MINNESOTA 10, WASHINGTON 1 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Saturday, June 7.

Batting stars:  Harmon Killebrew was 1-for-3 with a three-run homer (his thirteenth).  Graig Nettles was 1-for-2 with two walks and two runs.

Pitching star:  Dave Boswell pitched eight shutout innings, giving up four hits and three walks and striking out five.

Opposition star:  Mike Epstein was 1-for-3 with a double and a walk.

The game:  The Twins scored twice on just one single in the second.  Killebrew reached on an error, Nettles had a one-out single, Johnny Roseboro reached on an error to bring home one run, and Cesar Tovar hit a sacrifice fly to make it 2-0.

There was no more scoring until the fourth, when the Twins broke through for seven and put the game out of reach.  Charlie Manuel led off with a single and Nettles walked.  Roseboro doubled home a run, a wild pitch brought in another, and Tovar singled in one more to make the score 5-0.  Tovar stole second base, but the next two batters went out.  Leo Cardenas singled him home, Tony Oliva also singled, and Killebrew hit a three-run homer.  It killed the rally, but no one cared, as Minnesota now led 9-0.

The Twins got their tenth run in the fifth inning.  Roseboro led off the inning with a walk and scored from first on a double by Boswell.

The Senators only once had two men on base in the first eight innings.  That came in the fifth, when ex-Twin Bernie Allen walked and Eddie Brinkman singled to lead off the inning.  They never advanced past first and second.  The lone Washington run came in the ninth, when Epstein led off with a double and scored on a two-out double by Brinkman.

WP:  Boswell (7-6).  LP:  Jim Hannan (2-5).  S:  Bob Miller (3).

Notes:  The Twins scored their ten runs on nine hits.  Every starter in their lineup had exactly one hit.  I don't know how common that is, but it sure seems unusual.

Rod Carew was apparently on weekend National Guard duty.  Tovar played second base.  Nettles was at third and Manuel in left.  Frank Quilici did not come in for late-inning defense at either third or second, but Rich Reese came on in sixth to replace Killebrew.  Perhaps Billy Martin thought the lead was big enough not to bother with Quilici, and also big enough to risk taking Killebrew's bat out of the lineup.

Roseboro was 1-for-3 with a walk, raising his average to .306.  Boswell lowered his ERA to 2.83.  Miller gave up a run on two hits in one inning, but still had an ERA of 2.04.

Jim Hannan lasted just three-plus innings for Washington.  He allowed six runs (four earned) on five hits and a walk and struck out one.  He had a ten-year career in the majors despite the fact that he was never very good.  He both started and relieved, making 101 starts and 175 relief appearances in his career.  He was slightly better as a starter, but not that much.  His career spanned a pitchers' era, 1962-1971, but he was only able to post an ERA under four three times and only once had a WHIP of under 1.4.  His best season, unsurprisingly, was 1968, when he went 10-6, 3.01, 1.40 WHIP in 140.1 innings (22 starts, 3 relief appearances).  Control was his biggest problem, as he walked 4.4 batters per nine innings over his career.  Again, this was despite pitching for much of his career with a large strike zone.  He was with the Senators for all but the last year of his career, 1971, when he split the season between Detroit and Milwaukee.  He is currently the chairman of the board of the Major League Baseball Players Alumni Association.

Record:  The Twins were 29-21, in first place in the American League West, leading Oakland by 3.5 games.