MINNESOTA 2, BALTIMORE 1 IN MINNESOTA (11 INNINGS)

Date:  Saturday, July 31.

Batting stars:  Tony Oliva was 2-for-4 with a walk and a run.  Harmon Killebrew was 1-for-3 with two walks and an RBI.  Jimmie Hall was 1-for-4 with a double.

Pitching stars:  Jim Perry pitched eight innings, giving up one run on five hits and one walk with two strikeouts.  Bill Pleis struck out two in a scoreless inning, giving up only a walk.  Al Worthington pitched two shutout innings, giving up one hit with one strikeout.

Opposition stars:  John Miller pitched 8.1 innings, allowing one run on five hits and two walks with five strikeouts.  Brooks Robinson was 1-for-4 with a walk and a run.  Jerry Adair was 1-for-4 with a double and an RBI.

The game:  Baltimore opened the second with two walks and a single, loading the bases.  Adair then hit into a forceout, putting the Orioles ahead 1-0.  A double play ended the inning, but for a long time it looked like the one run might hold up.  Only once in the first eight innings did the Twins get a man as far as second base.  In the bottom of the ninth, however, Hall hit a one-out double which was followed by Killebrew's RBI single, tying the game 1-1.  In the eleventh, Oliva led off with a single and was bunted to second by Worthington.  Killebrew was then intentionally walked.  Joe Nossek then hit a grounder to third.  The Orioles got a force at second, but could not turn the double play and Oliva scored all the way from second base to win the game for the Twins.

Of note:  Zoilo Versalles was 1-for-5.  Frank Quilici was 0-for-5.  Earl Battey was used as a pinch-hitter and went 0-for-1.

Record:  The Twins improved to 65-37 and remained in first place.  Cleveland lost 7-6 to the Yankees, so the Indians and Orioles remained tied for second place, but they were now six games behind Minnesota.

Notes:  Oliva now had an average of .307.  Hall and Battey were each at .304...Oliva obviously made quite a baserunning play, scoring from second on a force out...It is interesting that, having already pitched two innings, Worthington was left in the game to bunt Oliva to second.  One wonders if he was considered an exceptional bunter or if the plan was to leave him in to pitch a third inning if necessary.  As a short reliever, of course, he rarely batted--he had only fourteen plate appearances in 1965.  This was one of two sacrifice hits he had that season.  He had twenty-five in his career.