OAKLAND 3, MINNESOTA 2 IN OAKLAND (14 INNINGS)

Date:  Friday, June 20.

Batting stars:  Harmon Killebrew was 4-for-6 with a walk.  Dave Boswell was 2-for-3 with a home run and a walk.  Rich Reese was 2-for-4.  Ted Uhlaender was 2-for-7 with a stolen base, his eleventh.

Pitching stars:  Boswell pitched 8.1 innings, giving up two runs on eight hits and four walks and striking out eight.  Ron Perranoski pitched 3.2 scoreless innings, giving up two hits and a walk and striking out one.

Opposition stars:  Jim Nash pitched seven innings, giving up two runs (one earned) on eight hits and two walks and striking out four.  Danny Cater was 2-for-5.  Bert Campaneris was 2-for-6 with a walk and a stolen base, his thirty-second.  Rick Monday was 2-for-6.

The game:  Each team had a ton of missed opportunities.  It started in the top of the first, when the Twins put men on first and third with one out and did not score.  In the third, the Athletics had men on first and second with none out and did not score.  The Twins put men on fist and second with two out in the fourth and did not score.

The Twins finally got on the board in the fifth.  A walk, a hit batsman, and a pickoff error put men on second and third with two out.  Harmon Killebrew got an infield single to bring home the run and put Minnesota up 1-0.  Oakland got the run back in the sixth on a single, two walks, and a Cater sacrifice fly.

Boswell helped his own cause (whenever a pitcher gets a big hit, you have to say he helped his own cause.  it's in the sportswriter's code someplace).  with a home run leading off the seventh to put the Twins up 2-1.  The Athletics nearly tied it in the eighth.  With two out, Reggie Jackson walked and Sal Bando singled.  Cater then singled, but Jackson was thrown out trying to score.  In the bottom of the ninth, however, Rick Monday singled, was bunted to second, and scored on a single by South Dakota native Dick Green, sending the game to extra innings.

In the tenth, the Twins had men on first and second with two out.  A wild pitch moved the runners to second and third and Leo Cardenas was intentionally walked to fill the bases and bring up the pitcher's spot.  Oddly, Ron Perranoski (lifetime batting numbers .096/.147/.114) was allowed to bat.  To the surprise of, one assumes, no one, he struck out, stranding the runners.  Oakland had two on with two out in the eleventh and did not score.

In the thirteenth, the Twins had one out and none on and Perranoski was again allowed to bat.  To the surprise of, one assumes, everyone, he singled to center.  At that point, he was removed from the game for pinch-runner Rick Renick.  Uhlaender followed with a single, but the next two men were retired.  The Twins again put two men on in the fourteenth and did not score.

In the bottom of the fourteenth, future Twin Phil Roof opened the inning by reaching on a two-base error by Cardenas.  Tommie Reynolds then bunted him to third and was safe on an error by Rod Carew.  Carew was removed from the game at that point, with Cesar Tovar moving from third to second, Killebrew moving from first to third, and Bob Allison coming in to play first base.  An intentional walk loaded the bases.  The next batter was Ted Kubiak, and what happened is described as "Groundout: RF-SS/Forceout at 2B; Hunter Scores/unER; Reynolds to 3B."  Why Tony Oliva would throw to second base for a forceout in that situation is anyone's guess, but it brought home the game-winning run for Oakland.

WP:  Marcel Lachemann (2-0).  LP:  Bob Miller (0-2).  S:  None.

Notes:  Carew was 1-for-7, dropping his average to .366,.

Boswell's ERA was 2.87.  Perranoski's ERA was 1.45.  Miller's ERA was 2.40.

The Twins stranded eighteen men and went 1-for-17 with men in scoring position.  Oakland stranded thirteen men and went 2-for-9 with men in scoring position.

Any one-run game gives opportunities for second-guessing, and a fourteen-inning game gives even more.  That said, I have no idea what Billy Martin was doing allowing Perranoski to bat twice, especially when he was clearly not a good batter.  The first one, in the tenth, basically conceded the inning with the bases loaded.  The second one, in the thirteenth, came when he was prepared to take Perranoski out anyway.  If someone wants to try to explain this, go ahead, because it makes no sense to me.

As I look at it a little more closely, Martin had shorted himself somewhat on the bench.  When the Twins went up 2-1, he made some defensive changes, inserting Tovar in left for Graig Nettles, Frank Quilici at third, with Killebrew moving to first and Rich Reese coming out, and Tom Tischinski replacing Johnny Roseboro behind the plate.  Charlie Manuel pinch-hit in the tenth and replaced Quilici in the lineup (playing left with Tovar moving to third).  However, he still clearly had Renick and Allison on the bench, and one assumes George Mitterwald as well, all of whom had a substantially better chance of doing something positive at the plate than Perranoski.

I don't know why Carew was removed from the game in the fourteenth inning.  He may have been shaken up on the play, although he started the next day.  I suppose it's also possible that Martin thought the error was due to a lack of hustle or something--we know Martin was not above embarrassing someone if he thought they weren't playing hard.  If anyone knows more about this, feel free to comment.

Record:  The Twins were 34-28, in second place in the American League West, one game behind Oakland.

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.