DETROIT 6, MINNESOTA 4 IN DETROIT
Date: Thursday, August 7.
Batting stars: Rich Reese was 4-for-4 with a three-run homer (his twelfth) and two runs. Johnny Roseboro was 3-for-3 with a walk.
Pitching stars: Tom Hall struck out three in three shutout innings, giving up a hit and a walk. Al Worthington pitched a scoreless inning, giving up a hit and striking out one.
Opposition stars: Bill Freehan was 3-for-4. Al Kaline was 2-for-3 with a home run (his thirteenth) and a walk. Don Wert was 2-for-4 with a double. Willie Horton was 2-for-4. Ike Brown was 1-for-3 with a home run, his second. Tom Timmermann pitched 4.2 innings of relief, giving up one run on five hits and striking out two.
The game: In the bottom of the first, the Tigers got consecutive two-out singles from Kaline, Horton, and Freehan to take a 1-0 lead. The Twins put runners on first and third with none out in the second but did not score. Brown homered in the bottom of the second to make it 2-0. In the third, Kaline homered to make it 3-0. That was followed by singles by Horton and Freehan and a passed ball, putting men on second and third with one out. Norm Cash singled in a run, but Freehan was thrown out at the plate to keep the score 4-0. Starter Jim Perry was then replaced by Jerry Crider, who gave up a double to Wert to make the score 5-0.
The Twins got back into the game in the fourth. Tony Oliva led off with a single, Harmon Killebrew walked, and Reese hit a three-run homer to cut the margin to 5-3. The Twins got a pair of infield singles with one out in the sixth but did not score. With two out in the eighth, Reese, Roseboro, and Cesar Tovar all singled, cutting the margin to 5-4. A walk to Leo Cardenas loaded the bases, but pinch-hitter Charlie Manuel struck out to end the inning.
Detroit got the run back in the bottom of the eighth, as Wert singled, was bunted to second, and scored on Mickey Stanley's single. The Twins went down in order in the ninth.
WP: Timmermann (1-1). LP: Jim Kaat (11-8). S: Don McMahon (11).
Notes: Ted Uhlaender was in left field and Reese was at first base. Rod Carew started, but was replaced by Frank Quilici in the sixth for no obvious reason.
Carew was 0-for-3 and was batting .356. Tony Oliva was 1-for-5 and was batting .331. Reese raised his average to .330.
The Twins' five and six batters, Reese and Roseboro, were 7-for-7 with a home run and a walk. The rest of the team was 3-for-28 with no extra-base hits.
Kaat lasted just 2.2 innings, allowing five runs on eight hits and no walks and striking out two. Tigers starter Earl Wilson pitched three innings, allowing three runs on five hits and two walks.
This was Hall's first appearance since July 27, when he pitched 3.1 scoreless innings. Before that, he had not pitched since July 16.
Ron Perranoski came in to start the eighth and gave up a run on two hits. His ERA went up to 1.73.
This was the first major league win of Tom Timmermann's career. He was twenty-nine years old, but had come up in mid-June after dominating the International League in eleven starts. He was in the Tigers' bullpen through 1971 and was okay, not great, not awful. They made him a starter in 1972 and he did quite well, going 8-10, 3.00, 1.09 WHIP in 25 starts. He went back to the bullpen in 1973 and was doing fairly well there, too, but was traded to Cleveland in mid-June. His career fell apart at that point. The Indians put him in the bullpen, where he didn't do very well, and then moved him to the rotation, where he was no better. He made four appearances with Cleveland in 1974, was in the minors the rest of the year, then was done. He started late, but he still played in 228 games (44 starts) and pitched 548 major league innings. He was 35-35, 3.78, 1.31 WHIP. He's the father-in-law of Phil Leftwich, who made 34 starts for the Angels from 1993-1996.
Record: The Twins were 68-43, in first place in the American League West, two games ahead of Oakland.