MINNESOTA 3, CHICAGO 1 IN MINNESOTA
Date: Saturday, May 3.
Batting stars: Leo Cardenas was 3-for-4. Harmon Killebrew was 1-for-4 with a two-run homer, his fifth.
Pitching stars: Jim Perry pitched five innings, giving up one run on five hits and a walk and striking out one. Ron Perranoski pitched four shutout innings, giving up one hit and two walks and striking out one.
Opposition stars: Luis Aparicio was 2-for-4 with a double. Carlos May was 1-for-4 with a home run, his sixth. Gary Peters pitched six innings, giving up two runs on five hits and no walks and striking out two.
The game: Nobody came very close to scoring until the fifth, when Cardenas hit a one-out single and Killebrew followed with a two-run homer. May homered in the sixth to cut the lead to 2-1. The White Sox missed a chance for more, as Aparicio followed with a double and Bill Melton was hit by a pitch. A bunt moved men to second and third, Don Pavletich was intentionally walked, and Buddy Bradford hit into a double play to end the inning.
The White Sox also had a chance to at least tie it in the seventh. Walt Williams singled and was bunted to second and Ron Hansen walked. A strikeout and a fly out ended the inning.
The Twins got an insurance run in the eighth. Ted Uhlaender singled, was bunted to second, and scored on a two-out single by Cardenas. The last eight Chicago batters went out, the last six of them on ground outs.
WP: Perry (3-1). LP: Peters (1-4). S: Perranoski (4).
Notes: It was a different lineup. Cesar Tovar started, led off, and was at third base, with Killebrew moving to first. Cardenas batted second. Rod Carew was perhaps on another National Guard weekend, as Frank Quilici started at second. George Mitterwald caught and Uhlaender, who had been leading off, batted eighth.
Cardenas raised his average to .341. Tony Oliva was 0-for-4 and dropped to .330. Uhlaender was 1-for-2 with a walk and was batting .329. Killebrew was batting .311. Perry had an ERA of 2.57. Perranoski had an ERA of 0.39.
Having gotten two days off, Perranoski was apparently fresh enough to throw four innings of relief. He was averaging nearly two innings per appearance.
Carlos May has largely been forgotten, but he was a pretty good ballplayer. Primarily an outfielder, he spent most of his ten-year career with the White Sox. He made the all-star team in 1969 and again in 1972. He was third in Rookie of the Year voting in '69 and got MVP votes in 1972-1973. 1969 was probably his best year, as he batted .281 with an OBP of .385 and 18 home runs. He also had a very good year in 1972, when he batted .308 with an OBP of .405 and twelve home runs. His career numbers are .274/.357/.392. A couple of interesting things about him: he lost his right thumb in an accident while on Marine Reserve duty in August of 1969. It ended his season, but he came back to have a solid year in 1970. Also, he is probably the only major league player to wear his birthday on his uniform: May 17.
Record: The Twins had won their seventh in a row and were 15-7, in first place, leading Oakland by two games.