DETROIT 7, MINNESOTA 4 IN DETROIT

Date:  Tuesday, August 17.

Batting stars:  Zoilo Versalles was 3-for-5 with two doubles and two runs.  Earl Battey was 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI.  Tony Oliva was 1-for-4 with a hit-by-pitch, scoring once and driving in one.

Pitching stars:  Mel Nelson struck out two in two perfect innings.  Johnny Klippstein pitched a scoreless inning, giving up one hit and one walk.

Opposition stars:  Willie Horton was 3-for-4 with two home runs (his twenty-fourth and twenty-fifth) and four RBIs.  Hank Aguirre struck out seven in 7.2 innings, allowing three runs on nine hits and a walk.  Al Kaline was 2-for-2 with a home run (his eighteenth) and a walk.

The game:  Don Wert and Kaline each hit a solo homer in the third to put the Tigers up 2-0.  Horton homered in the fourth to make it 3-0.  In the fifth, Kaline had an RBI single and Horton hit a three-run homer to put the Tigers up 7-0.  The Twins made somewhat of a late comeback, scoring three in the eighth and one in the ninth, but did not get the tying run up to bat.

Of note:  Joe Nossek was 0-for-3.  Bob Allison was 1-for-4 with a walk and a run.

Record:  The Twins dropped to 75-44.  Detroit moved into sole possession of second place, seven games back.

Notes:  Battey raised his average to .312.  Oliva went to .310.  Hall was 0-for-1 as a pinch-hitter and had his average at an even .300...Andy Kosco played right field, with Oliva moving to center.  Nossek was at third base.  Oliva played forty-two games of center field in his career, ten of them in 1965.