KANSAS CITY 5, MINNESOTA 4 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Saturday, July 17.

Batting stars:  Rich Rollins was 3-for-5 with a double and a run.  Earl Battey was 2-for-3 with a walk and two RBIs.  Harmon Killebrew was 0-for-1 with three walks and two runs.

Pitching star:  Dick Stigman pitched 6.2 innings, giving up two runs on three hits and three walks with five strikeouts.

Opposition stars:  Dick Green was 2-for-4 with two home runs (his eighth and ninth) and three RBIs.  Ken Harrelson was 1-for-3 with a walk and a home run, his eleventh.  Bert Campaneris was 1-for-4 with a walk and a run.

The game:  The Twins opened the second with two walks and a Battey single to take a 1-0 lead.  In the fifth, consecutive RBI singles by Bob Allison, Battey, and Jimmie Hall put them up 4-0 and the game seemed to be well in hand.  Green and Harrelson led off the seventh with back-to-back homers to cut the lead to 4-2.  With two out in the eighth, Green hit a two-run homer to tie it 4-4.  Al Worthington came in to pitch the ninth and gave up a single and two one-out walks to load the bases.  Bill Pleis then came in but gave up a sacrifice fly to Ed Charles to bring in the go-ahead run.  The Twins, who had not threatened since the fifth, did not threaten in the bottom of the ninth either, going down in order.

Of note:  Joe Nossek was 0-for-4.  Tony Oliva was 0-for-5.  Jimmie Hall was 2-for-4 with an RBI.

Record:  The loss dropped the Twins to 54-32.  They were still in first place, but only by three games, as Cleveland again defeated Boston.

Notes:  One assumes there was some consternation at the Twins dropping three in a row at home to the last-place Athletics...Sam Mele shuffled his lineup for this game, with Zoilo Versalles dropping to eighth and Rollins leading off.  Rollins played second base, with Nossek batting second and playing third...Allison returned to the lineup, this time to stay...Green was not exactly a power hitter, but 1965 would be his best home run season, with fifteen.  He would reach double digits four times in his career and hit a total of eighty homers in twelve seasons...Hall raised his average to .322...Battey raised his average to .316.