WASHINGTON 5, MINNESOTA 1 IN WASHINGTON

Date:  Tuesday, May 27.

Batting stars:  Leo Cardenas was 2-for-4.  Rick Renick was 1-for-4 with a home run.

Pitching star:  Jerry Crider pitched 2.1 scoreless innings of relief, giving up one hit and striking out one.

Opposition stars:  Future Twin Brant Alyea was 3-for-4 with a home run (his fifth) and three RBIs.  Barry Moore pitched a complete game, giving up one run on six hits and two walks and striking out three.  Paul Casanova was 2-for-4.

The game:  With two out in the bottom of the first, Frank Howard reached on an error and Alyea made the Twins pay with a two-run homer, putting the Senators up 2-0.  The Twins wasted a two-out double from George Mitterwald in the second and also did not score in the third after getting a pair of singles.

Washington added to its lead in the fourth.  With one out, Tim Cullen and Casanova singled.  Moore bunted them up, and Ed Brinkman delivered a two-run single to make the score 4-0 Senators.

Renick got the Twins on the board in the fifth with a leadoff home run.  With two out in the inning Cardenas singled and Harmon Killebrew walked, but Tony Oliva flied out to end the inning with the score still 4-1.  The Senators added one more run in the seventh, and it was Alyea again doing the damage.  With one out, Hank Allen singled and stole second.  Howard was intentionally walked, but Alyea singled the run home to put Washington ahead 5-1.  The Twins did not threaten again.

WP:  Moore (3-1).  LP:  Tom Hall (2-3).  S:  None.

Notes:  It was kind of a B lineup, with many regulars rested.  Cesar Tovar was in center instead of Ted Uhlaender.  Bob Allison was in left, which was not that unusual but Charlie Manuel had been getting the starts there recently.  George Mitterwald caught in place of Johnny Roseboro.  Frank Quilici was at second instead of Rod Carew.  Renick was at third.

Hall apparently had some sort of injury.  He was awesome in his first four appearances of the season (two starts, two in relief), then struggled in his next three starts.  He did not pitch from April 30 to May 23.  He struggled in two more starts, would do well in his next one, then go back to the bullpen, then miss another month.  In this game, he lasted just 3.2 innings, allowing four runs (two earned) on six hits and two walks and striking out one.

Cardenas raised his average to .301.

This was Crider's second major league appearance.  He had not given up a run in three innings.

Dean Chance, who had not pitched since May 17, pitched two innings of mop-up relief in this game.  He would make one more appearance on May 30, then miss the next two months, coming back on August 1.  His ERA was 2.43 at this point.

So who is this Barry Moore that threw a complete game at the Twins?  It turns out he was a fairly decent pitcher for a couple of years, anyway.  He made eleven starts for Washington in 1966 and was 3-3, 3.75, although with a WHIP of 1.51.  He did fairly well in 1967 and then had his best season in 1968, going just 4-6 but with an ERA of 3.37 and a WHIP of 1.34.  He made 18 starts and 14 relief appearances that season.  It looks like he always had control trouble--he only had one season in which his walks per nine innings were less than 4.3.  That was, as one might assume, that best season of 1968, when his walk rate went all the way down to 3.2.  1969 was the only year he had a winning record, at 9-8, but his ERA was up to 4.30 and his WHIP was up to 1.42.  The Senators apparently saw that his effectiveness was at an end and traded him to Cleveland after the season.  He split 1970 between the Indians and the White Sox, pitched in AAA for three seasons, and then was done.  For his career he was 26-37, 4.16, 1.46 WHIP.  He walked 4.5 batters per nine innings and struck out just 4.2.  From 1966-1968, though, he posted an ERA of 3.61 in 323.2 innings.  This was one of eight complete games in his career, four of them coming in 1969.  His only shutout came in 1967 and was also against the Twins.

Record:  The Twins were 24-17, in first place in the American League West, one game ahead of Oakland.

MINNESOTA 7, WASHINGTON 1 IN WASHINGTON

Date:  Monday, May 26.

Batting stars:  Tony Oliva was 3-for-5 with a double.  Johnny Roseboro was 2-for-3 with a walk.  Rod Carew was 2-for-4 with two home runs (his fourth and fifth) and a walk, driving in four.  Leo Cardenas was 2-for-4.

Pitching star:  Jim Perry pitched a complete game, giving up one run on nine hits and no walks and striking out three.

Opposition stars:  Ken McMullen was 3-for-3.  Frank Howard was 2-for-4 with a home run, his fifteenth.  Del Unser was 2-for-4.  Casey Cox pitched three shutout innings, giving up three hits and two walks and striking out two.

The game:  The Twins got two walks and a single in the first but did not score due to a double play.  Would this be another game of missed opportunities for the Twins?

No.  In the third, Ted Uhlaender led off with a walk and Carew followed with a two-run homer to put the Twins up 2-0.  They then put together a big inning in the fourth.  Cardenas and Roseboro led off with singles and advanced on a wild pitch, putting them on second and third.  Cesar Tovar delivered a two-run single to make it 4-0.  With one out, Tovar stole second and scored on Uhlaender's single.  Carew then hit another two-run homer, leaving the Twins up 7-0 and in control of the game.

Howard led off the bottom of the fifth with a home run to put Washington on the board.  Their only other threat was in the eighth, when singles by McMullen and Ed Stroud put men on first and second with one out.  Unser and Ed Brinkman each grounded out to end the inning.

WP:  Perry (4-1).  LP:  Joe Coleman (2-5).  S:  None.

Notes:  Charlie Manuel was again in left and Tovar at third.  The defensive switch was made in the seventh, with Frank Quilici taking over at third and Tovar moving to left.

Carew would hit only eight home runs in 1969.  He had 92 in his career, with a season high of fourteen in 1975 and 1977.  I don't have time to look up how many two-homer games he had in his career, but it can't have been very many.

This was Perry's fifth start of the season and his second complete game.  He had joined the rotation on May 22 and would remain there the rest of the season.

Carew was batting .394.  Manuel was 0-for-4 and was batting .321.  Oliva raised his average to .305.  Perry lowered his ERA to 2.70.

Washington starter Joe Coleman lasted just three innings, allowing five runs on five hits and four walks and striking out three.  Coleman, who'd had a solid year in 1968, was struggling at this point in 1969, posting a 2-5 record and an ERA of 4.67.  He would get straightened out, however.  He would post a second-half ERA of 2.84, giving him a final season record of 12-13, 3.27.  His July was particularly impressive--4-2, 1.44, 1.00 WHIP, 51 strikeouts in 50 innings.  He would remain a good rotation starter through 1973, was a rotation starter for two years after that, and pitched out of the bullpen for major league teams through 1979.  His best year was either 1971, when he went 20-9, 3.15, or 1972, when he was 19-14, 2.80.  1972 was when he made his only all-star team.  His highest wins and innings pitched totals were in 1973, when he was 23-15, 3.53 in 288 innings.  His innings pitched total was in the 280s every year from 1971-1974.

Record:  The Twins were 24-16, in first place in the American League West, two games ahead of Oakland.