MINNESOTA 5, OAKLAND 4 IN OAKLAND
Date: Tuesday, April 15.
Batting stars: Tony Oliva was 3-for-5 with a home run (his second) and two RBIs. Ted Uhlaender was 2-for-4 with a double. Harmon Killebrew was 1-for-3 with a home run (his second) and a walk. Rich Reese was 1-for-4 with a two-run homer.
Pitching star: Jim Kaat struck out nine in 8.2 innings, giving up four runs (three earned) on six hits and a walk.
Opposition stars: Mike Hershberger was 2-for-4. Bert Campaneris was 2-for-5 with a double.
The game: The Twins could do nothing with a leadoff double by Uhlaender in the first. Oakland also got a leadoff double, by Campaneris, but scored him on a Hershberger single. The A's made it 2-0 in the second when Rick Monday reached on an error and scored on a double by Catfish Hunter.
The Twins again wasted a leadoff double in the fourth, this one by Rod Carew, as Carew was thrown out trying to advance to third on a ground ball to the pitcher. In the seventh, however, Minnesota finally broke through against Hunter, as Graig Nettles led off with a single and Reese hit a two-run homer to tie the score 2-2. The Twins took the lead in the eighth, as Oliva and Killebrew started the inning with back-to-back home runs to give Minnesota a 4-2 advantage.
The Twins added a run in the ninth, as George Mitterwald was hit by a pitch, Uhlaender hit a one-out single, and Oliva scored him with a two-out single. They needed it, as the A's weren't done yet. Hershberger and Monday led off the inning with singles. Kaat retired the next two batters on fly outs, but pinch-hitter Jim Pagliaroni walked to load the bases. Bob Miller came in and gave up a two-run single to pinch-hitter Ramon Webster, making the score 5-4. Ron Perranoski came in and walked Ted Kubiak to re-load the bases, but Campaneris hit into a force out to end the game.
WP: Kaat (1-0). LP: Hunter (1-1). S: Perranoski (1).
Notes: Nettles was once again in left field, with Reese at first and Killebrew at third. After the Twins took the lead in the eighth, Frank Quilici replaced Killebrew at third and Cesar Tovar replaced Nettles in left. It seems like defensive replacements were a lot more common back then, maybe because benches were deeper.
Carew was batting .353 on the young season. Oliva and Nettles were each at .333 and Reese was batting .316.
On the other side, Uhlaender as batting just .160 and Leo Cardenas was at .167.
Kaat had pitched 19.2 innings in his two starts. His ERA was 2.29.
Perranoski made his fifth appearance in six games, this time going just a third of an inning. He had pitched 11.2 innings.
Reggie Jackson was batting second in the Oakland lineup, with Hershberger third and Sal Bando fourth. Jackson had a very good year in 1968, but 1969 was the year he would really become a star. He led the league in runs, slugging average, OPS, and intentional walks. He finished third in home runs, one behind Killebrew and two behind Frank Howard.
Five of the Twins first six games were decided by one run. The other was decided by two runs.
Maybe there were rainouts, but this was a really strange schedule. The Twins opened with two in Kansas City, then had three at California. They then had one game in Oakland, one game in Seattle, and then went home for a seven-game homestand.
Record: Minnesota was 2-4, still in sixth place in the AL West, 2.5 games behind Kansas City.