MINNESOTA 7, OAKLAND 6 IN MINNESOTA
Date: Wednesday, April 23.
Batting stars: Ted Uhlaender was 4-for-5 with a double. Rod Carew was 2-for-4 with a home run and four RBIs. Leo Cardenas was 2-for-4 with a double and scored twice. Johnny Roseboro hit a two-run homer.
Pitching stars: Jim Perry struck out four in 2.2 scoreless innings, giving up two hits and a walk. Ron Perranoski pitched 2.1 innings, giving up an unearned run on two hits and striking out two.
Opposition stars: Danny Cater was 3-for-5 with a double. Mike Hershberger was 2-for-3 with a stolen base. Bert Campaneris was 2-for-4 with a stolen base (his third), scoring twice. Rick Monday was 2-for-5.
The game: Oakland again jumped out early, scoring two in the first on a run-scoring ground out and an RBI double by Cater. The Twins got both runs back before a man was retired, with Uhlaender leading off with a single and Carew following with a two-run homer. The Twins went up 3-2 in the second, with Carew laying down a squeeze bunt to score Jim Kaat, who'd reached base with an infield single.
Oakland took the lead back in the third, as two singles and an error, all with two out, plated two runs. The Athletics put together another two-out rally in the fourth, getting singles from Campaneris, Hershberger, and Tommie Reynolds to go ahead 5-3. The Twins cut the margin to 5-4 in the bottom of the fourth, when Cardenas doubled and scored on a pair of fly outs.
It remained 5-4 until the sixth, when Cardenas hit a one-out single and scored on a two-run homer by Roseboro. The Twins put together a two-out rally of their own in the eighth, as they got consecutive singles by Perranoski, Uhlaender, and Carew for an insurance run to make the score 7-5.
Oakland wasn't done, as Monday delivered a two-out single in the ninth to cut the lead to 7-6. Perranoski then struck out Dave Duncan to end the game.
WP: Perry (1-1). LP: Catfish Hunter (1-2). S: Perranoski (2).
Notes: Oliva was 1-for-3 with two walks to make his average .379. Carew raised his average to .354. Uhlaender raised his average to .327. Killebrew was 1-for-3 with a walk and was batting .313. Roseboro was 1-for-4 and was batting .308. Cardenas raised his average to .306.
As you can see above, six of the Twins' eight starters had batting averages over .300.
Twins' starter Kaat pitched just 3.2 innings, allowing five runs (three earned) on eight hits and a walk and striking out two. He would not pitch again until May 7. It appears that Perry took his spot in the rotation until then.
Perranoski had now pitched 17.1 innings without allowing an earned run.
I had speculated that Reggie Jackson was just given a day off yesterday, but Hershberger started in his place again in this game. Jackson again pinch-hit. Perhaps Jackson had a minor injury.
This would be the next-to-last major league appearance for Oakland pitcher John Wyatt. He had a nine-year big league career, playing for the Kansas City Athletics, Boston, the Yankees, and Detroit before finishing his career in 1969 with Oakland. He played from 1961-1969 and was almost exclusively a relief pitcher, making the only nine starts of his career in 1962. He made the all-star team in 1964, when he led the league in appearances with eighty-one. He also set the record for most home runs allowed by a relief pitcher that season, twenty-three. For his career, he was 42-44, 3.47, 1.38 WHIP in 435 games (687.1 innings).
Record: The Twins were 8-5, in first place, leading the White Sox and Kansas City by a half game.