MINNESOTA 6, DETROIT 4 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Sunday, June 27 (Game 1 of doubleheader).

Batting stars:  Zoilo Versalles was 2-for-3 with a home run (his seventh) and two walks, scoring twice.  Don Mincher was 2-for-4 with a two-run homer (his fourth) and a double.  Harmon Killebrew was 2-for-4 with a run and two RBIs.

Pitching stars:  Mudcat Grant struck out six in 6.2 innings, giving up three runs on eleven hits and a walk.  Al Worthington struck out two in 2.1 innings, giving up an unearned run on two hits.

Opposition stars:  Joe Sparma struck out eight in six innings, allowing four runs (two earned) on five hits and three walks.  Don Demeter was 2-for-4 with a two-run homer, his fifth.  Don Wert was 2-for-4 with a double and two runs.

The game:  Killebrew had a two-run single in the first and Versalles homered in the second to give the Twins a 3-0 lead.  Dick McAuliffe had an RBI single in the third and Demeter hit a two-run homer in the fourth to tie it 3-3.  The Twins scored once in the fifth to go ahead 4-3, a lead which held until Jackie Moore's RBI single in the eight tied it 4-4.  In the bottom of the eighth, Mincher hit a two-run homer to put the Twins in the lead to stay.  Detroit went down in order in the ninth.

Of note:  Sandy Valdespino was 0-for-4 with a walk, two stolen bases (his fourth and fifth) and a run.  Tony Oliva was 0-for-4 with a double.  Jimmie Hall was 0-for-4 with an RBI, dropping his average to .313.

Record:  The win made the Twins 41-26 and kept them a half game ahead of Chicago and Cleveland.

Notes:  I'd forgotten how common Sunday doubleheaders were in the 1960s.  It was not unusual for their to be seven or eight doubleheaders among the ten matchups played on a Sunday.