MINNESOTA 4, SEATTLE 3 IN SEATTLE

Date:  Monday, July 27.

Batting stars:  Steve Lombardozzi was 1-for-4 with a three-run homer, his fourth.  Greg Gagne was 2-for-3 with a double and a run.  Gary Gaetti was 1-for-4 with a home run, his twentieth.

Pitching stars:  Frank Viola pitched eight innings, giving up three runs on six hits and no walks with seven strikeouts.  Jeff Reardon pitched a scoreless inning, giving up two hits while striking out one.

Opposition stars:  Mark Langston pitched eight innings, giving up three runs on four hits and two walks with seven strikeouts.  Jim Presley was 1-for-4 with a two-run homer, his sixteenth.  Donell Nixon was 3-for-4 with two stolen bases (his twelfth and thirteenth) and a run.

The game:  Harold Reynolds opened the scoring with a home run in the third and Presley hit a two-run shot in the sixth to give the Mariners a 3-0 lead.  It looked like that would be enough, as Langston blanked the Twins for eight innings.  In the ninth, however, Gagne led off with an infield single, Dan Gladden walked, and Lombardozzi hit a three-run homer to tie the score.  Langston left and Edwin Nunez came in.  He retired Kirby Puckett on a fly ball, but Gaetti homered to put the Twins in front.  Seattle did not go quietly in the ninth.  Reardon retired the first two batters, but Dave Valle doubled.  Manager Dick Williams did not pinch-run for his catcher and it may have cost him, because Rey Quinones singled to center and Valle was thrown out at the plate by Puckett, ending the game.  I don't know how fast Valle was, but he had five career stolen bases in thirteen seasons.

Of note:  Lombardozzi was in the second spot in the order...Puckett was back in center field...Gene Larkin was used as the DH...All seven runs in this game were scored on home runs.  I wonder what the highest number of runs is in a game in which all the runs came on home runs.

Record:  The Twins were 55-46, in first place by two games over Oakland.

Player profile:  Due to personal time constraints, there will be no player profiles for a couple more days.

TORONTO 4, MINNESOTA 2 IN TORONTO

Date:  Sunday, July 26.

Batting stars:  Kirby Puckett was 2-for-3 with a home run (his sixteenth) and a hit-by-pitch.  Steve Lombardozzi was 1-for-3 with a double and a run.  Dan Gladden was 1-for-4 with an RBI.

Pitching star:  Bert Blyleven struck out twelve in a complete game, giving up four runs (three earned) on nine hits and three walks.

Opposition stars:  Jimmy Key pitched 8.2 innings, giving up two runs on four hits and no walks with five strikeouts.  George Bell was 4-for-4 with a double and a stolen base (his fifth), scoring once and driving in one.  Lloyd Moseby was 1-for-3 with a walk and a stolen base (his twenty-second), scoring once.

The game:  Puckett homered in the first to give the Twins a 1-0 lead.  An error tied the score in the second, but the Twins regained the lead in the third on Lombardozzi's double and Gladden's RBI single.  Bell's run-scoring single tied it in the fifth.  It stayed 2-2 until the ninth.  Bell led off with a double and Ernie Whitt drew a one-out walk.  A fly ball moved runners to first and third with two down.  A wild pitch brought home the go-ahead run and a Garth Iorg double brought in an insurance run.

Of note:  Mark Davidson was again in center field, with Puckett at DH.  Since this is two games in a row, one assumes Puckett had a minor injury of some sort.  Davidson again batted second...It should be noted that, for the second game in a row, Blyleven did not leave any pitches up.  This was the only time all year that would happen...Had the Blue Jays not removed Key with two out and a man on first in the ninth, there would have been no substitutions of any kind in the game by either team.  I don't know how often that happens, but I don't think it's very often...Of course, it would be quite unusual in today's game for the starter to be left in a tie game after giving up a leadoff double in the eighth.

