BALTIMORE 6, MINNESOTA 4 IN MINNESOTA (10 INNINGS)
Date: Tuesday, September 21.
Batting stars: Tony Oliva was 3-for-4 with a double and a walk, scoring once. Earl Battey was 2-for-4 with a walk and two runs. Zoilo Versalles was 2-for-6 with a double and an RBI.
Pitching star: Johnny Klippstein struck out two in 1.1 scoreless innings, giving up one hit.
Opposition stars: Boog Powell was 2-for-4 with a double and two walks, driving in three. Paul Blair was 1-for-4 with a two-run homer, his fifth. Jerry Adair was 3-for-5 with two stolen bases (his fifth and sixth) and a run.
The game: Powell singled in a run in the first and Blair hit a two-run homer in the fourth to give the Orioles a 3-0 lead. A single, an error, and two walks put the Twins on the board in the bottom of the fourth, but Baltimore got the run back in the fifth on Powell's RBI double, leaving the score 4-1. Don Mincher drove in a run with a double in the seventh and the Twins scored twice in the eighth to tie it up, with Versalles driving in the tying run with a double. Each team had a chance to score in the ninth, but the game went to an extra inning. In the tenth, Luis Aparicio drove in the go-ahead run with a single and an insurance run was walked home. The Twins went down in order in the bottom of the tenth.
Of note: Jimmie Hall was 0-for-5. Don Mincher was 1-for-4 with a double and an RBI. Harmon Killebrew was 0-for-4 with a walk. Camilo Pascual pitched four innings, giving up three runs (two earned) on four hits and no walks with two strikeouts.
Record: The loss made the Twins 96-57. Chicago also lost, keeping them nine games back and meaning the best they could do is tie the Twins. Baltimore, however, improved to nine games back as well. As the Orioles had played fewer games, they still had a slim chance to catch the Twins.
Notes: Oliva raised his batting average to .320. Battey was hitting an even .300...Killebrew returned to the lineup for the first time since August 2. He played third base, with Mincher remaining at first...Bob Allison was again out of the lineup, with Ted Uhlaender in left. Allison was used as a pinch-hitter...The Twins used twenty-two players. They used six pitchers, four pinch-hitters, and two pinch-runners.