MINNESOTA 9, CHICAGO 8 IN MINNESOTA (GAME 1 OF DOUBLEHEADER)

Date:  Wednesday, July 16.

Batting stars:  Rich Reese was 3-for-4 with two home runs (his ninth and tenth) and a hit-by-pitch, driving in five.  Rod Carew was 3-for-5 with two stolen bases (his fourteenth and fifteenth), scoring three times.  Ted Uhlaender was 2-for-5.

Pitching star:  Al Worthington struck out six in four innings, giving up one run on five hits and a walk.

Opposition stars:  Bobby Knoop was 4-for-5 with a double and two runs.  Don Pavletich was 3-for-5 with a double and two runs.  Ron Hansen was 3-for-5 with a home run, his second.  Gail Hopkins was 2-for-4.  Carlos May was 1-for-4 with a home run (his eighteenth) and two walks, scoring twice.

The game:  Uhlaender and Carew started the bottom of the first with singles and Reese followed with a three-run homer, giving the Twins up 3-0 before a man was retired.  The White Sox came back with two in the second.  Pavletich singled, but was still on first with two out.  Then came an RBI double by Knoop, a Billy Wynne bunt single, and a Walt Williams single, making the score 3-2.

The Twins got another three in the second.  Cesar Tovar singled, stole second, and went to third on a Tom Hall single.  Uhlaender then singled to score Tovar.  The next two batters went out, but walks to Harmon Killebrew and Charlie Manuel forced in a run.  The Twins then pulled off a triple steal, with Carew stealing home, Killebrew third, and Manuel second.  The Twins were ahead 6-2.

Chicago came back again in the third inning.  The first two batters went out, but Hansen homered, Pavletich doubled, Buddy Bradford walked, Knoop singled to load the bases, Tom McCraw got an infield single to bring home a run, and Williams reached on an error to bring home one more run.  The Twins' lead had been cut to 6-5.

The Twins got one in the bottom of the third on walks to Leo Cardenas and Darrell Brandon and a two-out RBI single by Carew.  The White Sox got the run back in the fourth when May walked, went to third on a Hopkins single, and scored on a passed ball.  The Twins now led 7-6.

Chicago had a chance to tie it in the fifth, when they put men on second and third with one out, but a 5-3-4-2 double play ended the inning.  They did tie it in the sixth when May led off with a home run.  The Twins went back in front in the bottom of the sixth when Reese hit a home run to make the score 8-7.

The Twins got an insurance run in the eighth.  With two out and none on, Carew singled, stole second, and score on a Reese single.  They needed the insurance.  Knoop and Ed Herrmann led off the inning with singles, putting men on first and third.  A ground out cut the Twins' lead to 9-8 and put the tying run on second.  He moved to third on another ground out.  With two down, the Twins walked May, putting the deciding run on base, to face Rich Morales.  He struck out to end the game.

WP:  Worthington (4-0).  LP:  Don Secrist (0-1).

Notes:  These two teams played Monday, did not play Tuesday, and played a doubleheader Wednesday.  One assumes there was a game scheduled for Tuesday which was rained out.

The Twins first three batters, Uhlaender, Carew, and Reese, went 8-for-14 with two home runs, six runs scored, and seven RBIs.

Carew raised his average to .363.  Reese raised his average to .327.

Tovar was in right field, as Tony Oliva was given the game off.

Johnny Roseboro started the game behind the plate, but was replaced by George Mitterwald in the sixth inning.  One assumes he either had a minor injury or was not feeling well.  He would not catch in the second game of the doubleheader or the next day's game, but would come back to catch both ends of a doubleheader Friday.

Frank Quilici played third base in place of Killebrew in the ninth inning.

Shortstop Ron Hansen had more power than I remembered, at least when he was young.  He hit twenty-two home runs for Baltimore in 1960, when he won the Rookie of the Year award and finished fifth in MVP voting.  That would be his career high, but he would be in double digits every year through 1965 with the exception of 1962, when he was injured much of the year.  He reached twenty again in 1964 with the White Sox.  He was again injured much of 1966, and when he came back his power had deserted him.  He hit just twenty-seven home runs from 1966-1973, after which his career was over.  Despite his early power he was never a particularly good batter--the two years when he hit twenty homers were his only years with an OPS over .700.  He was considered an excellent glove man, however, and garnered MVP votes in 1964, 1965, and 1967.  In addition to the Orioles and White Sox he played for Washington, they Yankees, and Kansas City.  He coached for Milwaukee and Montreal in the 1980s and then became a scout until he retired after the 2010 season.  He is best remembered for turning an unassisted triple play on July 30, 1968.  At last report, he was living in Baldwin, Maryland.

Record:  The Twins were 55-35, in first place in the American League West, leading Oakland by 4.5 games.  They had won seven in a row, twelve out of thirteen, and sixteen out of eighteen.