The Twins Almanac: Les Straker Makes History, Scott Leius Plays Hero, Remember Joe Brinkman?

Les Straker pitched six shutout innings in Game 3, becoming the first Venezuelan to start a World Series game on this date in 1987.

Related Venezuelan Trivia: Johan Santana became the first Venezuelan 20-game winner, while pitching for the Twins in 2004.

Straker left the game with a 1-0 lead, but Juan Berenguer surrendered three in the seventh for a 3-1 Cardinals win. The Twins only connected for five hits in the game. Tim Laudner—who famously hit just .191 during the regular season—had two hits. 

Kevin Tapani pitched eight strong innings as the Twins won Game 2 of the World Series 3-2 on this date in 1991. It was the first of five games in the series decided by one run. 

The Twins jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the first, as Chili Davis homered off Tom Glavine, driving in Chuck Knoblauch who reached on a walk. (Remember, kids: walks will haunt.) The damage actually might have been greater, but Kirby Puckett—who led the majors in double plays grounded into in 1991—grounded into a double play right before Chili came up. 

For Atlanta, David Justice scored in the second inning and Minnesota native Greg Olson scored in the fifth. The game was tied 2-2 when Scott Leius—who still lives in the Twin Cities—hit Glavine's first pitch in the bottom of the eighth over the fence for the game-winning home run. Rick Aguilera closed it out in the top of the ninth. 

Footnote: Ron Gant committed a seldom-remembered baserunning blunder in the top of the third, careening wildly out of control back toward first base. Fortunately, Good Samaritan Kent Hrbek was on the spot to prevent Gant from injuring himself, but in the process, did tag Gant for the final out of the inning.

[Ed. note: Gant should have been safe.]

Hey, here's an obscure factoid: Joe Brinkman kicked the game-winning field goal for a 15-14 St. Cloud State win over Bemidji State on this date in 1962.

The Holdingford High School graduate was a longtime major-league umpire with one of the great, distinctive styles of ball-and-strike calling, and was crew chief for the 1987 American League Championship Series. He was at third base in Game 4. Gee, anything noteworthy happen at third base in Game 4 of the '87 ALCS ... ?

Are you interested in Twins history? Then check out the Minnesota Twins Players Project, a community-driven project to discover and collect great information on every player to wear a Twins uniform!