Friday September 25, 1987
Royals 6, Twins 4
Kansas City used a five run fifth inning to do what has seemed nearly impossible lately: defeating the Twins at the Metrodome. The victory kept Kansas City’s slim hopes for an AL West title alive, though they need to sweep the six games they have against the Twins to have any chance at all.
Despite the loss, the Twins’ magic number managed to find its way down to “3″ because of an Oakland loss. Oakland is now tied in second place with Kansas City.
52,704 fans, billed in the Star Tribune as a record crowd, filled the Metrodome for what seemed to be a celebration of success. The Royals put off the party, however, when they got to Straker in the fifth. Three home runs, one off of Straker and two off of reliever Dan Schatzeder, were enough to change a 4-1 Twins lead into a 6-4 Royals lead, and eventual win. The biggest blow came on a two-run shot by George Brett, who also had an RBI double in the fourth inning to put his team on the board.
The Royals seem to be more motivated to keep the Twins from celebrating than any title aspirations of their own. From the Star Tribune:
“We don’t want the Twins celebrating against us,” said (Jamie) Quirk, who hit a back-breaking pennant race homer against the Twins in 1984 as a member of the Cleveland Indians. “Let them celebrate against somebody else.”
Player of the Game
George Brett 2-, 3 BB, 1 R, 3 RBI
AL West Standings through 9/25 (Retrosheet)
Team Name G W L T PCT GB RS RA Minnesota Twins 154 83 71 0 .539 - 757 766 Kansas City Royals 154 77 77 0 .500 6.0 673 662 Oakland Athletics 154 77 77 0 .500 6.0 779 744 Texas Rangers 153 73 80 0 .477 9.5 789 805 California Angels 154 72 82 0 .468 11.0 716 753 Seattle Mariners 153 71 82 0 .464 11.5 716 765 Chicago White Sox 154 70 84 0 .455 13.0 703 732
Tomorrow vs Kansas City: Steve Carlton (L) 1-5 7.12 vs Bret Saberhagen 17-10 3.35
Sunday vs KC
Monday-Wednesday @ TEX
10/2-10/4 @ KC
Other Remaining Schedules (3 games unless noted)
Kansas City: @ MIN (2); vs SEA; vs MIN
Oakland: vs CHW (2); vs CLE; @ CHW
