DETROIT 8, MINNESOTA 2 IN MINNESOTA
Date: Sunday, May 18.
Batting star: Cesar Tovar was 2-for-4 with two doubles, two stolen bases (his third and fourth), and a hit-by-pitch.
Pitching stars: None.
Opposition stars: Mickey Lolich pitched a complete game, giving up two runs on four hits and six walks and striking out six. Dick McAuliffe was 3-for-5 with a triple and a double, scoring four times. Mickey Stanley was 3-for-6 with a double and two RBIs. Al Kaline was 2-for-4 with a double and a walk. Jim Northrup was 2-for-5 with a double. Tommy Matchick was 2-for-5. Bill Freehan was 2-for-5. Lolich was 2-for-5.
The game: A pair of singles and a ground out put the Tigers on the board 1-0 in the first. The Twins threatened in the second, loading the bases with one out, but pitcher Dave Boswell hit into a double play. Detroit stretched the lead to 2-0 in the third when McAuliffe tripled and scored on a Kaline double.
This time, however, the Twins would not be shut out. In the bottom of the third, Tovar led off with a single, was balked to second, and stole third. Rod Carew walked. With Harmon Killebrew up to bat, Carew and Tovar pulled off a double steal of second and home to cut the lead to 2-1. With Killebrew still up to bat, Carew first stole third and then stole home, tying the score 2-2.
Both teams put two men on in the fourth but did not score. In the sixth, the Tigers went into the lead to stay. With two on and two out, Stanely blooped a two-run double to right field. Tony Oliva was apparently injured trying to field the ball, as Charlie Manuel came in to replace him. McAuliffe had an RBI single and Kaline walked, chasing Dave Boswell from the game. Joe Grzenda came in and walked Norm Cash to load the bases, then balked home a run, making the score 6-2.
The Tigers added a single run in the seventh on Lolich's RBI single and another in the eighth when Northrup singled home a run. The Twins did not threaten again and did not a hit after the third inning.
WP: Lolich (5-1). LP: Boswell (4-4). S: None.
Notes: Oliva would miss a couple of days, but would be back in the lineup May 21.
Tovar was in left field for this game. The Twins really didn't have a regular left fielder in 1969. Bob Allison played there the most, but he only had 58 games at the position. Graig Nettles was there for 53, Ted Uhlaender 44, Manuel 41, and Tovar 40. Others to play left briefly were Rick Renick (8), Rich Reese (5), George Mitterwald (2), Jim Holt (1), and Cotton Nash (1).
Renick was again at third base, with Killebrew at first and Reese still out. Mitterwald was the catcher in place of Johnny Roseboro.
Carew was 0-for-3 and was batting .377. Manuel was 0-for-1 and was batting .361.
I would think it has to be extremely rare for a team to pull of two steals of home in the same inning. Maybe it happened occasionally in the dead ball era, I don't know. But given how rarely even one steal of home happens, two in the same inning has to be really unusual.
Twins starter Boswell pitched 5.2 innings, allowing six runs on twelve hits and a walk. He did strike out six.
The Twins weren't generating much offense, but they were also facing some really good pitchers. First McNally, then McLain, now Lolich. Lolich was perhaps not quite as good as the other two, but was still a fine pitcher. He made the all-star team for the first time in 1969, going 19-11, 3.14, 1.20 WHIP. That was the first of six consecutive seasons in which he pitched over 270 innings. In the last four of those seasons he pitched over 300 innings, with a high of 376 in 1971. In 1971-1972 he went 47-28, 2.73, 1.11 WHIP. He made 86 starts and pitched 703.1 innings. He made the all-star team both seasons but did not win the Cy Young award, finishing second to Vida Blue (24-8, 1.82) in 1971 and third behind Gaylord Perry (24-16, 1.92) and Wilbur Wood (24-17, 2.51) in 1972. He was with the Tigers through 1975, pitched for the Mets in 1976, and was in the San Diego bullpen in 1978-1979.
Record: The Twins were 19-13, in second place in the American League West, 1.5 games behind Oakland.