MINNESOTA 4, CHICAGO 2 IN CHICAGO

Date:  Wednesday, July 2.

Batting stars:  George Mitterwald was 2-for-2 with two walks.  Tony Oliva was 2-for-4 with a double and two runs.  Cesar Tovar was 2-for-4 with a double.  Harmon Killebrew was 1-for-4 with a home run, his nineteenth.

Pitching star:  Dave Boswell pitched 7.2 innings, giving up two runs on five hits and a walk and striking out six.

Opposition stars:  Tommy John pitched 7.2 innings, giving up four runs (three earned) on eleven hits and three walks and striking out three.  Don Secrist pitched a perfect inning and struck out one.

The game:  In the second, Oliva doubled and Mitterwald delivered a two-out single to put the Twins ahead 1-0.  In the fourth, Oliva singled, went to second on a wild pitch, took third on a foul out to left, and scored on a passed ball to make the score 2-0.

The Twins missed a chance for another run in the fourth.  Allison led off with a triple, but was still on third with two out and then was caught trying to steal home.  They added a run in the seventh when Tovar's two-out double scored Frank Quilici from first base and got one more in the eighth when Killebrew homered.

The White Sox got on the board in the eighth.  Bill Melton doubled with one out and was still on second with two down.  Pete Ward then singled him home, Tom McCraw walked, and Luis Aparicio singled to drive home Ward and make the score 4-2.  Boswell then left in favor of Ron Perranoski, who retired Gail Hopkins on a ground out to end the inning.

The Twins went down in order in the top of the ninth.  According to both b-r.com and baseball-almanac.com, Chicago did not bat in the bottom of the ninth.  The most likely reason would seem to be rain.  It seems like a strange time to call the game, and one assumes the White Sox were not pleased about it, but perhaps it was unavoidable.

WP:  Boswell (10-8).  LP:  John (5-6).  S:  Perranoski (14).

Notes:  Oliva batted fifth in this game, one of only three times all year he batted fifth.  He was 4-for-11 in those games.  Killebrew batted third and Allison fourth.

Tovar was in center, giving Ted Uhlaender the day off.  Uhlaender would come in for defense in the eighth but would play left.  When Uhlaender started and Tovar came in for defense, Tovar would pretty much always go to left field.

Quilici was at third base, with Killebrew playing first and Rich Reese on the bench.  Mitterwald was behind the plate in place of Johnny Roseboro.

Rod Carew was 1-for-5 and was batting .368.  Oliva raised his average to .315.  Perranoski lowered his ERA to 2.08.

Left-handed reliever Don Secrist played in parts of two seasons for the White Sox.  He was in the Baltimore organization in 1963, was drafted by Cincinnati in the first-year player draft, and remained in the Reds organization through 1968.  He first reached AAA in 1966 but did not have a lot of success there until 1968, when he went 11-2, 3.68.  This was "the year of the pitcher" even in the minors, so that 3.68 is not as impressive as it might sound.  The Reds traded him to Chicago after the season.  He was with the White Sox for about two months, going 0-1, 6.08, but with a WHIP of 1.23 in 40 innings.  He gave up seven home runs, which probably helps account for the high ERA.  He also may have been battling injuries--he made only one AAA appearance that season.  He again was with the White Sox for about two months in 1970 but was rarely used, going 0-0, 5.52, 2.11 WHIP in 1.42 innings.  That ended his major league career:  his totals are 0-1, 5.93, 1.46 WHIP in 28 games (54.2 innings).  He pitched in AAA with the White Sox and Cubs in 1971, then was done.

Record:  The win was the Twins' fourth in a row.  They remained tied for first in the American League West with Oakland, although they trailed by winning percentage .569 to .566.