MINNESOTA 8, BALTIMORE 2 IN BALTIMORE
Date: Monday, July 26.
Batting stars: Don Mincher was 2-for-4 with a three-run homer (his twelfth) and a double. Harmon Killebrew was 2-for-4 with a home run (his twentieth) and two runs. Tony Oliva was 1-for-3 with a walk and an RBI.
Pitching stars: Mudcat Grant pitched 6.1 innings, giving up two runs on nine hits and two walks with four strikeouts. Garry Roggenburk pitched 2.2 scoreless innings, giving up one hit and one walk.
Opposition stars: Dick Brown was 2-for-4 with a home run, his third. Brooks Robinson was 2-for-3 with a walk and an RBI. Russ Snyder was 2-for-4 with a walk.
The game: Mincher hit a three-run homer in the first inning to give the Twins a 3-0 lead. Brown homered leading off the third and Robinson singled in a run later in the inning to cut the margin to 3-2. A run scored on a passed ball in the fifth and Killebrew homered in the sixth to put the Twins up 5-2. The Twins put it away in the seventh on an RBI single by Grant and a two-run single-plus-error by Oliva. The Orioles had the bases loaded with two out in the seventh, but Roggenburk retired Boog Powell on a fly to center and Baltimore did not threaten again.
Of note: Zoilo Versalles was 0-for-5. Jimmie Hall was 0-for-3 with a walk and a run.
Record: The win made the Twins 61-36 and gave them a split in the four-game wraparound series with the second place Orioles. Baltimore dropped to 4.5 games out of first.
Notes: Hall's average dropped to .307...Garry Roggenburk came up in 1963 at age 23 and had a fine season out of the bullpen, posting 2.16 ERA in fifty innings. He was out all of 1964, presumably due to injury. He started 1965 in the minors but came up in late July and though he wasn't used a lot he pitched fairly well in twelve appearances. He pitched poorly in 1966, was sold to Boston in 1967, and finished his career with Seattle in 1969...Dick Brown was in the last year of a nine-year career in which he was almost always a part-time catcher. He was a backup for Cleveland from 1957-59, went to the White Sox for 1960, went to Detroit for 1961-62, and spent the rest of his career with Baltimore. His one shot as a starter was 1962, when he started 122 games. He wasn't terrible, but he wasn't particularly good, either, hitting .241 with an OPS of .631. Bill Freehan came along in 1963, which is why Brown was traded to the Orioles. He started the most games of anyone for Baltimore in 1965, but it was only 73, as he split time with John Orsino and Charlie Lau, with a few games going to a young Andy Etchebarren. He likely would have played longer, but was diagnosed with a brain tumor and was forced to retire after the 1965 season. He became a scout for the Orioles until his death in 1970.