Record:  The Twins were 54-46, in first place, two games ahead of Oakland.

Sorry, but due to personal time constraints, there will be no player profiles for the next few days.

MINNESOTA 13, TORONTO 9 IN TORONTO

Date:  Saturday, July 25.

Batting stars:  Gary Gaetti was 2-for-4 with a home run (his nineteenth), a walk, and a stolen base (his sixth), scoring twice and driving in four.  Gene Larkin was 2-for-4 with a home run (his third) and a walk, scoring twice and driving in three.  Greg Gagne was 2-for-4 with a double, a walk, and a stolen base (his sixth), scoring once and driving in two.

Pitching stars:  Joe Niekro pitched 1.1 scoreless innings of relief, giving up one hit while striking out one.  Jeff Reardon pitched a scoreless inning, giving up one hit.

Opposition stars:  Tony Fernandez was 3-for-4 with a double and two walks, scoring once and driving in one.  Garth Iorg was 2-for-5 with a two-run homer (his fifth) and double, scoring twice.  Jesse Barfield was 2-for-4 with a double and a walk, scoring once and driving in one.

The game:  Toronto scored four in the third, three of them coming on a home run by Fred McGriff, but the Twins tied it with four of their own in the fourth, three of them coming on a home run by Gaetti.  Toronto got the lead back in the bottom of the fourth, getting RBI doubles by Fernandez and Rance Mulliniks.  The Twins answered with seven in the sixth.  Larkin led off with a home run, but for the rest of the inning the single was their weapon of choice, as they got five of them.  A couple of walks and an error didn't hurt, either.  The lead was cut to 11-9 in the seventh, as Iorg hit a two-run homer and Kelly Gruber hit a solo shot.  The Twins got single runs in the eighth and ninth to take control of the game again.

Of note:  Kirby Puckett was 2-for-5 with a triple and two runs and was batting .325...Steve Lombardozzi was 2-for-5 with a double and a stolen base (his third), scoring twice and driving in one...Mark Davidson started in center field and batted second, with Puckett at DH...Larkin started at first, with Kent Hrbek out of the lineup...The Twins stole bases.  In addition to the ones mentioned above, Davidson stole his seventh and Randy Bush, who entered the game as a pinch-hitter for Davidson  in the sixth, stole his sixth...Les Straker pitched only three innings, allowing six runs on six hits and four walks with one strikeout...Toronto starter John Cerutti didn't last much longer, going 3.1 innings and allowing four runs on two hits and four walks with two strikeouts.

Record:  The Twins were 54-45, in first place, two games ahead of Oakland.

Player profile:  Garth Iorg had a longer career than you may remember.  An eighth-round draft choice of the Yankees in 1973, he had played in AA in 1976 and was left unprotected in the expansion draft.  He batted .294 in AAA in 1977 and on the strength of that was on the Blue Jays' opening day roster in 1978.  He didn't stay long, as he batted .163 in 49 at-bats and was back in AAA by May.  He never did get on track in 1978, but he produced good AAA batting averages, although with no power, in 1979, and the start of 1980, getting to the big leagues to stay in late May of the latter year.  He was a part-time player for the Blue Jays from then through 1987, playing mostly second and third.  He was never quite an everyday player, but he would play in 120-140 games a season and get 250-400 at-bats.  His only really good season was 1985, when he batted .313/.358/.469 in 288 at-bats.  He had a couple of other years when he had a good batting average, but he drew so few walks and had so little power that he still wasn't much of an offensive contributor.  He stayed in baseball as a minor league coach and manager and as a major league coach through 2014.  For his career he batted .258/.292/.347.  Still, he played in 931 big league games and had 2450 at-bats, and that's a pretty decent career.

TORONTO 8, MINNESOTA 6 IN TORONTO

Date:  Friday, July 24.

