CALIFORNIA 4, MINNESOTA 1 IN CALIFORNIA

Date:  Sunday, August 22.

Batting stars:  Jim Kaat was 2-for-2.  Tony Oliva was 1-for-1 with an RBI.  Zoilo Versalles was 1-for-4 with a run and a stolen base, his seventeenth.

Pitching star:  Mel Nelson pitched two shutout innings, giving up a hit and a walk with one strikeout.

Opposition stars:  Dean Chance pitched a complete game, allowing one run on six hits and no walks with eight strikeouts.  Chance was also 1-for-4 with a run and two RBIs.  Jim Piersall was 2-for-4 with a two-run homer, his second.

The game:  Versalles led off the game with a single, stole second, and scored on an Oliva single.  The lead held until the fifth, when Paul Schall doubled and Piersall hit a two-run homer to give the Angels the lead 2-1.  With the bases loaded and two out in the sixth, Chance delivered a two-run single to right to make it 4-1.  The Twins got only one hit after that.

Of note:  Sandy Valdespino was 0-for-4.  Jimmie Hall was 1-for-4.  Earl Battey was 0-for-4.  Jim Kaat struck out six in 5.2 innings but gave up four runs on eight hits and one walk.

Record:  The loss made the Twins 79-46.  The White Sox swept a doubleheader from Kansas City, so they cut the Twins' lead to 6.5 games.

Notes:  Oliva left the game immediately after his RBI single in the first inning.  Bob Allison, who was not starting, took his place in right field.  Valdespino was in left...Oliva regained the team batting lead at .311.  Battey fell to .309...Dean Chance was a fine pitcher, twice winning twenty games and winning the Cy Young Award in 1964, when he led the league in wins (20), ERA (1.65), complete games (15), shutouts (11), and innings (278.1).  He was, however, a notoriously bad batter.  He batted over .100 only once in his career, in his Cy Young season of 1964.  He holds the record for worst batting average among players with more than 500 at-bats (.066).  One can only imagine the cheering when he delivered a clutch two-run single in this game.