CALIFORNIA 13, MINNESOTA 1 IN MINNESOTA
Batting star: Rich Reese was 2-for-3 with a home run (his third) and a double.
Pitching star: Bob Miller pitched two perfect innings, striking out one.
Opposition stars: Andy Messersmith struck out nine in a complete game, giving up one run on three hits and two walks. Bill Voss was 3-for-6 with a three-run homer and three runs. Rick Reichardt was 2-for-4 with a home run (his sixth) and a walk, scoring twice and driving in three. Jim Fregosi was 2-for-4 with a walk. Sandy Alomar was 2-for-5 with two RBIs. Aurelio Rodriguez was 1-for-4 with a triple and a walk, scoring three times.
The game: The Angels drew two walks in the first inning but didn't score. They made up for it. They got on the board in the second when Rodriguez reached on an error and scored on Jim Spencer's triple. They went up 3-0 in the third when Reichardt hit a two-run homer. The Twins got on the board in the fourth when Reese led off the inning with a home run. They had men on first and second with none out in the fifth, but failed to advance them, leaving the score 3-1.
It was all California from there. In the sixth, a walk, a bunt, and an intentional walk put men on first and second. A fly out made it first and third, and Billy Martin ordered an intentional walk to Spencer, moving the runner from first into scoring position and loading the bases, to bring up Messersmith. The strategy didn't work. Messersmith walked to force in a run, Sandy Alomar delivered a two-run single, and Voss hit a three-run homer, making the score 9-1.
They added two more in the seventh, as Jay Johnstone singled, Rodriguez tripled, and Joe Azcue doubles. They topped it off with two more in the ninth, as Voss and Fregosi singled, Reichardt had an RBI single, and Johnstone contributed a sacrifice fly.
The last fifteen Twins were retired.
WP: Messersmith (2-5). LP: Danny Morris (0-1). S: None.
Notes: Cesar Tovar played second base in place of Rod Carew, who was used as a pinch-hitter. It was again Nettles in left, Killebrew at third, and Reese at first.
Miller lowered his ERA to 2.51.
This was the only start Morris would make this season and was the last of his major league career. Rick Renick pinch-hit for him in the third after he gave up three runs (two earned) on three hits and two walks. He would make just one more major league appearance, on June 29. He would stay in the Twins organization through 1972, but didn't get much accomplished at AAA and did not make it back to the majors.
Six of the runs California scored were charged to Al Worthington. He came on in the sixth with men on first and second and one out. He retired Azcue on a fly ball, but then came the rest of the inning detailed above. He also pitched the seventh through the Azcue double, when he was relieved by Joe Grzenda.
This was outfielder Bill Voss' first year with the Angels and the year in which he got the most playing time of his career. He had gotten brief trials with the White Sox, playing a total of twenty-six games from 1965-1967, before finally sticking for half the season in 1968. He was traded to the Angels that off-season. He played in 133 games in 1969, getting 349 at-bats. He was not a home run hitter--the homer in this game was one of just two he would hit in 1969. He had a career total of nineteen, and oddly got over half of them (ten) in one season, 1971. He was in his first year with Milwaukee that season. He was a man on the move in 1972, starting the year with the Brewers, moving to Oakland in June, and going to St. Louis in August. He was traded to Cincinnati after the 1972 season, but he never played again. His career major league numbers are .227/.298/.317 in 1177 at-bats. The vast majority of his games were in right field, although he had a handful in center and left. There was something about him that baseball people liked--when you read his biography at sabr.com, you keep seeing comments from his managers at the time about how they believed in him and thought it was just a matter of time before he starting hitting. He hit well in AAA, batting .283/.347/.438, and he hit well in spring training, but he just could never hit in major league games that counted. As of 2014, Bill Voss was an assistant pastor at Vineyard Christian Fellowship in Cottonwood, Arizona.
Record: The Twins were 32-27, tied for first place in the American League West with Oakland. Oakland actually led based on winning percentage, .544 to .542.