WASHINGTON 1, MINNESOTA 0 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Friday, June 6.

Batting star:  George Mitterwald was 2-for-3 with two doubles and a hit-by-pitch.

Pitching stars:  Jim Kaat pitched 6.2 innings, giving up one run on nine hits and four walks and striking out six.  Dick Woodson pitched 1.1 scoreless innings, giving up two hits and a walk and striking out one.

Opposition stars:  Frank Howard was 3-for-4.  Eddie Brinkman was 2-for-5.  Hank Allen was 2-for-5.  Barry Moore pitched five shutout innings, giving up two hits and three walks and striking out four.  Darold Knowles struck out four in four shutout innings of relief, giving up two hits and a walk.

The game:  The Senators had baserunners all over the place, but only scored one run.  Unfortunately, it was enough.  They had a pair of one-out singles in the first and did not score.  They opened the second with a walk and a single and did not score.  The Twins had a chance in the third, as Mitterwald opened the inning with a double, but he was lost trying to take third on a ground ball to short.  The Twins also had a pair of two-out walks in the fifth, but a fly out ended the inning.

Washington got on the board in the sixth, but it wasn't easy.  Frank Howard singled, future Twin Brant Alyea walked, and Ken McMullen singled loading the bases with one out.  Dick Billings then hit into a 6-4-3 double play, scoring the game's only run.

The Senators loaded the bases again in the seventh.  Brinkman had a one-out single, Howard had a two-out single, and Alyea walked.  Bob Miller came in to replace Kaat and strike out McMullen to end the inning.  The Twins got another double from Mitterwald in the seventh, this time with one out, but it did not do them any good.  In fact, it was the last hit the Twins would get.  They did get a walk in the eighth and hit-by-pitch in the ninth, but neither man advanced past first base.

WP:  Moore (5-1).  L:  Kaat (5-4).  S:  Knowles (1).

Notes:  Cesar Tovar was at third and Bob Allison in left.  Mitterwald caught in place of Johnny Roseboro.

Rod Carew was 0-for-3 with a walk and was batting .391.  Kaat lowered his ERA to 2.53.  Miller, in striking out the only man he faced, dropped his ERA to 1.62.  Ron Perranoski retired both men he faced to make his ERA 1.67.

It's not easy to get eleven hits and five walks and only score one run.  It's even harder when the hits are bunched in the lineup--the first three men in the Washington batting order went 7-for-14 with a walk.  The Senators managed it by a) having all the hits be singles; b) hitting into two double plays, and c) going 1-for-12 with men in scoring position.

In two games against the Twins, Barry Moore pitched fourteen innings and gave up one run on eight hits and five walks.  He struck out seven.  He will face the Twins one more time in 1969, on August 26, and the result will be significantly different.

Darold Knowles was a fine reliever for the Senators from 1967-1971, going 20-27, 2.36 with 73 saves.  He somehow managed to go 2-14 in 1970 despite posting a 2.04 ERA.  He may have been brought into a lot of tie games--nine unearned runs probably didn't help, either.  Washington traded him to Oakland in May of 1971 and Knowles became a valuable member of the Athletics bullpen in their 1970s championship years.  He moved on to the Cubs in 1975-1976, Texas in 1977, Montreal in 1978, and finished his career with St. Louis in 1979-1980.  His career totals were 66-74, 3.12, 143 saves over sixteen seasons.  A pretty darn good career, really.

Record:  The Twins were 28-21, first in the American League West, 2.5 games ahead of Oakland.

MINNESOTA 4, NEW YORK 2 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Wednesday, June 4.

Batting stars:  Rod Carew was 3-for-4 with a walk and a stolen base, his tenth.  Leo Cardenas was 3-for-4.

Pitching stars:  Tom Hall pitched 7.2 innings, giving up two runs on five hits and two walks and striking out four.  Ron Perranoski pitched 1.1 scoreless innings, giving up one hit.

Opposition stars:  Horace Clarke was 3-for-3 with a walk.  Bill Robinson was 1-for-4 with a home run.  Mel Stottlemyre pitched seven innings, giving up three runs on seven hits and two walks and striking out three.

The game:  Rod Carew got an infield hit in the first and advanced to third base, but no farther.  The two teams combined for just one more hit until the fifth.  With one out in the fifth, Johnny Roseboro doubled and scored on a Cardenas single.  Cesar Tovar was hit by a pitch, and with two out Ted Uhlaender singled to make the score 2-0.

The Yankees got on the board in the sixth when Gene Michael doubled and scored on a two-out single by Clarke.  The Twins got the run back in the bottom of the sixth when Carew doubled, went to third on a ground out, and scored on a Graig Nettles sacrifice fly, making the score 3-1 Twins.