Batting stars:  Greg Gagne was 2-for-3 with a double, scoring once and driving in two.  Tom Brunansky was 1-for-3 with a double and a walk, scoring twice.  Sal Butera was 1-for-3 with a double and two RBIs.

Pitching stars:  Mike Smithson pitched four innings, giving up one run on six hits and a walk with one strikeout.  George Frazier pitched a scoreless inning, giving up one hit and two walks with one strikeout.

Opposition stars:  Tony Fernandez was 3-for-5 with a double and two runs.  Juan Beniquez was 1-for-1 with a pinch-hit three-run homer, his fourth.  Rick Leach was 1-for-4 with a three-run homer, his second.

The game:  The Twins scored five in the fourth to take a 6-1 lead.  Doubles were the key to the inning:  Gary Gaetti had an RBI double, Gagne had a two-run double, and Butera had a two-run double.  The score stayed 6-1 until the seventh, when the roof fell in.  Not literally--Skydome remained intact--but it must have felt like that to Tom Kelly.  Keith Atherton was starting his third inning of relief, having blanked the Blue Jays for two.  He got the first batter out, but a single, a walk, and a single loaded the bases and a sacrifice fly brought home a run and brought Dan Schatzeder into the game.  Still, the Twins led 6-2, the tying run was not yet up to bat, things were still looking okay.  Schatzeder immediately gave up a three-run homer to Beniquez to make it 6-5.  He then walked Charlie Moore.  Jeff Reardon then came in to try for a seven-out save.  It didn't happen.  Willie Upshaw singled and Leach hit the second three-run homer of the inning to put Toronto ahead 8-6.  The Twins did not get a man on base in the last two innings.

Of note:  Al Newman replaced Steve Lombardozzi at second base and batted second...Kirby Puckett was 0-for-3 with a walk and was batting .324...Toronto starter Jose Nunez pitched 3.2 innings, allowing six runs on five hits and two walks with three strikeouts...Mark Eichhorn came in to throw 3.1 scoreless innings, giving up three hits and no walks with one strikeout.

Record:  The Twins were 53-45, in first place by two games over Oakland.

Player profile:  Submarine/sidearmer Mark Eichhorn was kind of up-and-down in his career, but when he was good, he was really, really good.  He was drafted by Toronto in the second round of the January draft in 1979.  He actually made his major league debut as a starter, getting called up in late August of 1982 despite not having done very well in AAA that season.  He didn't do much for the Blue Jays, either, going 0-3, 5.45 in seven starts.  He did not come back to the majors until 1986, when he was a relief pitcher.  He had an awesome year, going 14-6, 1.72, 0.96 WHIP and finished sixth in Cy Young voting despite the fact that he was pitching as a set-up man (closer Tom Henke did not receive any Cy Young votes).  He appeared in 69 games and pitched 157 relief innings.  He was not quite as good in 1987 but was still darn good, going 10-6, 3.17, 1.27 WHIP in a league-leading 89 games (127.2 innings).  The workload may have taken a toll, because he had a poor year in 1988, was sold to Atlanta and had a poor year there in 1989, signed with California as a free agent.  He did better in 1990 and then had another awesome year in 1991, going 3-3, 1.98, 0.93 WHIP in 70 games (81.2 innings).  He was pitching well again in 1992 when he was traded back to Toronto for Rob Ducey and Greg Myers.  He struggled at the end of that season, but was fairly good in 1993 for them and really good with Baltimore in 1994.  He was hurt in early August, though, missed all of 1995, and was not the same pitcher when he came back.  He had a poor year with California and that was his last shot in the majors.  He tried to come back, pitching in AAA for Tampa Bay in 1998 and for Toronto in 2000, but never got there.  Overall, he was 48-43, 3.00, 1.24 WHIP, which are fine numbers.  If you just look at his three best years, though, he was 23-14, 2.03, 0.99 WHIP.  At last report, Mark Eichhorn was coaching high school baseball in Aptos, California.  His son, Kevin, pitched in the Arizona and Detroit organizations, reaching high-A.

