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.

DETROIT 6, MINNESOTA 0 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Saturday, May 17.

Batting stars:  Rod Carew was 2-for-4 with a double.  Charlie Manuel was 2-for-4 with a double.

Pitching stars:  Ron Perranoski pitched a scoreless inning, walking two.  Bob Miller pitched a scoreless inning.

Opposition stars:  Denny McLain pitched a complete game shutout, giving up eight hits and a walk and striking out four.  Tommy Matchick was 2-for-3.  Gates Brown was 2-for-4 and scored twice.  Norm Cash was 2-for-5 with a home run, his fourth.

The game:  The Tigers opened the scoring in the top of the first, as Mickey Stanley walked, stole second, and scored on Cash's single.  Detroit broke the game open in the fourth, starting the inning with five consecutive singles that produced three runs and drove Dean Chance from the game.

The Twins threatened in the fourth.  With one out Harmon Killebrew singled and Charlie Manuel doubled, putting men on second and third.  Graig Nettles struck out, however, and Leo Cardenas fouled to the catcher to end the inning.  It would be the Twins' lone threat.

Cash led off the fifth with a home run to make the score 5-0.  There was no more scoring until the eighth, when singles by Brown and Jim Northrup were followed by a Don Wert sacrifice fly.

WP:  McLain (6-3).  LP:  Chance (3-1).  S:  None.

Notes:  The Twins had eight hits and a walk, but the fourth was the only time they had two men on base at the same time.  You can truly say that McLain "scattered" eight hits.

Manuel was in left field and Nettles was at third base.  Killebrew was at first, with Rich Reese remaining out of the lineup.

Carew raised his average to .387.  Manuel raised his average to .371.  Nettles was 1-for-4 and was batting .311.  Tony Oliva was 0-for-4 and was batting .306.  Ted Uhlaender was 0-for-3 with a walk and was batting .300.

Chance gave up four runs (three earned) on eight hits and a walk and struck out one.  His ERA was still a fine 2.26.  Joe Grzenda struck out two in two innings, giving up one run on one hit.  His ERA was 2.66.  Perranoski lowered his ERA to 0.33.  Miller dropped his ERA to 2.45.

The Twins had been shutout in consecutive games, but it came at the hands of a couple of really good pitchers.  First it was Dave McNally, here it was McLain.  Arm problems, probably due to overuse, cut McLain's career short, but for two seasons, 1968-1969, he was the best pitcher in baseball.  In those two seasons he was 55-15, 2.37, 1.00 WHIP.  He led the league in innings pitched in both of those seasons, throwing an astonishing 661 innings.  In 82 starts he had 51 complete games.  He won the Cy Young award in both of those seasons and was the MVP in 1968, when he won 31 games.  He never had a good year after 1969 and was only able to stay in the rotation for a full season once more, in 1971, when he went 10-22 and led the league in losses for Washington.  For two years, though, he was the best there was.

Record:  The Twins were 19-12, in second place in the American League West, a game behind Oakland.