MINNESOTA 11, SEATTLE 1 IN MINNESOTA
Date: Saturday, July 12.
Batting stars: Rich Reese was 3-for-4 with a home run (his eighth) and a walk, scoring twice and driving in four. Tony Oliva was 3-for-4 with a double and three runs. Jim Perry was 2-for-4 with two RBIs.
Pitching star: Jim Perry pitched a complete game, giving up one run on five hits and two walks and striking out three.
Opposition star: Tommy Davis was 2-for-4.
The game: Seattle scored in the first inning, as Steve Hovley singled, went to second on a ground out, and scored on Davis' single. It was all Minnesota from there. Reese homered in the second inning, tying it at 1-1. The Twins took the lead in the third. Perry led off with a single, and was still on first with two out. Then, however, Oliva singled, Harmon Killebrew walked, and Reese delivered a two-run single to give the Twins a 3-1 lead.
The Twins took control in the fifth. Graig Nettles singled and Oliva doubled. A wild pitch brought home Nettles. Walks to Killebrew and Reese loaded the bases. Johnny Roseboro hit a sacrifice fly, and a walk to Leo Cardenas re-loaded the bases. Perry delivered a two-run single and Ted Uhlaender followed with an RBI single. The score was 8-1 and the game was decided.
The Twins weren't done, though. RBI doubles by Frank Quilici and Cardenas made it 10-1 through six. In the eighth, Charlie Manuel had a single-plus-error and scored on Reese's single to make it 11-1. The Pilots had only three hits after the first inning, all singles.
WP: Perry (8-4). LP: Marty Pattin (7-8). S: None.
Notes: Uhlaender was back in center as Nettles, making his first start since July 1, was in left. Cesar Tovar was at second base in place of Rod Carew, who perhaps had National Guard duties.
Oliva raised his average to .336. Reese raised his average to .330.
Marty Pattin would not win another game all season, finishing 7-12, 5.62 in 34 games, 27 of them starts. He went on to have some pretty good years, though, posting ERAs under 3.40 for three consecutive season (1970-1972) and making the all-star team in 1971. He was with Boston from 1972-1973, but after a down year in 1973 he was traded to Kansas City. He had several fairly successful years there, mostly as a reliever. In seven seasons with the Royals, he went 43-39, 3.48, 1.23 WHIP in 825.2 innings (244 games, 63 starts). He was still effective in his last year, 1980, when he was thirty-seven. He went 4-0, 3.64, 1.35 WHIP that season. It is unclear whether he simply retired or could not find a contract to his liking, but there's no real reason to think he couldn't have pitched a couple more seasons. He was the head baseball coach at the University of Kansas from 1982-1986. Marty Pattin passed away on October 3, 2018.
Record: The Twins were 51-36, in first place in the American League West, 3.5 games ahead of Oakland. The Twins had won three in a row, eight out of nine, and twelve out of fourteen.