MINNESOTA 10, CHICAGO 4 IN CHICAGO

Date:  Thursday, September 9.

Batting stars:  Jimmie Hall was 3-for-5 with a two-run homer (his twentieth) and a stolen base (his tenth), scoring twice.  Sandy Valdespino was 3-for-4 with a double and a run.  Rich Rollins was 2-for-5 with two runs and an RBI.

Pitching stars:   Jim Kaat pitched 6.2 innings, giving up three runs on five hits and one walk with three strikeouts.  Al Worthington struck out three in 2.1 innings, giving up an unearned run on four hits and one walk.

Opposition stars:  Ron Hansen was 1-for-4 with two runs and an RBI.  Jim Hicks was 1-for-1 with a double and a run.  Smoky Burgess was 1-for-1 with a double and an RBI.

The game:  The Twins scored once on a sacrifice fly in the first and turned five singles into three runs in the second to take a 4-0 lead.  The White Sox got on the board in the fifth to make it 4-1 but the Twins got two in the sixth on Kaat's single-plus-error to take a commanding 6-1 lead.  The White Sox never got closer than four runs after that.

Of note:  Zoilo Versalles was 2-for-5 with a run and an RBI.  Tony Oliva was 1-for-4 with a double, scoring once and driving in two.  Don Mincher was 0-for-4.

Record:  The win made the Twins 89-54 and increased their lead over the White Sox to seven games.

Notes:  Oliva's average remained .315...Valdespino again played left in place of Bob Allison...The two game sweep of the White Sox in Chicago pretty much took care of the pennant race, as the Twins led by seven games with only nineteen games left.