MINNESOTA 11, DETROIT 5 IN MINNESOTA (GAME 2 OF DOUBLEHEADER)

Date:  Tuesday, July 29.

Batting stars:  Leo Cardenas was 3-for-4 with two RBIs.  Rich Reese was 3-for-5 with a double.  Rod Carew was 3-for-5.  Harmon Killebrew was 2-for-3 with a home run (his thirtieth), a double, and a walk, scoring three times and driving in two.  Cesar Tovar was 2-for-4 with a walk.  Ted Uhlaender was 2-for-5 with a triple, scoring twice and driving in two.  Tony Oliva was 1-for-4 with a two-run homer (his fourteenth) and a walk.

Pitching star:  Ron Perranoski pitched 1.1 scoreless innings, giving up one hit and striking out one.

Opposition stars:  Norm Cash was 2-for-4 with a two-run homer, his fourteenth.  Gates Brown was 2-for-4 and scored twice.  Tommy Matchick was 2-for-5 with a double.  Mickey Stanley was 2-for-5.  Don Wert was 1-for-4 with a home run, his eighth.

The game:  The Tigers got a pair of one out singles in the first but did not score.  The Twins scored twice in the bottom of the first.  Uhlaender led off with a single-plus error and was on third with two out.  Killebrew delivered an RBI double and Reese hit a run-scoring single to make it 2-0 Minnesota.

Detroit got on the board in the third as Stanley singled and scored from first on Matchick's double.  The Twins got the run back in the fourth when Johnny Roseboro doubled and Tovar singled, making he score 3-1.

The Twins broke it open with seven in the fifth.  Carew led off with a single and Oliva followed with a two-run homer.  Killebrew walked and went to third on Reese's double.  With one out, Tovar was intentionally walked.  It didn't work,as Cardenas came through with a two-run single.  With two-out, Uhlaender hit a two-run triple and scored on Carew's single.  The score was 10-1 Twins.

The Tigers put together three singles with one out in the fifth, loading the bases, but could only score one on a force out.  The Twins got the run back in the sixth when Killebrew homered, making the score 11-2.

The Tigers scored three in the eighth off starter Bob Miller.  Brown led off with a walk and Cash hit a two-run homer.  With two out, Wert homered to bring the final score to 11-5.

WP:  Miller (3-4).  LP:  Denny McLain (15-6).  S:  Ron Perranoski (20).

Notes:  Uhlaender was in left in this game.  Killebrew was back at third, with Rich Reese at first.  Frank Quilici replaced Killebrew at third in the seventh inning.

Carew raised his average to .375.  Oliva was batting .326.  Reese raised his average to. 320.  Perranoski's ERA went to 1.82.

Miller made his first start since July 18, when he was also pitching in a doubleheader.  He made only two relief appearances in the interim, pitching a total of three innings.

The Twins beat two very good pitchers in this doubleheader, Mickey Lolich and Denny McLain.

Gates Brown started in left field for the Tigers.  This was one of fourteen games which Brown started in 1969, all in left field.

Don Wert was probably a better batter than it looks like, simply because he played during the 1960s.  A third baseman, he batted between .257 and .268 each year from 1963-1967 with an OPS close to .700 and around ten home runs a year.  In the 1960s offensive context, that's fairly good.  He finished tenth in MVP voting in 1965, when he batted .261/.341/.363 with twelve homers.  Oddly enough, he made his one all-star appearance in 1968, which was his worst year at bat--he batted .200/.258/.299 that year.  His first half numbers that year were better, but not a lot--.220/.279/.340.  He really did very little at the plate after the 1967 campaign, although he did continue to average double digit home runs.  He remained the Tigers starting third baseman through 1971, when he was traded to Washington in the kind of deal we never see any more--It was Wert, Elliot Maddox, Denny McLain, and Norm McRae to Washington for Ed Brinkman, Joe Coleman, Jim Hannan, and Aurelio Rodriguez.  He batted just forty times for the Senators, going 2-for-40, and was released in June, ending his playing career.  At last report, Don Wert was living in eastern Pennsylvania.

Record:  The Twins were 63-39, in first place in the American League West, leading Oakland by 3.5 games.

MINNESOTA 5, DETROIT 2 IN MINNESOTA (GAME 1 OF DOUBLEHEADER)

Date:  Tuesday, July 29.

Batting stars:  Cesar Tovar was 2-for-4 with two runs.  Rod Carew was 1-for-4 with a two-run homer, his seventh.

Pitching stars:  Jim Perry pitched eight innings, giving up two runs on eight hits and no walks and striking out two.  Al Worthington pitched a scoreless inning, giving up a hit and a walk.

