MINNESOTA 5, KANSAS CITY 2 IN KANSAS CITY

Date:  Sunday, July 4.

Batting stars:  Tony Oliva was 2-for-4 with a three-run homer, his twelfth.  Harmon Killebrew was 1-for-3 with a two-run homer (his fourteenth) and a walk.  Don Mincher was 2-for-4 with a run.

Pitching stars:  Camilo Pascual pitched only 2.1 scoreless innings, giving up a hit and a walk, before coming out of the game due to injury. Johnny Klippstein struck out five in four perfect innings of relief.

Opposition stars:  Ed Charles was 2-for-3 with a triple and a stolen base (his eighth), scoring once and driving in one.  Don Mossi pitched 2.1 scoreless innings, allowing one walk with one strikeout.  Starter Fred Talbot pitched 5.2 innings, allowing three runs on four hits and a walk with two strikeouts.

The game:  The Athletics took a 2-0 lead in the fourth when Charles hit a one-out RBI triple and scored on a squeeze bunt.  The lead held until the sixth, when Oliva hit a two-out three-run homer to put the Twins in front 3-2.  After Charles' triple, the Athletics did not get a man on base the rest of the game.  Killebrew added a two-out two-run homer in the ninth.

Of note:  Zoilo Versalles was 0-for-3 with a hit-by-pitch and a run.  Sandy Valdespino was 1-for-4 with a run.  Jimmie Hall was 0-for-4.

Record:  The win made the Twins 46-28 and kept them tied for first with Cleveland, who beat Baltimore 4-2.

Notes:  Bob Allison was again out of the lineup, with Valdespino taking his place in left field...Hall's average fell to .311...Earl Battey was out of the lineup, too, with Jerry Zimmerman taking his place...Pascual continued to battle an injury.  He had not pitched since June 24 and would not pitch again until July 20.  He made three more starts in July, throwing only 11.1 innings, before missing the entire month of August...Given how many Sunday doubleheaders there were, one would think everyone would play a doubleheader on Sunday the Fourth of July.  In fact, there were no doubleheaders played that day.