MINNESOTA 12, KANSAS CITY 2 IN KANSAS CITY (GAME TWO)
Date: Sunday, June 29.
Batting stars: Tony Oliva was 5-for-5 with two home runs (his eleventh and twelfth) and a double, driving in five. Cesar Tovar was 3-for-5 with two doubles, scoring three times and driving in three. Frank Quilici was 3-for-4 with a walk and two runs. Leo Cardenas was 2-for-3 with two walks and two runs. George Mitterwald was 1-for-3 with a home run (his third) and two walks, scoring twice and driving in two.
Pitching star: Jim Kaat pitched a complete game, giving up two runs on seven hits and two walks and striking out three.
Opposition stars: Buck Martinez was 3-for-4. Mike Hedlund pitched three shutout innings, giving up three hits and a walk and striking out two.
The game: The Twins loaded the bases with none out in the first but could only score once, on a double play. It looked like it might cost them, as the Royals took the lead with two in the bottom of the first. With a man on second and two out, Bob Oliver doubled home a run and Martinez singled home another.
Not to worry. The Twins took control with a six-run second. Two walks opened the inning, and Kansas City starter Jim Rooker was pulled, having walked four of the seven batters he faced. The bullpen did not provide relief for the Royals. Quilici singled home a run to tie it, Kaat walked to load the bases, Tovar doubled home two, and Oliva hit a three-run homer to put the Twins ahead 7-2.
The only Kansas City threats came in the fourth and the eighth, both times when they had two on with two out. The Twins scored two more in the sixth, when Tovar doubled and Oliva homered, and three in the ninth, when Mitterwald hit a two-run homer and Tovar later had an RBI single.
WP: Kaat (8-6). LP: Rooker (0-5). S: None.
Notes: Oliva was 8-for-9 in the doubleheader with two home runs and a double. Over the last ten games, he was 25-for-45 with 11 doubles and 5 home runs. He raised his average from .279 to .322.
Tovar was in center field in place of Ted Uhlaender. Bob Allison started in left. Quilici was at second base in place of Rod Carew.
This was Quilici's only three-hit game of the season.
Allison got his second stolen base of the season, swiping second in the second inning. It would be his last stolen base of the season, as he would go 2-for-6 in steal attempts. He actually reached double digits in stolen bases four times in his career, with a high of thirteen in 1959. He was Rookie of the Year that season, made the all-star team, and led the league in triples with nine.
Kaat's ERA was 2.65.
I have no memory of Mike Hedlund, but he was actually pretty good in 1969. He went 3-6, 3.24, 1.30 WHIP in 34 games (16 starts). He also had a fine year in 1971, going 15-8, 2.71, 1.17 WHIP in 32 games (30 starts). He had made six appearances with Cleveland in 1965 at age eighteen, when he clearly wasn't ready. He got a September call-up with the Indians in 1968 after a good year in AA. The Royals took him in the expansion draft. After his good season in 1969, he went to Venezuela to play winter ball and got very sick. It looks like it took him all of 1970 to get his strength back--he started 1970 in the majors, but struggled and was sent back to AAA after just nine appearances. It looks like he probably developed arm problems after his fine 1971 season, as he did not have a good year after that. He did pitch well in AAA in 1974, but that was his last season.
Record: The Twins were 40-33, in second place in the American League West, a game and a half behind Oakland.