MINNESOTA 9, BALTIMORE 2 IN BALTIMORE

Date:  Tuesday, June 18.

Batting stars:  Shane Mack was 2-for-3 with a home run (his sixth), two walks, and two runs.  Kent Hrbek was 2-for-4 with a double and two RBIs.  Kirby Puckett was 2-for-4.  Chuck Knoblauch was 2-for-5.  Junior Ortiz was 2-for-5.

Pitching star:  Scott Erickson pitched six shutout innings, giving up one hit and five walks and striking out three.

Opposition stars:  Bob Melvin was 2-for-4.  Paul Kilgus pitched 2.1 innings, giving up an unearned run on no hits and two walks and striking out one.

The game:  The Twins took the lead early, scoring two in the first inning.  With two out, Puckett singled and scored on Hrbek's double.  A wild pitch sent Hrbek to third and a balk scored him to make it 2-0.  In the third, Mack singled and scored on a Mike Pagliarulo double.  Ortiz followed with an RBI single to make it 4-0. With one out a walk and a single loaded the bases.  A force out scored one run and Hrbek singled in another to increase the lead to 6-0.

There were no more hits by either side until the sixth, when Ortiz singled.  He was caught stealing (!), but with two out Gladden singled, stole second, and scored on Knoblauch's single.  It went to 8-0 in the eighth when the Twins scored on an error, a walk, and a sacrifice fly.

The Orioles got on the board in the bottom of the eighth.  A pair of walks and a fly ball put men on first and third with one out.  A ground out scored one and Leo Gomez singled in another to make it 8-2.  A Mack home run in the ninth closed out the scoring.

WP:  Erickson (11-2).  LP:  Roy Smith (3-1).  S:  Carl Willis (1).

Notes:  With Erickson pitching, Ortiz was catching.  The Twins made some late-game changes with the big lead.  Pedro Munoz pinch-ran for Puckett in the sixth and went to right field, with Mack moving to center.  Scott Leius pinch-hit for Pagliarulo in the seventh and went to third base.  Gene Larkin pinch-hit for Hrbek in the eighth and went to first base.

Puckett was batting .329.  Erickson's ERA went down to 1.51.  Willis got a three-inning save, giving up two runs.  His ERA was 3.14.

Baltimore's starter was ex-Twin Roy Smith.  He pitched 5.2 innings, allowing seven runs on eleven hits and three walks and striking out one.

This was one of two saves for Willis in 1991, with the other coming August 4.  He had thirteen saves in his career, with a high of five in 1993.  The Twins had five pitchers with saves in 1991--Rick Aguilera (42), Steve Bedrosian (6).  Mark Guthrie (2), Willis (2), and Gary Wayne (1).

Despite the end of their winning streak yesterday, the Twins had won sixteen of seventeen and nineteen of twenty-one.  Could they start a new streak?

Record:  The Twins were 39-26, in first place in the American League West, 1.5 games ahead of Oakland.