CALIFORNIA 7, MINNESOTA 4 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Wednesday, August 14.

Batting stars:  Chili Davis was 2-for-4 with a walk, a double, and two RBIs.  Shane Mack was 2-for-5.  Kent Hrbek was 2-for-5.

Pitching star:  Carl Willis pitched three innings, giving up one run on two hits and striking out two.

Opposition stars:  Luis Polonia was 2-for-3.  Wally Joyner was 2-for-4 with a home run, his sixteenth.  Dave Winfield was 1-for-4 with a two-run homer, his twenty-second.  Lance Parrish was 1-for-4 with a home run, his fourteenth.

The game:  The Twins loaded the bases with none out in the second inning, but Mike Pagliarulo was caught looking, Greg Gagne hit into a forceout at the plate, and Al Newman grounded out.  The Angels started the scoring in the third when Luis Sojo doubled, went to third on a wild pitch, and scored on a sacrifice fly.  The Twins got on the board, and in fact took the lead, in the bottom of the third.  Mack and Randy Bush opened the inning with singles.  Kirby Puckett bunted them over and Davis delivered a two-out two-run double to give the Twins a 2-1 lead.

California took the lead back in the top of the fourth when Dave Parker walked and Winfield hit a two-run homer.  The Twins tied it 3-3 in the bottom of the fourth when Gagne tripled and scored on Newman's sacrifice fly.  The Angels went into the lead to stay in the fifth when Dick Schofield singled and Joyner hit a two-run homer to make the score 5-3.

The Twins had their chances, but could not catch up.  They had three consecutive one-out singles in the fifth, but Brian Harper flied out and Pagliarulo grounded out to end the inning.  With one out in the sixth, Newman reached on an error, Mack singled, and Dan Gladden had an RBI single to cut the lead to 5-4.  The tying run was on second, but Puckett and Kent Hrbek each struck out and the Twins never threatened again.

California added single runs in the eighth and ninth to close out the scoring.  In the eighth Polonia and Joyner singled and a sacrifice fly brought home the run.  In the ninth Parrish homered.

WP:  Kirk McCaskill (9-15).  LP:  David West (3-3).  S:  Bryan Harvey (27).

Notes:  Mack started in left and batted first in place of Gladden.  Bush played right field and batted second.  Newman was at second base in place of Chuck Knoblauch.

Gladden pinch-hit for Bush in the sixth and stayed in the game in left, with Mack moving to right.  Scott Leius pinch-hit for Pagliarulo in the seventh and stayed in the game at third base.

Puckett was 1-for-4 and was batting .326.  Harper was 0-for-4 and fell to .304.  Willis' ERA fell to 1.94.

West pitched five innings, giving up five runs on five hits and one walk and striking out four.  McCaskill also pitched five innings, giving up three runs on eight hits and two walks and striking out three.

The Twins went 4-for-14 with men in scoring position, which isn't so bad, but they stranded ten men, including (as shown above) twice leaving the bases loaded.  The Angels stranded only two men despite going 0-for-3 with men in scoring position.  The Twins out-hit California 10-8.

The White Sox defeated Detroit 9-8 to gain a game on the Twins.

Record:  The Twins were 68-47, in first place in the American League West, 1.5 games ahead of Chicago.