MINNESOTA 11, WASHINGTON 8 IN WASHINGTON
Date: Saturday, May 29, 2015.
Batting stars: Rich Rollins was 3-for-6 with a home run (his second) and a double, scoring twice and driving in five. Zoilo Versalles was 3-for-6 with a double, scoring three times and driving in two. Jerry Kindall was 2-for-4 with a triple and a walk, scoring twice and driving in one.
Pitching star: Jerry Fosnow struck out five in 3.2 innings of relief, giving up one run on two hits and three walks.
Opposition stars: Jim King was 2-for-4 with a home run (his fifth) and a walk, scoring three times. Frank Howard was 3-for-5 with two doubles, scoring once and driving in one. Bob Chance was 2-for-3 with a home run (his fourth) and a double, driving in two.
The game: RBI doubles by Howard and Chance highlighted a three-run first that gave the Senators a 3-0 lead. The Twins got two in the third when Kindall hit a run-scoring triple and scored on a ground out. A home run by Chance and two-run homer by Eddie Brinkman made it 6-2 Washington after four. Rollins hit a two-run homer in a three run fifth that pulled the Twins within one at 6-5, but King homered leading off the bottom of the fifth to make it 7-5. The Twins finally went ahead with a five-run sixth, tying the score a two-run double by Versalles and going in front on Rollins' two-run single. Each team scored once in the ninth.
Of note: Tony Oliva was 2-for-5 with a walk and a run. Harmon Killebrew was 1-for-3 with two walks. Jimmie Hall was 3-for-3 with an RBI, raising his average to .302. Earl Battey was 2-for-3 with two runs, raising his average to .316. Mudcat Grant lasted only three innings, giving up six runs on seven hits and a walk with one strikeout.
Record: The win made the Twins 25-14 but they remained in second place, a half game behind Chicago.
Notes: I don't remember hearing of Jim King before, but he had kind of an interesting career. He reached the majors with the Cubs in 1955 and had a couple of decent seasons, hitting around .250 and hitting 26 home runs combined, for an OPS of around .750. He then spent most of the next four seasons in the minors, playing in a handful of big league games for St. Louis in 1957 and San Francisco in 1958. The Senators took him in the expansion draft and he was a semi-regular for them for six years. His best year was 1961, when he hit .270 with an OPS of .811, but he had his career high of 24 homers in 1963. He spent 1967 with Washington, the White Sox, and Cleveland, being traded by the White Sox for Rocky Colavito. He retired after that season, went back to his home town of Elkins, Arkansas, and went to work for the phone company. He passed away last February at the age of 82.