MINNESOTA 8, CALIFORNIA 2 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Monday, June 16.

Batting stars:  Jim Perry was 3-for-3 with a double.  Harmon Killebrew was 2-for-3 with a home run (his sixteenth) and a walk, scoring twice and driving in two.

Pitching star:  Perry struck out nine in a complete game, giving up two runs on eight hits and two walks.

Opposition stars:  Aurelio Rodriguez was 2-for-3.  Eddie Fisher pitched a perfect inning.

The game:  The Twins jumped on Angels' starter Tom Murphy for three runs in the first inning.  A walk and an error put two men on with none out.  Tony Oliva singled home the first run, leaving men on first and second.  With Harmon Killebrew up to bat, the Twins pulled off a double steal, with Rod Carew swiping third and Oliva taking second.  Then, with Killebrew still at the plate, they pulled off another double steal, with Carew stealing home and Oliva taking third.  Killebrew then singled to bring Oliva home with the third run of the inning.

California put two men on in the second, but did not score.  In the third, walks to Carew and Killebrew put men on first and second with one out.  Rich Reese singled home a run, a wild pitch moved the runners to second and third, and Graig Nettles delivered a sacrifice fly to make the score 5-0.

The Angels again put two men on in the fifth but did not score.  They finally got on the board in the sixth, as Jim Fregosi doubled, Rick Reichardt singled him to third, and Rodriguez hit a sacrifice fly.  The Twins got the run back in the bottom of the sixth, although they should have gotten more.  Nettles walked, Leo Cardenas singled, and Johnny Roseboro walked to fill the bases with none out.  Jim Perry then hit into a strange double play.  He hit a fly ball to center, which Jay Johnstone dropped for an error.  Cesar Tovar scored, so Perry got credit for a sacrifice fly, but Cardenas was forced out at third and Roseboro was forced at second.  Anyway, at this point the score was 6-1.

The Twins finished their scoring in the seventh.  With two out and none on, Killebrew homered, followed by back-to-back doubles by Frank Quilici and Tovar to make the score 8-1.  California added one in the ninth when Rodriguez and Jim Spencer singled and Joe Azcue hit a sacrifice fly.

WP:  Perry (5-3).  LP:  Tom Murphy (4-4).  S:  None.

Notes:  It was again Nettles in left, Killebrew at third, and Reese at first.  The standard defensive change, with Tovar going to left, Quilici to third, and Killebrew to first, came in the seventh inning.

Carew was 0-for-4 with a walk and was now batting .382.

Perry falls into the "good hitter for a pitcher" category, rather than really being a good hitter.  His lifetime numbers were .199/.228/.247.  He'd had three not-so-good starts before this one.

I don't know that it was good percentage ball, but this Twins team was sure exciting to watch.  A double steal of second and third, followed by a double steal of third and home, both with Harmon Killebrew at the plate.  It seems to me that this falls into the category of "it looks really good when it works", but it sure had to be fun to see.

I don't know that I've ever heard of a sacrifice fly/error/double play before.  I don't know how often that's happened, but it sure seems unusual 🙂

Teams usually want a fair amount of offense at third base, but Aurelio Rodriguez had a long career as primarily a glove man at the position.  He had the misfortune to have most of his career overlap that of Brooks Robinson, so he only won one Gold Glove, but he was known as a really good defender.  His highest batting average (when he had a significant number of at-bats) was .265, in 1978.  His highest OPS (same qualification) was .721, in 1970.  His career numbers are .237/.275/.351.  Still he played for seventeen seasons.  He was with the Angels from 1967 through early 1970, when he was traded to Washington.  He was traded to Detroit after the season and played there from 1971-1979.  1980 was split between San Diego and the Yankees and was his last season as a regular.  He was still with the Yankees in 1981 but was apparently injured, as he played only twenty-seven games.  He was with the White Sox in 1982 and split the 1983 season between the White Sox and Baltimore.  Again, not much of a batter, but a good enough defender that teams kept playing him for a long time.  He also has all the vowels in his first name.

Record:  The Twins were 32-26, in first place in the American League West, leading Oakland by a half game.