Opposition stars:  Jim Price was 3-for-4.  Dick Tracewski was 2-for-3.

The game:  Each team put men on first and second with two out in the second and did not score.  The Twins got on the board in the third.  Perry and Tovar opened the inning with singles.  A ground out advanced them to second and third and Harmon Killebrew was intentionally walked.  Tony Oliva made them pay with a two-run double and Bob Allison followed with an RBI ground out to put the Twins up 3-0.

It went to 5-0 in the fifth.  Tovar led off the inning with a single and Carew followed with a two-run homer.  The Tigers had gotten a two-out double in the third, but then did not get a man past first until the eighth, when Mickey Stanley and Tracewski each got a one-out single.

Detroit finally got on the board in the ninth.  Perry had thrown eight shutout innings, but apparently tired in the ninth.  Willie Horton, Tommy Matchick, and Price all singled, making the score 5-1.  Worthington then came in.  A fly out and a ground out made the score 5-2.  Stanley walked and Tracewski singled, bringing the potential winning run to the plate in the person of Al Kaline.  He grounded to third, however, ending the game.

WP:  Perry (12-4).  LP:  Mickey Lolich (14-3).  S:  Worthington (1).

Notes:  Bob Allison has been playing more in left field lately.  Rick Renick has been playing more third, with Killebrew at first.  It's a sacrifice of offense, not so much with the benching of Ted Uhlaender but with Rich Reese out of the lineup.  Reese was batting .314 with an OPS of .866.  Renick was batting .190 with an OPS of .511, lower than that of Perry.

Mitterwald was again behind the plate, with Johnny Roseboro on the bench.  Presumably this was simply because it was a doubleheader.

Carew was now batting .371.  Oliva was 1-for-3 with a double and a walk, driving in two, and was batting .327.

This was Tovar's fifth consecutive multi-hit game.  He was 11-for-21 with a home run in that span.  His average went up from .255 to .270.

The Twins seem to be going to Worthington more in late-game situations, rather than just using Ron Perranoski in that role.  I don't know why.  Not that Worthington was terrible, but Perranoski had not done anything to warrant losing the closer role.  Perhaps Perranoski was getting tired and it was felt that they needed to give him a break to get ready for the stretch.

MIckey Lolich was a fine pitcher, but the Twins got to him in this game.  He still went seven innings, giving up five runs on five hits and four walks and striking out three.

Tracewski did not start the game, but came in to pinch-run for Jim Northrup after Northrup doubled in the third.  Tracewski had an eight-year major league career, but was never more than a part-time player.  He had two at-bats with the Dodgers in 1962 and then was a reserve infielder for them from 1963-1965.  He got the most playing time of his career in 1964, when he had 304 at-bats.  He batted .247/.315/.326.  That wasn't bad for 1964, but it was as good as it would get for him as a Dodger.  He was traded to the Tigers after the 1965 season for Phil Regan.  He was with Detroit through 1969, only once getting more than 125 at-bats.  His best year as a Tiger was 1967, when he batted .280/.325/.383 in 107 at-bats.  If he could have kept that up he'd have had a solid career, but it appears that was simply a small-sample size fluke.  He was with the Tigers for all of 1969 but was generally used as a defensive replacement at shortstop, as he got only 96 plate appearances.  Amazingly, he drew fifteen walks.  He had more walks than hits, as he went 11-for-79 for an odd slash line of .139/.277/.165.  He had eighteen percent of his hits for the season in this game.  If you believe in "count the rings", he has three World Championships, with the Dodgers in 1963 and 1965 and with Detroit in 1968.  He also got another ring as a Tigers coach in 1984.  He was a minor league manager for Detroit from 1971-1972 and then was a coach from them through 1995, when he retired.

Record:  The Twins were 62-39, in first place in the American League West, three games ahead of Oakland.

MINNESOTA 8, CLEVELAND 7 IN CLEVELAND

Date:  Sunday, July 27.

Batting stars:  Cesar Tovar was 3-for-4 with a walk, a stolen base (his twenty-fourth), and two runs.  Rod Carew was 3-for-5 with a double.  Leo Cardenas was 1-for-4 with a three-run homer, his seventh.

Pitching stars:  Tom Hall struck out six in 3.1 scoreless innings, giving up two hits and a walk.  Al Worthington struck out three in a scoreless inning, giving up one hit.

Opposition stars:  Tony Horton was 2-for-4 with a walk and a stolen base, his second.  Eddie Leon was 2-for-4 and scored twice.  Jose Cardenal was 2-for-5 with a stolen base, his twenty-fourth.  Dave Nelson was 2-for-4 with a stolen base.  Chuck Hinton hit a pinch-hit two-run homer.

