Sunday September 27, 1987
Twins 8, Royals 1
Three Twins home runs in the first inning and a complete game by Bert Blyleven were instrumental in the victory that clinched the Twins a tie for the AL West crown. Mark Vancil captured it well in his lead to the game story in the Star Tribune:
The crowd. The inning. The pitcher. All three added up to a magic number of one.
The Twins got a charge out of a record 52,924 fans, reduced the season’s biggest game to an inning and rallied behind veteran Bert Blyleven to clinch a tie for the American League Western Division title Sunday with an 8-1 triumph over Kansas City in the Metrodome.
A Royals loss or a Twins victory tonight in Texas would secure the team’s first championship in 17 years.
It is rare in an 8-1 game for both teams to point to a defensive play in the first inning as the keyto victory, but that was the case in the final home game of the regular season.
After Bert Blyleven, on three days rest, walked lead off man Willie Wilson, Kevin Seitzer laced a single to put runners at first and third with nobody out. Just as Tom Kelly was having doubts about his decision to go with Blyleven, Friday’s hero George Brett hit a shot on the ground to Gary Gaetti at third. What followed may be the signature defensive play of the season.
Gaetti tossed to Al Newman to complete the first leg of the 5-6-3 double play that one might expect in this situation. Newman, rather than throwing to first to complete to play, noticed that Wilson hesitated ever so slightly on his way to home. Newman instantly turned and fired a perfect strike to home. Newman described the play as he fought back tears in Vancil’s story:
“That was the biggest play of my major league career,” said Newman, whose throw nailed Wilson at the plate. “I don’t think I’ll ever make a bigger one either, unless it’s in the World Series. That was a key situation. With runners on first and third, no outs and Brett up, you’re thinking, if not three runs, at least one.
“I’ll tell you. Those guys (fans) almost brought a tear to my eye. There were 52,000 standing and cheering. It was awesome.”
The Twins escaped the inning, and put together an enormous first inning of their own to end the game just after it started. Newman started it off with a one-out double. He scored on a Kirby Puckett home run. A Gary Gaetti solo shot and a Kent Hrbek two-run blast completed the five-run inning.
After that, it was all left to Blyleven, who didn’t disappoint, pitching nine innings while allowing only one run. Blyleven remembered the last time he pitched in and won a key September game in Sid Hartman’s column:
“In 1970 (Blyleven’s rookie year) we saw a nine-game lead in the West reduced to three games and I was called on to pitch against the second-place California Angels in Anaheim,” he recalled. “I beat them, we increased our lead to four games, and from that we ran away with the division.”
Following the game, Twins did a curtain call for the fans. Dan Gladden ran along the warning track slapping high fives with the fans and throwing some of his gear as souveneirs.
The Twins wrap up the season on the road, starting Monday in Texas. Any Twins win or Royals loss will clinch the Division. The A’s were eliminated as a result of their fifth straight loss.
Player of the Game
Al Newman
AL West Standings through 9/27 (Retrosheet)
Team Name G W L T PCT GB RS RA Minnesota Twins 156 84 72 0 .538 - 769 774 Kansas City Royals 156 78 78 0 .500 6.0 681 674 Oakland Athletics 156 77 79 0 .494 7.0 781 752 Seattle Mariners 155 73 82 0 .471 10.5 723 769 Texas Rangers 155 73 82 0 .471 10.5 793 812 California Angels 156 73 83 0 .468 11.0 737 772 Chicago White Sox 156 72 84 0 .462 12.0 711 734
Twins stats through 9/27
Dan Gladden LF .257/.319/.374 7 HR
Greg Gagne SS .262/.307/.433 9 HR
Kirby Puckett CF .331/.367/.537 28 HR
Kent Hrbek 1B .282/.385/.544 34 HR
Gary Gaetti 3B .263/.309/.496 31 HR
Tom Brunansky RF .263/.353/.492 31 HR
Don Baylor DH .279/.367/.302 0 HR
Steve Lombardozzi 2B .235/.297/.343 7 HR
Tim Laudner C .186/.249/.391 16 HR
Roy Smalley DH/3B .281/.356/.419 8 HR
Al Newman UT .222/.301/.306 0 HR
Randy Bush RF .260/.357/.419 10 HR
Gene Larkin DH/1B .270/.345/.385 4 HR
Mark Davidson OF .262/.319/.324 1 HR
Sal Butera C .184/.225/.262 0 HR
Tom Nieto C .200/.276/.314 2 HR
Billy Beane RF .222/.222/.333 0 HR
Chris Pittaro 2B .286/.375/.286 0 HR
Bert Blyleven 15-11 4.05 ERA/5.10 FIP/1.35 WHIP
Frank Viola (L) 17-9 2.89/3.88/1.15
Les Straker 8-9 4.43/5.58/1.34
Joe Niekro 4-8 5.89/5.02/1.68
Steve Carlton (L) 1-5 6.86/6.10/1.88
Mike Smithson 4-7 5.94/5.30/1.59
Jeff Reardon 8-8 4.66/4.52/1.25
Juan Berenguer 7-1 4.03/3.70/1.34
Keith Atherton 7-4 4.44/4.42/1.45
George Frazier 5-5 5.31/5.27/1.68
Dan Schatzeder (L) 3-1 6.00/5.76/1.92
Roy Smith 1-0 4.02/4.79/1.53
Jeff Bittiger 1-0 4.91/5.39/1.37
Tomorrow at Texas: Joe Niekro 4-8 5.89 vs Jose Guzman 14-12 4.65
Tuesday-Wednesday @ TEX
Friday-Sunday @ KC
Other Remaining Schedules (3 games unless noted)
Kansas City: vs SEA; vs MIN
