KANSAS CITY 1, MINNESOTA 0 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Saturday, September 13.

Batting stars:  Leo Cardenas was 2-for-4.  Graig Nettles was 0-for-1 with three walks.

Pitching star:  Dean Chance pitched a complete game, giving up one run on four hits and a walk and striking out four.

Opposition stars:  Mike Hedlund struck out eight in six shutout innings of relief, giving up two hits and four walks.  Moe Drabowsky pitched two shutout innings, giving up two walks and striking out one.  Ed Kirkpatrick was 2-for-4.

The game:  I'd say this was an old-fashioned pitchers' duel, but it was played fifty years ago, so it probably wasn't old-fashioned at the time.  Neither team got a man past first base until the third.   Cardenas led off with a single, was bunted to second, and went to third on a ground out.  Rod Carew walked, but Tony Oliva fouled out to end the inning.  Cardenas also led off the fifth inning with a single and was again bunted to second (both bunts were by Chance), but went no further.

The Royals had put two men on in the fourth, as Kirkpatrick got a one-out single and Lou Piniella was hit by a pitch with two down, but Luis Alcaraz hit into a forceout.

The two teams combined for one baserunner in innings six through eight, a one-out walk to Harmon Killebrew.  With one out in the ninth, Mike Fiore tripled and scored on Kirkpatrick's single for the lone run of the game.  In the bottom of the ninth, Rich Reese and Graig Nettles drew consecutive one-out walks, but Johnny Roseboro fouled out and Cardenas struck out to end the game.

WP:  Drabowsky (9-9).  LP:  Chance (5-3).  S:  None.

Notes:  Ted Uhlaender was in center field, with Cesar Tovar on the bench.  Nettles was in left field.

Carew was 0-for-2 with two walks and was batting .338.  Reese was 0-for-3 with a walk and was batting .324.  Oliva was 0-for-4 and was batting .311.  Chance lowered his ERA to 2.81.

Since his return to the lineup September 8, Carew was 3-for-20.  Oliva was slumping over that same span, going 4-for-26.

Cardenas' two singles were the only two hits the Twins had.

Roger Nelson started for Kansas City.  He pitched a scoreless inning, giving up a walk, then was removed from the game.  No reason is apparent from the play-by-play--one assumes injury or illness.

Hedlund had been in and out of the rotation a couple of times during the season.  He had started and pitched seven innings on Sept. 3 and pitched an inning of relief on Sept. 8, so pitching six innings probably wasn't a big deal to him.  He did okay as a starter, but was excellent as a reliever--0-0, but with two saves, an ERA of 1.69, and a WHIP of 1.03.  He began 1970 in the Royals' bullpen, but did poorly and spent most of the season in AAA Omaha.  He came back to have an excellent year as a starter with Kansas City in 1971 but struggled in 1972 and then was in AAA in 1973-1974.

Record:  The Twins were 87-57, in first place in the American League West, 7.5 games ahead of Oakland.

MINNESOTA 3, KANSAS CITY 0 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Friday, September 12.

Batting stars:  Bob Allison was 2-for-4 with a two-run homer, his seventh.  Cesar Tovar was 1-for-3 with a home run (his tenth) and a walk.  Harmon Killebrew was 1-for-2 with two walks and a stolen base, his eighth.

Pitching stars:  Jim Perry pitched a complete game shutout, giving up six hits and a walk and striking out six.

Opposition stars:  Joe Foy was 2-for-4.  Ed Kirkpatrick was 2-for-4.  Jim Rooker pitched an eight-inning complete game, giving up three runs on four hits and three walks and striking out eight.

The game:  The Royals got a pair of two-out singles in the first but did not score.  Tovar led off the bottom of the first with a home run to give the Twins a 1-0 lead.

Kansas City mounted its biggest threat in the fourth.  Kirkpatrick and Foy started the inning with singles, putting men on first and third.  Lou Piniella then hit into a fielder's choice, with Kirkpatrick thrown out at the plate.  The Royals still had men on first and second with one out,  Jerry Adair struck out, Eliseo Rodriguez walked to load the bases, and ex-Twin Jackie Hernandez flied out to end the inning.

The Twins got some insurance runs in the fourth.  Killebrew led off with a walk and Allison hit a one-out two-run homer to make the score 3-0.  Kansas City did not get a man past first base the rest of the game.

WP:  Perry (18-6).  LP:  Rooker (4-13).  S:  None.

Notes:  Allison was in left field, with Ted Uhlaender on the bench.  Rick Renick was at third, with Killebrew on first and Rich Reese out of the lineup.  George Mitterwald was behind the plate, with Johnny Roseboro on the bench.

Rod Carew was 0-for-4 and was batting .339.  Tony Oliva was 0-for-4 and was batting .314.

A while back, it was mentioned in a comment that the Twins would've had the top three batting averages in the league had Reese gotten enough plate appearances to qualify.  I really don't know why he didn't.  In other words, I don't know why Billy Martin played Rick Renick at third so darn much.  At this point of the season it didn't really matter, but Renick started 27 games at third base in 1969.  It wasn't to give Killebrew a rest, because most of the time it happened the way it did in this game, with Killebrew moving to first and Reese going out.  It wasn't to gain a platoon advantage, because Reese hit both left-handers and right-handers substantially better than Renick.  I don't think it improved the defense much, either--I'll grant that Renick was probably better at third than Killebrew, but it's not like he was a gold glover--Frank Quilici still came in to play defense late in the game.  Plus, moving Harmon to first probably weakened the defense there.  One other thing--they also had Graig Nettles, who was a better batter and probably a better defender, although Nettles wasn't known as a great defensive player at this stage in his career.  I don't understand what Martin saw in Renick, but there was obviously something.

Don't let Rooker's 4-13 record fool you.  He actually pitched pretty well in 1969 and just didn't get any help.  He ended 4-16, but with an ERA of 3.75 and a WHIP of 1.32.  He eventually went to Pittsburgh, where he had some fine years for some winning ball clubs.

Record:  The Twins were 87-56, in first place in the American League West, 8.5 games ahead of Oakland.