BALTIMORE 9, MINNESOTA 8 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Wednesday, May 14.

Batting stars:  Tony Oliva was 3-for-4 with a two-run homer (his sixth) and a walk, scoring twice.  Ted Uhlaender was 3-for-5.

Pitching stars:  Joe Grzenda pitched three shutout innings, giving up two hits and striking out one.  Ron Perranoski pitched a perfect inning.

Opposition stars:  Paul Blair was 3-for-5 with two home runs (his seventh and eighth) and five RBIs.  Tom Phoebus was 2-for-4 with a double.  Brooks Robinson was 2-for-5 with a double and two RBIs.  Boog Powell was 2-for-5.

The game:  The Orioles scored five runs on just three hits in the second inning.  A walk and an error opened the inning and Robinson followed with a two-run double.  With one out, Phoebus delivered an RBI double to make it 3-0.  Then, with two down, Blair hit a two-run homer.  All the damage came off starter Dick Woodson.

The lead went to 6-0 in the fourth, as Blair hit another home run, this time off Charlie Walters.  The Twins got on the board in the bottom of the fourth when Uhlaender singled and Oliva hit a two-run homer, making the score 6-2.

Baltimore appeared to put the game out of reach in the fifth.  A walk, a single, and a walk loaded the bases with one out.  Bob Miller relieved Walters and struck out Phoebus, but Belanger had an RBI single and Blair came through again, this time with a two-run single.  The Orioles led 9-2.  The Twins got one back in the bottom of the fifth when Rich Reese doubled and eventually scored on a ground out, but it was still 9-3 going to the eighth.

In the eighth, though, the Twins got back into the game.  With one out Uhlaender singled, Rod Carew doubled, and Oliva walked to load the bases.  Harmon Killebrew struck out, but Charlie Manuel singled home two runs, Graig Nettles doubled home one, and Leo Cardenas delivered a two-run single, cutting the margin to 9-8.  Pinch-hitter Tom Tischinski singled to put men on first and third, but Cesar Tovar grounded out to end the inning.

The Twins threatened again in the ninth.  Uhlaender led off the inning with a single and Oliva had a one-out single, putting men on first and third.  Ed Watt came in and got Killebrew to pop up to first base, however, and Manuel flied to center to end the game.

WP:  Phoebus (4-0).  LP:  Woodson (1-1).  S:  Watt (3).

Notes:  Manuel was the starting left fielder.  Nettles made a rare appearance at third base, coming in to start the seventh.  Killebrew, who had been at third, moved to first, with Reese coming out of the game.  Reese may have been injured somehow--he would not play again until May 21.

Carew was 1-for-5 to "drop" his average to .398.  Manuel was 1-for-5 and was batting .355.  Oliva raised his average to .322.  Nettles was 1-for-2 and was batting .316.  Cardenas was 1-for-4 and was batting .309.  Uhlaender raised his average to .308.

Miller, despite giving up hits that produced three runs, was not charged with any himself, so his ERA went down to 2.70.  Grzenda's ERA was 2.45.  Perranoski had his ERA sink to 0.34.

Tischinski's pinch-hit in the eighth was his first major league hit.  He had not hit much in the minors, so using him as a pinch-hitter for Johnny Roseboro seems really strange.  It's even stranger when you realize that, as a right-handed batter, he was sent up rather than the lefty-batting Roseboro to face right-hander Dick Hall.  All you can say in defense of the move is that it worked.  This was one of just twenty-one hits Tischinski had in the majors.

Woodson had just pitched an inning of relief on May 11.  We'll never know whether that contributed to his poor performance, but it probably didn't help.

I don't really think of Paul Blair as a home run hitter, but he hit 134 of them in a career that included parts of seventeen seasons.  1969 was his most prolific home run season, as he swatted twenty-six of them.  His next highest total was eighteen in 1970.  He made the all-star team for the only time of his career in 1969.  He won eight Gold Gloves, however, and was well-known as an excellent defensive center fielder.  Oddly, given the twenty-six home runs, and given that he played for Earl Weaver, he led the league in sacrifice hits in 1969 with thirteen.

Record:  The Twins were 19-10, tied for first in the American League West with Oakland, although they led in winning percentage .655 to .645.