MINNESOTA 8, BOSTON 4 IN BOSTON

Date:  Saturday, September 11.

Batting stars:  Jimmie Hall was 4-for-5 with a double, a walk, and two stolen bases (his eleventh and twelfth), scoring three times and driving in two.  Zoilo Versalles was 3-for-5 with a double and two stolen bases (his twenty-second and twenty-third), scoring twice.  Tony Oliva was 3-for-5 with a double and three RBIs.

Pitching star:  Camilo Pascual pitched 7.1 innings, giving up three runs on five hits and three walks with three strikeouts.

Opposition stars:  Carl Yastrzemski was 1-for-4 with a home run (his eighteenth) and two RBIs.  Lee Thomas was 2-for-3 with a walk and an RBI.  Jim Gosger was 2-for-4 with a double and a run.

The game:  Oliva singled in a run in the first and Don Mincher had an RBI single in a two-run third to put the Twins up 3-0.  Hall's two-run single in the fourth made it 5-0 and the Twins were never really threatened.  Oliva's two-run double made it 8-2 in the eighth.  The Red Sox got single runs in the eighth and ninth but never appeared to be back in the game.

Of note:  Bob Allison was 1-for-4 with a walk.

Record:  The Twins' fourth consecutive win made them 91-54.  Baltimore and Chicago both lost, so the Twins' lead over both went up to nine games.

Notes:  Oliva raised his average to .318...The Twins' first three batters in the lineup (Versalles, Hall, Oliva) went a combined 10-for-15 with a walk, three doubles, and four stolen bases...The Boston starter was Jim Lonborg, who was in his rookie year and was not yet the ace pitcher he would become, if only briefly.  He went 9-17, 4.47, 1.39 WHIP in 1965.  The Red Sox, to their credit, kept him in the rotation all year.  He improved in 1966 and had his best year in 1967, when he went 22-9, 3.16, 1.14 WHIP and won the Cy Young award.  He broke his leg in a skiing accident that off-season and was never the same.  He would, however, go on to have a long career and had a few good seasons, going 14-12, 2.83 for Milwaukee in 1972, 17-13, 3.21 for Philadelphia in 1974, and 18-10, 3.08 for the Phillies in 1976.  After his playing career was over he went to dental school and appears to still be a practicing dentist in Hanover, Massachusetts.