The Twins missed a chance to add to their lead in the seventh when Cardenas and Tovar led off the inning with singles.  They went to second and third on a ground out, but Cardenas was caught trying to steal home.  Bill Robinson led off the eighth with a home run, cutting the margin to 3-2.  Michael drew a one-out walk and Clarke hit a two-out single, resulting in Perranoski replacing Hall.  Bobby Cox got an infield single to load the bases, but Roy White hit into a forceout to end the inning.

The Twins got an insurance run in the ninth.  Carew led off with a single and went to second on a ground out.  Harmon Killebrew was intentionally walked.  Carew went to third on a fly out.  With men on first and third and one out, Killebrew stole second (!).  Roseboro walked to load the bases.  The Twins then pulled off a triple steal, with Carew stealing home to make the score 4-2.  The Yankees went down in order in the ninth.

WP:  Hall (3-3).  LP:  Stottlemyre (8-4).  S:  Perranoski (12).

Notes:  Nettles was in left field, with Tovar at third base.  Quilici again came in to play third in the eighth, with Tovar moving to left.

Carew raised his average to .399.  Cardenas raised his average to .306.  Roseboro was 1-for-3 with a walk and was batting .305.  Tony Oliva was 0-for-3 with a walk and was batting .301.  Perranoski lowered his ERA to 1.70.

I don't know how many times Killebrew stole two bases in a game, much less in the same inning, but it can't be very many.  And his steal of second was actually a straight steal, not the back end of anything.  He had nineteen stolen bases in his career, with eight of them coming in 1969.  For his career he was 19-for-37, obviously not a good percentage, but in 1969 he was 8-for-10.

Hall had not pitched since May 27.  He would make three more appearances, all in relief, then would miss a month.

After giving up runs in back-to-back appearances, Perranoski had now made four consecutive scoreless appearances.

Record:  The Twins were 28-20, in first place in the American League West, 3.5 games ahead of Oakland.

MINNESOTA 4, NEW YORK 0 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Tuesday, June 3.

Batting stars:  Tony Oliva was 2-for-3 with a home run (his seventh), a triple, and two RBIs.  Harmon Killebrew was 1-for-3 with a two-run homer (his tenth) and a walk, scoring twice.

Pitching stars:  Dave Boswell pitched seven shutout innings, giving up three hits and a walk and striking out five.  Ron Perranoski pitched two shutout innings, giving up one hit.

Opposition stars:  John Ellis was 2-for-3 with a double.  Jerry Kenney was 2-for-4.

The game:  With one out in the bottom of the first, Leo Cardenas singled and Killebrew hit a two-run homer to give the Twins a 2-0 lead.  In the fourth, Killebrew walked and Tony Oliva followed with an RBI triple to make the score 3-0.

The Yankees did not get a baserunner until two out in the fifth, when Ellis singled.  They did not mount a threat, however.  Oliva homered in the sixth to increase the Twins' lead to 4-0.  Kenney got the second Yankees hit with a leadoff single in the seventh, but did not advance past first base.

The Yankees' only threat came in the eighth.  Ellis led off the inning with a double and Jim Lyttle walked.  That led to Boswell being replaced by Perranoski.  He immediately got Gene Michael to hit into a double play and retired Bobby Murcer on a ground out to get out of the inning.  Kenney had a harmless single in the ninth.

WP:  Boswell (6-6).  LP:  Fritz Peterson (7-6).  S:  Perranoski (11).

Notes:  Cesar Tovar replaced Rod Carew at second base.  Carew would be back in the lineup in the next game.  Rick Renick was at third base, with Bob Allison in left field.

Killebrew was at first base, but Rich Reese came in as a defensive replacement in the ninth inning.  Nothing odd about that, except that up to this point, when Reese had started games at first base and Killebrew started at third, Billy Martin would put Frank Quilici at third as a defensive replacement and move Killebrew to first, taking Reese out of the game.  Perhaps Martin just wanted to give Killebrew an inning off or something.

The Yankees had just four hits, two by Ellis and two by Kenney.

For some reason I remember Jerry Kenney, even though his career was not particularly memorable.  He got a September call-up in 1967, but did not reach the majors to stay until 1969.  He got the most playing time of his career that season, playing both infield and outfield, and wasn't terrible but wasn't all that good, either, batting .257 with an OPS of .639.  He slumped to .193 in 1970, but bounced back to bat .262 with an OPS of .679 in 1971.  That was as good as it would get for him.  He batted .210 in 1972 and the Yankees had seen enough.  He probably made his biggest contribution to the Yankees when he got traded, because he was a part of the trade that sent Graig Nettles from Cleveland to New York.  The Indians kept Kinney for all of a month, releasing him on May 4, 1973.  He signed back with the Yankees and was in AAA for them through 1975, but never got back to the big leagues.  His career numbers are .237/.326/.299 in 1369 at-bats.  Still, he appeared in 465 major league games, which is more than I'll ever play in.

Record:  The Twins were 27-20, in first place in the American League West, 2.5 games ahead of Oakland.