CHICAGO 4, MINNESOTA 3 IN CHICAGO

Date:  Sunday, July 7.

Batting star:  Mike Pagliarulo was 1-for-3 with a double.

Pitching star:  Mark Guthrie pitched 2.2 innings of relief, giving up one run on two hits and two walks and striking out one.

Opposition stars:  Dan Pasqua was 2-for-3 with a home run (his eighth), a walk, and two runs.  Robin Ventura was 1-for-3 with a two-run homer (his seventh) and a walk.

The game:  The White Sox put men on first and third in the first inning and did not score.  They got on the board in the third, however, when Tim Raines hit a one-out double and Ventura followed with a two-run homer.  It did not kill the rally, as with two out Pasqua walked, Matt Merullo singled, and Warren Newson delivered an RBI single to make the score 3-0.

The Twins, meanwhile, had managed only one single in the first five innings.  That changed in the sixth.  Junior Ortiz was hit by a pitch and Pagliarulo doubled, putting men on second and third.  With one out, Greg Gagne got the Twins on the board with a sacrifice fly.  Randy Bush walked and Kirby Puckett and Kent Hrbek followed with RBI singles, tying the score 3-3.

The Twins put men on first and second with one out in the seventh, but it stayed 3-3 until the eighth, when Pasqua led off the inning with a home run to put Chicago back in front.  The Twins got a leadoff single from Chuck Knoblauch in the ninth but could not move him past first base.

WP:  Ken Patterson (3-0).  LP:  Guthrie (5-5).  S:  Bobby Thigpen (18).

Notes:  With Dan Gladden still out, Pedro Munoz was in left and Bush was in right.  Gagne was the leadoff batter with Bush batting second.  Paul Sorrento was the DH in place of Chili Davis.  Ortiz was behind the plate in place of Brian Harper.  Al Newman was at second base in place of Knoblauch.

Munoz was apparently injured fielding the Raines double in the third, as Shane Mack came in to replace him after that play.  Munoz would not play again until July 14, and after that game would not play again until September.  Jarvis Brown pinch-ran for Bush in the eighth and stayed in the game in right field.  Knoblauch pinch-hit for Mack in the ninth.  Davis pinch-hit for Ortiz in the ninth.

Puckett was 1-for-4 and was batting .315.  Kevin Tapani started and gave up three runs in five innings, making his ERA 3.14.

Sorrento was 0-for-4 and was batting .091.  Brown was 0-for-1 and was batting .143.

I have no memory of Ken Patterson, but he was a pretty good reliever for the White Sox.  He came up as a September call-up in 1988 and from then through 1991 went 11-4, 3.70, 1.38 WHIP with four saves.  He got better every season, and from 1990-1991 he was 5-1, 3.12, 1.35 WHIP with three saves.  After 1991, however, the White Sox traded him and Sammy Sosa to the Cubs for George Bell.  He struggled with the Cubs, had a poor year with California in 1993, and made just one appearance with the Angels in 1994.  He kept pitching through 1997, but did not make the majors again.  His career numbers were 14-8, 3.88, 1.44 WHIP in 224 games (317.2 innings).  Not a great career, but for a couple of seasons he was a very good reliever.

Texas defeated California 7-0, knocking the Twins out of first place.

Record;  The Twins were 47-36, in second place in the American League West, five percentage points behind Texas.  The Rangers had played six fewer games than the Twins.  Minnesota led third-place California by two games.