MINNESOTA 8, CALIFORNIA 1 IN MINNESOTA
Date: Thursday, June 19.
Batting stars: Rod Carew was 2-for-4 with a double, a walk, a stolen base (his thirteenth), two runs, and two RBIs. Bob Allison was 2-for-5 with three RBIs.
Pitching star: Dick Woodson pitched a complete game, giving up one run on three hits and two walks and striking out eight.
Opposition star: Jim Fregosi was 1-for-4 with a home run, his fifth.
The game: Cesar Tovar put the Twins on the board in the bottom of the first, leading off the inning by circling the bases on a triple-plus-error. In the third the Twins had three consecutive singles that produced two runs. Carew singled and Harmon Killebrew followed with a single-plus-error that put men on second and third. Allison then delivered a two-run single that made the score 3-0.
The Twins added some more runs in the third. Tom Tischinski led off with a single and Woodson reached on an error. A pickoff error moved them to second and third. With one out, Carew hit a two-run double to right and with two out, Allison had an RBI single. The score was then 6-0.
Fregosi got the Angels on the board in the seventh with a one-out home run--they'd had only one hit before that. The Twins got the run back in the bottom of the seventh when Rick Renick had a two-out single and pinch-runner Ted Uhlaender scored from first on a Frank Quilici double.
The Twins finished the scoring in the eighth. Cesar Tovar drew a one-out walk and somehow went from first to third on a ground out to the pitcher. He then scored on a Rich Reese single.
WP: Woodson (4-2). LP: George Brunet (2-6). S: None.
Notes: Carew raised his average to .374.
Tony Oliva was given the day off, with Renick in right field. This was one of four games in his career that Renick played in right field. Tovar was in center, with Uhlaender given the day off other than his pinch-running appearance and subsequent play in right in the last two innings. Allison started in left. Quilici started at third base, with Killebrew at first. Reese came in as a defensive replacement in the seventh. Tischinski was the catcher, with Johnny Roseboro given the day off.
George Brunet was nearing the end of a long and not-all-that-distinguished career. He played for nine different teams over fifteen seasons. The Angels clearly got his best years. The only other team for which he had an ERA under four was Pittsburgh, for whom he pitched just 16.2 innings. For six of the nine teams he pitched for, his ERA was over five. He made fifteen appearances with the Kansas City Athletics from 1956-1960, when he was traded to the Milwaukee Braves. He appeared in twenty-two games for them through 1961, when he moved on to Houston. He also appeared in twenty-two games for them, went to Baltimore during the 1963 season, and made sixteen appearances as an Oriole. After that season he was twenty-eight years old, had not pitched a full season in the majors, and his lowest season ERA was 4.50 in 54 innings with the 1962 Houston Colt 45s. He was in AAA in 1964 when he was sold to the Angels in August. They brought him up to the majors and something immediately clicked. In four full and two partial seasons with the Angels, Brunet posted an ERA of 3.13 and a WHIP of 1.20. Unfortunately for him, he didn't get a lot of run support--his won-lost record in those years was 54-69 and he twice led the league in losses. He was still pitching well in 1969, but the Angels sold him to the Seattle Pilots at the end of July. His career went backward again and he was out of the majors after the 1971 season, although he pitched in AAA for a couple of years after that. b-r.com doesn't say so, but it appears he then pitched in Mexico for several more seasons. He was elected to the Mexican Baseball Hall of Fame in 1969. For his major league career, he was 69-93, 3.62, 1.32 WHIP.
Record: The Twins were 34-27, tied for first place in the American League West with Oakland although they trailed in winning percentage, .559 to .557.