TORONTO 4, MINNESOTA 3 IN TORONTO

Date:  Thursday, July 23.

Batting stars:  Gary Gaetti was 1-for-4 with a home run, his eighteenth.  Tom Brunansky was 1-for-3 with a double and a walk.  Kirby Puckett was 1-for-4 with an RBI.

Pitching star:  Joe Niekro pitched 7.2 innings, giving up three runs on five hits and three walks with six strikeouts.

Opposition stars:  Dave Stieb pitched a complete game, giving up three runs on five hits and three walks with eight strikeouts.  Lloyd Moseby was 2-for-4 with a walk and a stolen base (his twenty-first), scoring once and driving in one.  Tony Fernandez was 2-for-4 with a walk and two stolen bases (his twenty-eighth and twenty-ninth), scoring once.

The game:  The Twins scored two in the first to take a 2-0 lead.  Fred McGriff homered in the second to make it 2-1.  In the third, Rance Mulliniks delivered a two-out two-run single to put the Blue Jays ahead 3-2.  It stayed there until the sixth, when Gaetti homered to tie it at three.  It was still 3-3 until the bottom of the ninth.  George Frazier, who had come in to get the Twins out of a jam in the eighth, retired the first two batters, but then gave up a single to Garth Iorg.  We again see that not using your closer in a tie game was already a thing thirty years ago, because Tom Kelly brought in Keith Atherton.  He allowed back-to-back singles to Fernandez and Moseby to give Toronto the win.

Of note:  Gagne once again batted second...Puckett was now batting .326...Randy Bush was the DH in this game.

Record:  The Twins were 53-44, in first place by two games over Oakland.

Player profile:  I know people remember Dave Stieb, but I wonder if they remember just how awesome he really was.  He was drafted in the fifth round in 1978, came up to the majors in late June of 1979, immediately went into the starting rotation, and from 1980-85 he was as good as anybody.  He never had great won-lost records (his best was 17-12 in 1983), which probably hurt his reputation a little.  But he made the all-star team in five of those six years and probably should have made it all six.  He was in the top seven of Cy Young voting three times.  He had an ERA under four in all six seasons, an ERA under 3.30 in five of them, and an ERA under three in two.  He led the league in ERA in 1985, in complete games (with 19) in 1982, in shutouts with five that same year, in innings pitched twice, and in ERA+ twice.  He pitched over 240 innings in five of those years and almost certainly would have in 1981 if not for the players' strike.  He averaged 275 innings pitched from 1982-85.  He had one no-hitter and five one-hitters.  The workload took its toll, as he had down years in 1986 and 1987, although he remained in the rotation and still averaged 190 innings in those years.  He bounced back and had three more excellent seasons from 1988-90, and this time his won-lost records showed it:  in those seasons he was 51-22, 3.11, making two more all-star teams and finishing fifth in Cy Young voting in 1990.  He was off to another fine start in 1991, but was injured in mid-May, missed the rest of the season, and never was the same pitcher.  He stumbled through a poor 1992, made four starts for the White Sox in 1993, and then retired.  In 1998, though, at age forty, he decided to come back, pitched pretty well in AAA, and by late June was back with Toronto.  Unfortunately, this isn't a movie:  he went 1-2, 4.83, 1.49 WHIP.  It was a pretty fine career, though:  176-137, 3.44, 1.25 WHIP, 103 complete games, 30 shutouts, 2895.1 innings.  At last report, Dave Stieb was in the real estate business in Reno, Nevada.

MINNESOTA 2, NEW YORK 1 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Tuesday, July 21.

Batting stars:  Tom Brunansky was 1-for-3 with a home run (his twenty-first) and a walk.  Kent Hrbek was 2-for-4 with an RBI and a stolen base, his fifth.  Gary Gaetti was 1-for-4 with a double and a run.

