MINNESOTA 4, WASHINGTON 1 IN WASHINGTON

Date:  Friday, May 28.

Batting stars:  Tony Oliva was 2-for-4 with a home run (his ninth) and three RBIs.  Bob Allison was 1-for-4 with a home run, his seventh.  Dave Boswell was 2-for-2 with a triple and a run.

Pitching stars:  Boswell struck out five in 5.2 scoreless innings, giving up one hit and three walks.  Bill Pleis pitched 1.1 scoreless innings, giving up one walk with one strikeout.

Opposition stars:  Phil Ortega pitched seven innings, allowing two runs on five hits and two walks with four strikeouts.  Ken McMullen was 1-for-3 with a double and a walk, scoring once.  Frank Howard was 2-for-4 with an RBI.

The game:  The Twins took a 1-0 lead in the third when Boswell led off with a triple and scored on Oliva's two-out single.  The Senators did not really threaten through five, and in fact Boswell had retired nine in a row when he issued a two-out walk in the sixth and was replaced by Johnny Klippstein.  Allison homered in the seventh and Oliva hit a two-run blast in the eighth to make it 4-0.  The lone Washington run came in the eighth when McMullen hit a leadoff double and scored on Howard's one-out single.

Of note:  Zoilo Versalles was 1-for-4.  Rich Rollins was 1-for-4 with a run.  Harmon Killebrew was 0-for-4.  Earl Battey was 0-for-2 with two walks.

Record:  The win made the Twins 24-14 and kept them in second place, a half game behind Chicago.

Notes:  There was no apparent reason Boswell was removed, but he had not pitched since May 19 and would not pitch again until June 6, so he may have had a minor injury.  I did not remember that Gil Hodges was the manager of Washington at this time.