Twins and Giants Are Getting World Serious : Minnesota Wins, 5-3, Can Finish Detroit Today

A ringing telephone in the Tiger Stadium postgame interview room interrupted Minnesota Twins’ Manager Tom Kelly in mid-answer.

“Uh-oh,” Kelly blurted. “That might be (President) Reagan.”

Kelly suddenly found himself drowned out by laughter, the rarest of predicaments for the Twins’ Mr. Bland. No, it wasn’t the phone call--presidents usually reserve those for crowned champions--but considering what Minnesota has done to the Tigers in this American League playoff series, one might have been in order.

With a 5-3 victory over Detroit before a hushed Tiger Stadium crowd of 51,939 Sunday night, the Twins find themselves in the incredible, implausible situation of needing just one more victory for a trip to the World Series.

Minnesota, the pretender from the West, owner of the fifth-best record in the American League, holds a 3-1 advantage in this best-of-seven series and can close out the Tigers with a victory in Game 5 today.

“This is getting real close to Thousand Oaks,” said Detroit Manager Sparky Anderson, who makes his winter home in that Southern California city.

Were it not for an unlikely eighth-inning home run by Tiger Pat Sheridan in Game 3, Anderson would be boarding that west-bound plane today. Not only did Sheridan turn a 6-5 Detroit deficit into a 7-6 victory Saturday, but he spared the Tigers the humiliation of being swept, four straight, by the survivor of baseball’s cream-puff division.

By that much, Detroit still holds a stake in this supposed mismatch of the Midwest.

The Tigers were pushed to the precipice by a bunch of names previously unknown to everyone west of Minneapolis and east of St. Paul.

Greg Gagne, who plays shortstop for the Twins, hit a home run and a double and scored two runs against Frank Tanana.

Gene Larkin, who pinch-hits for the Twins, knocked Tanana out of the game with a run-scoring pinch-double in the top of the sixth inning.

Steve Lombardozzi, who normally plays second base for the Twins but spent the first five innings Sunday on the bench, provided an insurance run with an RBI single in the eighth.

And Tim Laudner, the .191-hitting Minnesota catcher, provided the consensus turning point by picking Darrell Evans off third base with one out in the bottom of the sixth inning and the Twins holding a nervous 4-3 lead.

Evans, Detroit’s 40-year old spiritual leader, the steadying influence, was the epitome of the Tigers’ futility in this playoff during his nine innings of agony. At the plate, he went 1 for 4 with a measly, broken-bat, bloop single, leaving the bases loaded once. In the field, he made a fielding error and a throwing error in back-to-back innings at third. And on base, he was caught leaning at the worst of possible times--with Detroit a wild pitch away from tying the score.

Minnesota’s Frank Viola took a 4-2 advantage into the bottom of the sixth before surrendering singles to Chet Lemon and Evans. Keith Atherton replaced Viola and yielded a single to pinch-hitter Dave Bergman, scoring Lemon with the Tigers’ third run and moving Evans to second.

A sacrifice bunt got Evans to third, where Evans wandered into trouble. On a 1-and-0 pitch to Lou Whitaker, Laudner sprung from his crouch and fired a throw to third base. Gary Gaetti slapped the tag on the back of a diving Evans.

Critical because two pitches later, Juan Berenguer uncorked a wild fastball past Laudner to the backstop. Had Evans been on third base to capitalize, Detroit would have tied the game at 4-4.

Instead, Bergman advanced to third. After Whitaker walked, Bergman was stranded there when Jim Morrison flied out to center field.

“I thought that was the turning point of the game,” Anderson said.

So did Laudner, a journeyman catcher in the truest sense of the term. For a 29-year-old platoon player with a .218 lifetime batting average, it may have been the play of a career.

“In terms of today, it loomed pretty large,” Laudner allowed.

Berenguer, the second of three Minnesota relievers, would settle down after that. He pitched hitless seventh and eighth innings, striking out the last man he faced, Bergman.

With that, Berenguer forgot all the fuss Anderson made about the pitcher’s antics in Game 2, which created a controversy that lingered until Kelly forced Berenguer to apologize to Anderson before Game 3. After fanning Bergman, Berenguer threw etiquette to the wind and pounded his glove, let loose a yell and thrust a fist into the chilly air.

Sorry, Sparky.

Minnesota was inching closer to the World Series, closer than it has been since 1965. Berenguer completed his assignment and handed the baton to Jeff Reardon, the man who let Game 3--and a high fastball to Sheridan--slip away.

Reardon faltered at the outset, opening the ninth with a single to pinch-hitter John Grubb. Grubb was replaced by a pinch-runner, Sheridan, who served as a not-too-subtle reminder of the day before.

Reardon stared over at Sheridan at first base--and left him there.

First, an infield pop fly by Whitaker. Then, a third strike, blown by pinch-hitter Matt Nokes. Then, another third strike, this one called on the outside corner to Kirk Gibson, the Tigers’ most valuable player of the 1984 postseason but hitting a paltry .176 (3 for 17, 8 strikeouts) in 1987.