Pitching star:  Bert Blyleven pitched a complete game, giving up one run on seven hits and four walks with eight strikeouts and zero pitches left up.

Opposition stars:  Ron Guidry pitched eight innings, giving up one run on six hits and no walks with four strikeouts.  Mark Salas was 1-for-3 with a double and a walk.  Claudell Washington was 1-for-4 with a double and a run.

The game:  Dave Winfield singled Washington home in the first to give the Yankees a 1-0 lead.  Brunansky homered in the fourth to tie it 1-1.  There was no more scoring until the ninth, when Gaetti led off with double off Tim Stoddard.  Brunansky was intentionally walked and Pat Clements came in to face Hrbek, who singled to center to bring Gaetti home with the winning run.  Apparently, saving your closer for a save situation was a thing back then, too, because Dave Righetti had not pitched since July 17 and would seem to have been available, but was not used.

Of note:  Kirby Puckett was 0-for-4, dropping his average to .325...TK used a rather strange top of the order.  Al Newman led off and was the DH, one of two times that season and in his career that he was a starting DH.  Puckett batted second, with Dan Gladden third.  If someone had the time to look it up, it would be interesting to know if the papers at the time said anything about the reasons for that arrangement.

Record:  The Twins were 52-43, in first place, two games ahead of Oakland.

Player profile:  Tim Stoddard had a pretty long career for being no better than he was.  He was drafted by the White Sox in the second round of the January Secondary draft in 1975.  He pitched one inning for the White Sox in 1975, but didn't really start his major league career until 1978.  He was with Baltimore by then, having been released by the White Sox after the 1977 season.  and started the season with the Orioles, but was sent down in early May.  In the next two years, 1979-80, he was excellent.  He posted a 1.71 ERA and a 1.09 WHIP in 58 innings in 1979, became the closer in 1980, and did a fine job, going 5-3, 26 saves, 2.51, 1.28 WHIP.  In the next two years, however, he was not nearly as good--his ERAs were around 4.00, but his WHIPs were around 1.5.  He was even worse in 1983 and the Orioles traded him to Oakland.  He never played for them, as they included him in a deal with the Cubs before the 1984 season started.  He was 10-6, 3.82 in relief for them, but with a WHIP of 1.46.  He became a free agent, signed with San Diego, was not very good for them, and was traded to the Yankees in in July of 1986 for Ed Whitson.  The Yankees probably thought it was a good trade just because they were rid of Whitson, but Stoddard was actually a useful reliever for them for the rest of 1986 and 1987, posting ERAs in the threes and WHIPs in the 1.2s.  He imploded the next year, however, was released in mid-August, played about half a season for Cleveland in 1989, and then was done.  For his career, he was 41-35, 3.95, 76 saves, 1.42 WHIP in 485 games (729.2 innings, all in relief).  Not awful numbers, I suppose, but not as good as could be expected from someone who played thirteen years in the big leagues.  A random fact about Tim Stoddard:  he is the only man to play on an NCAA basketball champion (NC State, 1974) and a World Series champion (Baltimore, 1983).  The only other man to play in the Final Four and the World Series is Kenny Lofton.  The two men went to the same high school, Washington High School in East Chicago, Indiana.

MINNESOTA 3, NEW YORK 1 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Wednesday, July 22.

Batting stars:  Kent Hrbek was 1-for-1 with a two-run homer (his twenty-fourth) and three walks.  Kirby Puckett was 2-for-4 with a home run, his fifteenth.  Dan Gladden was 1-for-4 with a walk and a stolen base (his eighteenth), scoring once.

Pitching stars:  Frank Viola pitched eight innings, giving up one run on four hits and two walks with six strikeouts.  Jeff Reardon pitched a scoreless inning, giving up one hit.

Opposition stars:  Claudell Washington was 1-for-4 with a home run, his seventh.  Rick Cerone was 1-for-3 with a double.  Bobby Meacham was 1-for-2 with a walk.

