CLEVELAND 12, MINNESOTA 0 IN MINNESOTA
Date: Saturday, June 14.
Batting stars: None. The Twins had six hits, all singles, and no player had more than one. They did not draw any walks.
Pitching stars: Jim Kaat pitched six innings, giving up four runs (one earned) on eight hits and two walks and striking out two. Bob Miller pitched a scoreless inning, giving up one hit.
Opposition stars: Dick Ellsworth pitched a complete game shutout, giving up six hits and no walks and striking out two. He was also 2-for-5. Tony Horton was 2-for-4 with a double and two walks. Ken Suarez was 2-for-5 with a double and three RBIs. Ex-Twin Zoilo Versalles was 2-for-5 with a walk and two runs. Vern Fuller was 1-for-1 with a three-run homer, his second.
The game: The Indians started the scoring in the third. With two out and none on, Versalles singled and Larry Brown reached on an error. Ken Harrelson then singled home a run, Horton walked, and Cap Peterson delivered a two-run single, making the scored 3-0. Cleveland added a run in the fourth, as Max Alvis doubled, went to third on an Ellsworth single, and scored on a ground out.
Meanwhile, the Twins weren't doing much of anything on offense. They had a mild threat in the third, when Frank Quilici singled and Rick Renick reached on a two-out error, but Leo Cardenas flied out to end the inning.
Cleveland put the game out of reach in the seventh. Harrelson and Horton opened the inning with back-to-back walks. A bunt moved them to second and third, and Jose Cardenal was intentionally walked. Chuck Hinton grounded out, but Suarez delivered a three-run double to make the score 7-0. They added five in the eighth, including Fuller's three-run homer, to make it 12-0.
The Twins did manage to put two men on in the eighth, when Cesar Tovar and Tom Tischinski had one-out singles. Renick hit into a double play to end the threat.
WP: Ellsworth (3-2). LP: Kaat (6-5). S: None.
Notes: Renick was at third base and was also leading off, despite the fact that he was sporting a .161 batting average and an OBP of .257. The Twins had four men in the starting lineup with averages lower than .210. In addition to Renick, there was Quilici (.145), Bob Allison (.203), and Tovar (.209). And that does not include Kaat (.143). In addition, George Mitterwald (.233) was behind the plate rather than Johnny Roseboro.
With only one of the runs he gave up earned, Kaat's ERA fell to 2.42. Miller's ERA fell to 2.70.
Jerry Crider's scoreless string came to an end with a thud. He pitched two-thirds of an inning, giving up four runs on two hits and two walks. His ERA went from zero to 5.14.
This game featured the season debut of Danny Morris. He had appeared in three games as a September call-up in 1968. He came on in the seventh inning and faced two batters. Russ Synder laid down a sacrifice bunt and Cardenal was intentionally walked. So, in a sense, he really didn't face anybody.
The Twins used a total of seven pitchers in this game. Five of them pitched less than one inning.
Ken Suarez had nine RBIs for the season. He had five of them in this series.
Record: The Twins were 30-26, tied for first place with Oakland in the American League West. They actually were one percentage point behind, .537 to .536. They were 12-18 since May 11.