Erickson hard, but failed to score. After Terry Pendleton reached with one out, Ron Gant drove a pitch deep to left field. Puckett, giving chase, tracked the ball down and then leaped to snare it before it could hit the 13-foot Plexiglas barrier over the left field wall. Pendleton, who had reached second and was trying to advance to third, was forced to turn around and barely beat Puckett’s throw back to first. In the fourth, the Twins appeared ready to increase their lead, putting runners at second and third with one out. But Avery buckled down and retired the side to keep the game close. Another critical play occurred in the fifth when Rafael Belliard kept the Twins from completing a double play with a fierce slide. His hustle enabled Lonnie Smith to reach first. This became important when Pendleton golfed Erickson's next pitch into the seats, his second World Series home run, to tie the game at two. With two outs, Justice lifted what appeared to be a go-ahead home run for the Braves to right, but at the last instant, the ball hooked foul by about two feet. Erickson retired Justice and the Twins came to bat with the score tied. Dan Gladden responded with a walk and a steal of second. He moved to third on Knoblauch's lineout to right and scored on Puckett's center field sacrifice fly. The Twins led 3–2. Avery was relieved after the inning. The Twins kept their one-run lead into the seventh. Mark Lemke singled to center, knocking Erickson out of the game, and went to second on a wild pitch by reliever Mark Guthrie. After a strikeout, Smith walked and Pendleton reached on an infield single. The Braves now had the bases loaded and one out as CBS commentator Jack Buck said the Series was now on the line. Gant hit what seemed to be a sure double play ground ball off Carl Willis. The ground ball retired Pendleton, but the speedy Gant beat the relay to first and Lemke scored the tying run, charged to Erickson. Willis got out of the jam by striking out Justice to end the inning with the score tied at three. Willis was charged with a blown save, but he pitched two more scoreless innings, the eighth and ninth. Atlanta kept the Twins off the scoreboard, with left-handed specialist Mike Stanton pitching the seventh