MINNESOTA 4, SEATTLE 1 IN MINNESOTA
Date: Thursday, May 1.
Batting stars: Charlie Manuel was 2-for-3 with a walk and two RBIs. Leo Cardenas was 2-for-3 with a double. Rich Reese was 2-for-4 with a double. Ted Uhlaender was 2-for-5 with two runs. Tony Oliva was 2-for-5.
Pitching stars: Dave Boswell pitched five innings, giving up one run on three hits and two walks and striking out four. Joe Grzenda pitched four shutout innings, giving up two hits and a walk and striking out one.
Opposition stars: Tommy Harper was 2-for-4 with a double. Wayne Comer was 1-for-4 with a home run, his second. Jack Aker pitched a scoreless inning, giving up a walk.
The game: The Twins had a short-lived two-out rally in the second, but did not break through until the third, when Uhlaender singled, went to second on a ground out, and scored on a Manuel single. The score went to 2-0 in the fourth when Reese hit a leadoff double and scored on Cardenas' single.
The Pilots got on the board in the fifth on a Wayne Comer homer. The Twins got the run back in the bottom of the fifth when, with one out and men on second and third, Harmon Killebrew was intentionally walked and Manuel was accidentally walked. The Twins still had the bases loaded with one out and had a chance to break the game open, but Jim Bouton came in and got Reese to hit into a force out at the plate and struck out Cardenas.
The Twins got another run in the sixth when Tony Oliva hit an RBI single. They again had a chance for more, but Uhlaender was thrown out at the plate trying to score from second on Killebrew's single. They again had the bases loaded in the seventh with one out, but Grzenda struck out and Uhlaender grounded to first. Extra runs were not needed, however, as Grzenda held Seattle off the scoreboard the rest of the way.
WP: Boswell (3-2). LP: Gary Bell (1-2). S: Grzenda (2).
Notes: Carew was 1-for-5 and was batting .400. Manuel was also batting .400. Johnny Roseboro was 1-for-2 with two walks and was batting .348. Oliva was batting .345. Uhlaender was at .325. Cardenas was batting .321. Killebrew was 1-for-2 with three walks and was batting .314.
Given how hard Billy Martin had been riding his starters, it's surprising that Boswell came out so early. He had given up just two hits and a walk before the Comer homer in the fifth. He gave up a leadoff double to Harper in the sixth and was gone. Grzenda got the job done, so you can't say it was a bad move. It just seems out of character.
It's interesting that Grzenda was allowed to bat in the seventh with the bases loaded, one out, and the Twins up 4-1. Obviously a hit there would've been big. Grzenda was no batter and rarely even came up to bat. He wasn't really a shutdown reliever, either. Martin must have thought he was throwing the ball well that day, though, and he was proven right.
Manuel was 5-for-6 and 7-for-11. The eleven at-bats spanned eight days.
This was Grzenda's longest outing of the season, and in fact was the longest outing of his career to this point. He would have only one longer appearance, when he made a start in 1970 for Washington and pitched 8.1 innings. He made two other starts for Washington that season, but lasted only two and four innings.
Ex-Twins Don Mincher and Rich Rollins went a combined 1-for-8 in the game.
Record: The Twins had won six in a row and were 14-7, in first place, leading Oakland by 2.5 games.