DETROIT 6, MINNESOTA 0 IN MINNESOTA
Date: Saturday, May 17.
Batting stars: Rod Carew was 2-for-4 with a double. Charlie Manuel was 2-for-4 with a double.
Pitching stars: Ron Perranoski pitched a scoreless inning, walking two. Bob Miller pitched a scoreless inning.
Opposition stars: Denny McLain pitched a complete game shutout, giving up eight hits and a walk and striking out four. Tommy Matchick was 2-for-3. Gates Brown was 2-for-4 and scored twice. Norm Cash was 2-for-5 with a home run, his fourth.
The game: The Tigers opened the scoring in the top of the first, as Mickey Stanley walked, stole second, and scored on Cash's single. Detroit broke the game open in the fourth, starting the inning with five consecutive singles that produced three runs and drove Dean Chance from the game.
The Twins threatened in the fourth. With one out Harmon Killebrew singled and Charlie Manuel doubled, putting men on second and third. Graig Nettles struck out, however, and Leo Cardenas fouled to the catcher to end the inning. It would be the Twins' lone threat.
Cash led off the fifth with a home run to make the score 5-0. There was no more scoring until the eighth, when singles by Brown and Jim Northrup were followed by a Don Wert sacrifice fly.
WP: McLain (6-3). LP: Chance (3-1). S: None.
Notes: The Twins had eight hits and a walk, but the fourth was the only time they had two men on base at the same time. You can truly say that McLain "scattered" eight hits.
Manuel was in left field and Nettles was at third base. Killebrew was at first, with Rich Reese remaining out of the lineup.
Carew raised his average to .387. Manuel raised his average to .371. Nettles was 1-for-4 and was batting .311. Tony Oliva was 0-for-4 and was batting .306. Ted Uhlaender was 0-for-3 with a walk and was batting .300.
Chance gave up four runs (three earned) on eight hits and a walk and struck out one. His ERA was still a fine 2.26. Joe Grzenda struck out two in two innings, giving up one run on one hit. His ERA was 2.66. Perranoski lowered his ERA to 0.33. Miller dropped his ERA to 2.45.
The Twins had been shutout in consecutive games, but it came at the hands of a couple of really good pitchers. First it was Dave McNally, here it was McLain. Arm problems, probably due to overuse, cut McLain's career short, but for two seasons, 1968-1969, he was the best pitcher in baseball. In those two seasons he was 55-15, 2.37, 1.00 WHIP. He led the league in innings pitched in both of those seasons, throwing an astonishing 661 innings. In 82 starts he had 51 complete games. He won the Cy Young award in both of those seasons and was the MVP in 1968, when he won 31 games. He never had a good year after 1969 and was only able to stay in the rotation for a full season once more, in 1971, when he went 10-22 and led the league in losses for Washington. For two years, though, he was the best there was.
Record: The Twins were 19-12, in second place in the American League West, a game behind Oakland.