The game:  The Indians put men on second and third with none out in the first.  Starter Dave Boswell came back to strike out Ken Harrelson and Horton.  He walked Duke Sims, but retired Lou Klimchock on a grounder to end the threat.

With two out in the second, George Mitterwald reached on a two-base error and scored on a Rick Renick single.  The lead didn't last long, as Cleveland opened the bottom of the second with five consecutive singles, bringing in three runs.  A sacrifice fly brought home a fourth and yet another single made it 5-1 Indians.  The Twins got one back in the third on singles by Tovar and Carew and a sacrifice fly by Tony Oliva to cut the margin to 5-2.

Cleveland missed a chance to break it open in the fifth.  Singles by Harrelson and Horton put men on first and third with none out, but an attempted double steal was foiled when Harrelson was thrown out at the plate.  Two-out walks to Larry Brown and Richie Scheinblum loaded the bases, but Jerry Crider retired Leon on a fly ball to end the inning.

The Twins made them pay for the miss, as they came back with three in the sixth.  Harmon Killebrew and Bob Allison walked, and Cardenas delivered a three-run homer to tie the score at five.  In the seventh, the Twins took the lead.  Singles by Crider, Tovar, and Carew made it 6-5, and Killebrew's two-run double gave Minnesota an 8-5 lead.  The Twins had a chance for more, as a pair of hit batsmen loaded the bases with one out, but a strikeout and a ground out ended the inning.

The Indians weren't done, though.  In the eighth, Leon singled and Chuck Hinton hit a two-run homer to cut the Twins' lead to 8-7.  Cardenal then singled and stole second with one out.  Worthington then struck out Nelson and Harrelson to end the threat.  Cleveland got only a two-out walk by Frank Baker in the ninth.

WP:  Crider (1-0).  LP:  Ron Law (1-1).  S:  Ron Perranoski (19).

Notes:  Carew raised his average to .373.  Oliva was 0-for-4 and was batting .327.  Perranoski lowered his ERA to 1.85.

Tovar appears to have replaced Ted Uhlaender as the regular center fielder.  Tovar went to third in the seventh when Uhlaender pinch-ran for Killebrew and Rich Reese pinch-hit for third baseman Rick Renick.  He moved to left in the ninth, with Frank Quilici coming in to play third.

Mitterwald was behind the plate, replacing Johnny Roseboro.  Roseboro was used as a pinch-hitter in the seventh and remained in the game at catcher.

Boswell lasted just 1.1 innings, allowing five runs on seven hits and a walk and striking out two.  Cleveland starter Juan Pizarro pitched 5.1 innings, allowing four runs (three earned) on four hits and four walks and striking out one.

Hall made his first appearance since July 16.  The rest apparently did him some good.

This was Crider's first major league win.  He would have five in his career, with the other four coming in 1970 with the White Sox.

Cardenal was 9-for-21 with a home run in this series.  He batted .310/.318/.452 against the Twins in 1969.  For the season he batted .257/.314/.373.

Chuck Hinton was a regular major league outfielder for seven seasons and a reserve for four more.  He came up with Washington in 1961 and was a starting corner outfielder for them through 1964.  He made the all-star team in 1964, although his best season as a Senator was 1962 when he batted .310/.361/.472.  He was traded to Cleveland after the season for Bob Chance and Woodie Held and was a starter for the Indians from 1965-1967.  He was still primarily a corner outfielder but he also saw significant time in center for Cleveland.  In 1967 he had a poor year, batting .245/.304/.355.  Those numbers weren't terrible for 1967, but they weren't good enough for him to keep his job.  He was traded to California for Jose Cardenal, a deal which worked out well for the Indians.  He had a poor season for the Angels in 1968 and then was traded back to Cleveland for Lou Johnson.  He bounced back to have a couple of strong years as a reserve, batting .318/.392/.477 with nine home runs in 195 at-bats in 1970.  He could not sustain it in 1971 and was released after the season. He then became the baseball coach at Howard University, coaching them from 1972-1999.  He was one of the founders of the Major League Baseball Players Alumni Association in 1982.  He passed away from Parkinson's Disease in 2013.  His career numbers are .264/.332/.412, which for a player who did most of his batting in 1960s are very respectable numbers.  I'm not nominating him for the Hall of Fame, but Chuck Hinton was a very good major league ballplayer.

Record:  The Twins were 61-39, in first place in the American League West, three games ahead of Oakland.