The Twins sent Reardon, who entered the game in the bottom of the eighth, to the hill to close out the series in the bottom of the ninth. Although an RBI single by Gibson scored Jim Morrison, the Minnesota stopper allowed nothing more, as Matt Nokes grounded out to Reardon to end a 9–5 Twins victory and clinch the franchise's first World Series berth since 1965.
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3 minutes
Oct 12, 1987Oct 12, 1987
NBC's opening montage, narrated by Bob Costas, before Game Five of the 1987 American League...
1987 ALCS Game Five - NBC Opening Montage / NBC's opening montage, narrated by Bob Costas, before Game Five of the 1987 American League Championship Series between the Minnesota Twins and Detroit Tigers.
3 hours
Oct 12, 1987Oct 12, 1987
In what would turn out to be the last postseason game played at Tiger Stadium,...
1987 ALCS, Game 5: Twins @ Tigers / In what would turn out to be the last postseason game played at Tiger Stadium, the Twins would send Blyleven to the mound to face the Tigers' Doyle Alexander.
In the top of the second, Minnesota drew first blood when Tom Brunansky doubled home Gary Gaetti and Randy Bush, but was thrown out trying to stretch his hit into a triple. Dan Gladden and Kirby Puckett added RBI base hits of their own to give the Twins a 4–0 lead, and Tigers manager Sparky Anderson replaced Alexander with Eric King.
As they had several times during the series, Detroit cut the Twins' lead down to one run in the bottom of the fourth, when Kirk Gibson scored on an Alan Trammell single and Matt Nokes followed with a two-run homer that scored Trammell. In the top of the seventh, however, the Twins restored their two-run lead when Kent Hrbek singled, moved to second when Gaetti was hit by a pitch, took third on a wild pitch by King, and plated on a sacrifice fly by Bush.
2 hours
Oct 11, 1987Oct 11, 1987
The fourth game of the series matched Viola against Tiger left-hander Frank Tanana, who had...
1987 ALCS Game 4 Minnesota Twins @ Detroit Tigers / The fourth game of the series matched Viola against Tiger left-hander Frank Tanana, who had thrown a 1–0 complete-game shutout over the Toronto Blue Jays on the final day of the regular season to punch Detroit's playoff ticket.
In the bottom of the first, the Tigers gave Tanana a 1–0 lead when Lou Whitaker walked to lead off the inning and eventually scored on a throwing error by Twins shortstop Greg Gagne. However, in the top of the third, Kirby Puckett homered off Tanana to tie the game, then Gagne added a homer in the top of the fourth to give Minnesota a 2–1 lead. The Twins made it a 3–1 lead in the fifth when Puckett came home on a Gary Gaetti sacrifice fly, but the Tigers came to within a run in the bottom of the fifth when an infield hit by Kirk Gibson scored Whitaker.
1½ hours
Oct 10, 1987Oct 10, 1987
My 87 games are highly edited. Sorry. 1080 Quality. All original, no scrolling...
1987 ALCS Game 3 Minnesota Twins @ Detroit Tigers / My 87 games are highly edited. Sorry. 1080 Quality. All original, no scrolling banners. Please subscribe to see old-school clips and games from the best decade in sports history. No copyright intended. Just for fun!
2½ hours
Oct 8, 1987Oct 8, 1987
Minnesota took a 2-0 lead in the series with their 6-3 win in Game Two,...
1987 ALCS, Game 2: Tigers @ Twins / Minnesota took a 2-0 lead in the series with their 6-3 win in Game Two, a game best remembered for Kent Hrbek's "Couch Potato" play and for Juan Berenguer striking out four of the final five batters.
2½ hours
Oct 7, 1987Oct 7, 1987
The 1987 AL playoffs opened at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome, with the Tigers throwing...
1987 ALCS, Game 1: Twins vs Tigers / The 1987 AL playoffs opened at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome, with the Tigers throwing Doyle Alexander against the Twins' Frank Viola. In the bottom of the second, the Twins opened the scoring when third baseman Gary Gaetti homered off Alexander to give Minnesota a 1–0 lead. However, Detroit answered back the very next half-inning, as catcher Mike Heath homered to center field to tie the game. The game remained tied until the bottom of the fifth, when the Twins erupted for three runs. Gaetti led off the inning with his second round-tripper of the game, and Randy Bush followed by stroking a triple to right field and coming home on a double by Tom Brunansky. Steve Lombardozzi sacrificed Brunansky to third, and he scored on a subsequent base hit by Dan Gladden to make it 4–1.
48 minutes
1987
MLB Network's "Baseball's Seasons" series takes a look at the home run-happy season of 1987;...
MLB Baseball's Seasons: 1987 / MLB Network's "Baseball's Seasons" series takes a look at the home run-happy season of 1987; examining the pennant races, achievements, events and players that made this a memorable year in baseball.