MINNESOTA 4, NEW YORK 3 IN MINNESOTA
Date: Sunday, May 3.
Batting stars: Gary Gaetti was 2-for-4 with a home run, his eighth. Kirby Puckett was 2-for-4 with a home run, his seventh. Dan Gladden was 1-for-3 with a home run and a walk.
Pitching stars: Keith Atherton pitched 2.2 scoreless innings, giving up two hits and a walk with one strikeout. George Frazier pitched a perfect inning with one strikeout. Jeff Reardon pitched a scoreless inning, giving up one hit.
Opposition stars: Rickey Henderson was 3-for-4 with a walk and four stolen bases, his ninth, tenth, eleventh, and twelfth. Willie Randolph was 2-for-4 with a run and an RBI. Joel Skinner was 1-for-3 with a double and two RBIs.
The game: I guess solo home runs can hurt you if you give up too many of them. The Twins scored four runs, all on solo homers, and it was enough to win. The Yankees scored all three of their runs in the fourth to go up 3-0. Gaetti homered in the bottom of the fourth to make it 3-1, Gladden homered in the sixth to make it 3-2, Tom Brunansky homered in the sixth to tie it up, and Puckett homered in the eighth to put the Twins ahead. Henderson led off the ninth with a single, but instead of having him try for his fifth stolen base the Yankees had Don Mattingly swinging, and he hit into a double play. Dave Winfield popped to the catcher to end the game.
Of note: Puckett was now hitting .355...Brunansky was 1-for-4 with a home run, his third...Mark Portugal started and went 4.1 innings, giving up three runs on seven hits and three walks with two strikeouts...Dennis Rasmussen started for the Yankees and went 5.2 innings, giving up three runs on six hits and three walks with three strikeouts.
Record: The Twins were 14-10. in first place by a game over California.
Notes: Mark Davidson was again the right fielder, with Brunansky as DH and Roy Smalley on the bench...Tim Laudner pretty much became the regular catcher at this point. He was 0-for-3 and was 1-for-15 for the season (.067). He would go lower than that and would not get his average into triple digits until May 21. He would only have seven days all season where his average was above the Mendoza line. He would end at .191, which led to the forming of the famous "Buck Ninety Fan Club"...Joel Skinner is one of those guys who put in a decent career as a backup catcher. He played for nine seasons (if you count six games in 1983). He played behind some pretty good catchers: Carlton Fisk with the White Sox, Rick Cerone with the Yankees, and Sandy Alomar with Cleveland. He also played behind guys like Don Slaught and Andy Allenson, but such is life when you're a career backup. He hit .228/.269/.311, but still was around for quite a while. As they say, it's nice work if you can get it.