MINNESOTA 11, BOSTON 5 IN BOSTON

Date:  Thursday, July 22.

Batting stars:  Bob Allison was 2-for-4 with two home runs (his thirteenth and fourteenth) and a walk, driving in five.  Harmon Killebrew was 2-for-4 with a home run (his nineteenth) and a walk, scoring twice and driving in two.  Tony Oliva was 2-for-4 with a double and a walk, scoring once and driving in three.

Pitching star:  Mudcat Grant pitched 8.1 innings despite giving up five runs on twelve hits and three walks with three strikeouts.

Opposition stars:  Carl Yastrzemski was 3-for-4 with a home run (his twelfth), a triple, and a double, driving in two.  Jim Gosger was 3-for-4 with a triple, scoring once and driving in one.  Tony Conigliaro was 1-for-3 with a walk and two runs.

The game:  It was close most of the way.  Killebrew singled in a run in the first, but Yastrzemski homered in the bottom of the first to tie it 1-1.  Boston went up 2-1 in the second, but the Twins took the lead back at 3-2 in the third.  Yastrzemski struck again in the bottom of the third, doubling home a run to tie it 3-3.  Each team scored once in the sixth, with Killebrew hitting a home run and Gosger an RBI triple, to keep the score even at 4-4.  The Twins finally took control of the game in the sixth.  An error and a walk put men on first and second with two out.  Oliva then hit a two-run double and, following an intentional walk to Killebrew, Allison hit a three-run homer to give the Twins a 9-4 advantage.  The game was never close after that.

Of note:  Zoilo Versalles was 2-for-4 with a walk, a stolen base (his thirteenth) and three runs.  Rich Rollins was 1-for-4 with a walk and a run.  Jimmie Hall was 1-for-5 with an RBI.  Earl Battey was 0-for-2 with a walk.

Record:  The win made the Twins 59-34.  Baltimore lost 9-2 to Kansas City, increasing the Twins' lead to 4.5 games.

Notes:  Yastrzemski nearly hit for the cycle, lacking only a single...Hall's average fell to .310 and Battey dropped to .303...Jim Gosger is one of those players whose career was a lot longer than his numbers indicate it should have been.  He was at best a semi-regular outfielder, and that was only for two seasons, 1966-67.  For his career, which covered ten seasons, he hit .226/.309/.331.  Even granting that most of his career came in the 1960s, that's not very good.  Yet, he played in 705 major league games and had 1,815 big league at-bats.  One assumes teams viewed him as an excellent defender.