings, giving up no hits and two walks with one strikeout.  Jeff Reardon struck out two in a scoreless inning, giving up one hit.

Opposition stars:  Lou Whitaker was 0-for-3 with three walks and two runs.  Kirk Gibson was 1-for-4 with a walk and an RBI.  Dan Petry pitched 3.1 innings of relief, giving up an unearned run on one hit and no walks with one strikeout.

The game:  The Tigers scored in the first on a Gagne throwing error with the bases loaded.  The Twins tied it in the third on Puckett's home run.  Gagne homered with one out in the fourth to put the Twins up 2-1.  Puckett led off the fifth with a single-plus-two-base-error and scored on a Gary Gaetti sacrifice fly to make it 3-1.  Gibson had an RBI single in the fifth to cut the lead to 3-2.  Gagne led off the sixth with a double and scored on Larkin's pinch-hit double to give the Twins a 4-2 advantage.  The Tigers opened the bottom of the sixth with three singles, cutting the margin to 4-3 and putting men on first and second.  A bunt moved the runners to second and third with one out.

Then came one of my all-time favorite plays in Twins history.  With Darrell Evans on third, Dave Bergman on second, Alan Trammell at bat, and one out, catcher Tim Laudner threw to Gaetti to pick Evans off third base for the second out.  I can still see that play in my mind--Laudner whipping the ball to third, Gaetti coming in to make the tag, and the look on Evans' face when he knew he was out.  The inning wasn't over--a wild pitch and a walk put men on first and third--but Berenguer got Jim Morrison to fly to center to end the inning. The Tigers never threatened again.  Steve Lombardozzi singled home an insurance run in the eighth and the Twins had done what many nay-sayers said they could not do--when a playoff game on the road.

Notes:  This was the first time the Twins had won a post-season game on the road...Two of the Twins' RBIs came from reserves.  Larkin pinch-hit for Al Newman, who started at second base.  Lombardozzi pinch-ran for Larkin and stayed in the game to play second...Twins starter Frank Viola pitched only five innings, allowing three runs (two earned) on five hits and four walks with three strikeouts...Detroit starter Frank Tanana went 5.1 innings, allowing four runs (three earned) on six hits and four walks with one strikeout.  He also hit three batters...Gagne had more power than you may remember.  He hit 111 home runs in his career and hit double digit home runs five times, although three of those times he hit exactly ten.

Record:  The Twins took a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series.