The game:  Hrbek hit a two-run homer in the first inning to give the Twins all the runs they needed.  Puckett homered in the fifth to make it 3-0.  The Yankees didn't get a hit until the fourth and did not get a man past first base until the sixth, when Washington homered.  The only other Yankee threat came in the seventh, when Cerone hit a two-out double followed by a walk to Meacham.  Wayne Tolleson then struck out to end the inning.

Of note:  Puckett raised his average to .327...Greg Gagne batted second...Yankee starter Rick Rhoden pitched 6.1 innings, giving up three runs on nine hits and four walks with five strikeouts...The Twins stranded eleven and went 1-for-9 with men in scoring position, with the "one" being the Hrbek homer...The Yankees were 0-for-1 with men in scoring position.

Record:  The Twins were 53-43, in first place, two games ahead of Oakland.

Player profile:  I remember Bobby Meacham being touted as a really good prospect, but it didn't happen for him.  He was a first-round draft choice, chosen by St. Louis with the eighth pick in 1981.  He had a couple of lackluster years in the Cardinals organization, then was traded to the Yankees with Stan Javier for Steve Finch, Bob Helsom, and Marty Mason, none of whom made the majors.  Meacham at least did better than that, getting a September call-up in 1983 and spending most of 1984-88 with the big club, although he was sent back to AAA for periods of time in most of those years.  He was the semi-regular shortstop for them in 1984, sharing the position with Tim Foli and Andre Robertson but getting the majority of the starts.  He was their full-time shortstop in 1985, starting all but nine games.  Unfortunately, he didn't do much with the chance, batting .218/.302/.266 in 1985 and striking out 102 times.  He did lead the league in sacrifice hits with 23.  He had a shot at getting the shortstop job back in 1986, as the Yankees used seven different players there, but his numbers that year were remarkably similar to 1985 in far less playing time.  In fact, the Yankees really didn't find a shortstop until 1996, when Derek Jeter came along--their starters in that period included Wayne Tolleson, Rafael Santana, Alvaro Espinoza, Andy Stankiewicz, Spike Owen, Mike Gallego, and Tony Fernandez.  Meacham was not around for most of that, though--he was a part-time player for the Yankees through 1988, then spent a couple of years in AAA for Pittsburgh and Kansas City before his playing career ended.  For his career, Meacham hit .236/.313/.308 in 1371 at-bats.  He stayed in baseball as a minor league coach and manager, and in 2016 was the manager of the New Hampshire Fisher Cats in the Toronto organization.

NEW YORK 7, MINNESOTA 1 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Monday, July 20.

Batting stars:  Steve Lombardozzi was 2-for-3 with a double.  Greg Gagne was 2-for-4 with a double.  Tim Laudner was 1-for-4 with a triple.

Pitching stars:  None.

Opposition stars:  Tommy John pitched a complete game, giving up one run on seven hits and a walk with one strikeout.  Mike Pagliarulo was 1-for-2 with a home run (his eighteenth) and two walks, scoring three times and driving in two.  Mark Salas was 3-for-4 with a three-run homer, his sixth.

The game:  There was no score until the fifth, when Pagliarulo hit a two-run homer.  Laudner tripled and scored in the bottom of the fifth to make it 2-1.  Salas then hit a three-run homer in the seventh to put the Yankees in control of the game.  They added single runs in the eighth and ninth.

Of note:  Dan Gladden went 2-for-4...Gagne was moved up to the second spot in the order for this game...Kirby Puckett was 0-for-4, dropping his average to .329...Mark Davidson played right field, with Tom Brunansky at DH and Roy Smalley out of the lineup...Laudner's triple was his only one for the season and one of five in his career...Les Straker pitched well other than the home runs, but his line was still seven innings, six runs, six hits, three walks, and four strikeouts...Four Yankees with Twins connections played in this game:  Salas, who had been a Twin; Pagliarulo, who would be one; Dave Winfield, who also would be one; and John, who broadcast cames for the Twins from 1994-96.  If you want to stretch a point, you could make it five, as Wayne Tolleson's son Steven was in the Twins farm system from 2005-09.

