MINNESOTA 4, NEW YORK 3 IN MINNESOTA (10 INNINGS)
Date: Monday, August 23.
Batting stars: Zoilo Versalles was 3-for-5 with a home run (his sixteenth) and two runs. Earl Battey was 1-for-4 with a walk and a run. Bob Allison was 1-for-4 with a walk and a run.
Pitching stars: Mudcat Grant pitched eight innings, giving up three runs on seven hits and one walk with three strikeouts. Dick Stigman pitched a scoreless inning, giving up a walk with one strikeout. Al Worthington struck out two in a scoreless inning despite giving up one hit and two walks.
Opposition stars: Whitey Ford pitched 8.1 innings, allowing three runs on ten hits and one walk with six strikeouts. Clete Boyer was 1-for-3 with a two-run homer (his fourteenth), a stolen base (his third), and a walk. Roger Repoz was 2-for-4 with a run.
The game: It was close all the way. Versalles homered in the third to give the Twins a 1-0 lead. Each team scored in the sixth, leaving the Twins up 2-1. Boyer hit a two-out two-run homer in the seventh to give the Yankees their first lead of the game at 3-2. The Twins had two out in the bottom of the ninth when Tony Oliva delivered an RBI double to tie it 3-3. The Yankees loaded the bases in the tenth, but did not score. In the bottom of the tenth, Allison and Don Mincher each walked to put men on first and second with none out. A strikeout followed, but then Jerry Kindall came through with an RBI single to end the game.
Of note: Rich Rollins was 1-for-3 with a walk. Oliva was 1-for-5 with an RBI.
Record: The win made the Twins 80-46. The White Sox lost to Baltimore in twelve innings, so Minnesota's lead increased to 7.5 games.
Notes: Oliva's average went to .310, while Battey went to .308...Roger Repoz was supposed to be "the next Mickey Mantle". That would be too much for anyone, and it was too much for Repoz. He spent all or part of nine seasons in the majors, His career numbers were .224/.314/.390 with 82 home runs. His career high in homers was eighteen in 1970. Still, he played in 831 major league games and had 2,145 at-bats, and that's a lot more than a lot of people can say.