MINNESOTA 7, TORONTO 6 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Sunday, July 19.

Batting stars:  Tom Brunansky was 2-for-4 with a home run (his twentieth) and three RBIs.  Dan Gladden was 1-for-3 with two walks and three stolen bases (his fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth), scoring once.  Gene Larkin was 2-for-4 with a run.

Pitching stars:  Dan Schatzeder struck out six in 3.2 scoreless innings, giving up two hits and a walk.  Keith Atherton retired all five men he faced, striking out one.

Opposition stars:  Ernie Whitt was 3-for-4 with a home run (his eighth) and a walk, driving in two.  Rick Leach was 2-for-4 with a double and a walk, scoring twice and driving in one.  Rance Mulliniks was 1-for-3 with a two-run homer, his sixth.

The game:  Toronto scored two in the top of the first, but Brunansky's two-run homer capped a four-run bottom of the first that put the Twins up 4-2.  Twins starter Mike Smithson couldn't hold the lead, as Mulliniks hit a two-run homer in the second to tie it and Whitt homered leading off the third to put the Blue Jays up 5-4.  In the fifth, Brunansky came through again, delivering an RBI single that tied it 5-5.  Greg Gagne led off the sixth with a single, was bunted to second, took third on a fly ball, and scored on a wild pitch to give the Twins a 6-5 advantage.  Gagne brought home a run in the eighth with a single-plus-error to give the Twins an insurance run and they needed it, because Cecil Fielder homered off Jeff Reardon in the ninth to make it 7-6.  Reardon gave up a two-out walk to Whitt but came out of the rest of the inning unscathed to preserve the win.

Of note:  Gagne was 2-for-4 and scored once...Gladden started in center field, with Kirby Puckett getting the day off.  He moved to left in the ninth when Mark Davidson came in as a defensive replacement for Randy Bush...Bush started in right and batted third, with Brunansky in left...Larkin was the DH, with Roy Smalley out of the lineup...Smithson lasted only 2.2 innings, giving up five runs on seven hits and three walks with one strikeout...Toronto starter Jose Nunez was not a whole lot better, going 4.2 innings and allowing five runs on seven hits and three walks while striking out five.

Record:  The Twins were 51-42, in first place, one game ahead of Oakland.

Player profile:  College football star Rick Leach had his best years as a part-time player for Toronto.  Drafted by Detroit with the thirteenth pick in 1979 (he was also drafted in the fifth round by the Denver Broncos), he reached the majors in 1981, spending half the season there.  He was with the Tigers for almost all of 1982 and really all of 1983, and for some reason I think of him mainly as a Tiger, although he spent more seasons with the Blue Jays.  He was primarily a reserve first baseman for Detroit, although he also played some outfield.  In his three years with the Tigers he batted .236/.307/.335 and had only seven runs in 543 at-bats.  Those aren't exactly the sort of numbers you're looking for in a first-round draft choice, so the Tigers released him during spring training of 1984.  He signed with Toronto and became primarily an outfielder.  He didn't do a lot his first two years there, and in fact he spent most of 1985 in the minors.  In 1986-87, though, he was a solid contributor to the Blue Jays as a reserve, batting .297/.351/.421 in 441 at-bats.  He left Toronto after the 1988 season, playing for Texas in 1989 and San Francisco in 1990.  He again put up good numbers as a reserve for the Giants:  .293/.372/.402 in 174 at-bats.  That was his last year, though, as he was released in spring training of 1991 and no one signed him.  He had failed a drug test in August 1990, which probably contributed to the end of his playing career.  For his career, Rick Leach hit .268/.335/.369.  At last report, he was living in Petosky, Michigan.