BOSTON 7, MINNESOTA 6 IN BOSTON
Date: Wednesday, August 20.
Batting stars: Leo Cardenas was 2-for-4. Cesar Tovar was 1-for-3 with a two-run homer (his sixth), two walks, and a stolen base (his thirty-first). Harmon Killebrew was 1-for-4 with a two-run homer, his thirty-fifth.
Pitching star: Al Worthington pitched a scoreless inning, giving up one hit.
Opposition stars: George Scott was 2-for-4 with a home run (his thirteenth) and two RBIs. Tony Conigliaro was 2-for-5. Syd O'Brien was 1-for-4 with a two-run homer (his fifth) and two runs.
The game: Scott started the scoring in the third with a home run, putting the Red Sox up 1-0. Scott struck again in the fourth, delivering a two-out single to give Boston a 2-0 lead. The Red Sox doubled their lead in the fifth, as a walk, an error, and an intentional walk loaded the bases with one out. A sacrifice fly by Reggie Smith and a Rico Petrocelli single gave Boston a 4-0 advantage.
The Twins got on the board in the fifth. Rich Reese singled and Graig Nettles doubled, putting men on second and third. Cardenas singled home a run, but Nettles was thrown out at the plate, leaving the score 4-1. It went to 6-1 in the bottom of the fifth, as Jerry Moses singled and O'Brien hit a two-run homer.
The Twins came back. In the seventh, Tovar walked and Killebrew hit a two-run homer, cutting the margin to 6-3. The home run did not kill the rally, as Tony Oliva doubled and Reese reached on an error to make the score 6-4. With two out in the eighth, Bob Allison hit a two-out single and Tovar followed with a two-run homer, tying the score 6-6.
But that was as far as it got. In the bottom of the ninth, Mike Andrews walked and was bunted to second. Smith was intentionally walked. Dean Chance came in and struck out Petrocelli, but Conigliaro delivered a game-ending single.
WP: Sparky Lyle (7-2). LP: Ron Perranoski (8-8). S: None.
Notes: Tovar was again at second base, with Uhlaender in center field and Nettles in left.
Reese was 1-for-5 and was batting .336. Oliva was 1-for-5 and was batting .320.
Perranoski gave up two walks (one intentional) and one run in two-thirds of an inning, making his ERA 2.16. Chance's ERA was now 2.82.
Jim Kaat started for the Twins and pitched 3.2 innings, giving up two runs on five hits and no walks and striking out one. Mike Nagy started for Boston and pitched 6.2 innings, giving up four runs (three earned) on six hits and four walks and striking out four.
Syd O'Brien was a major league infielder from 1969-1972. He was mostly used at third by Boston in 1969, but also played in double digit games at second and short. This was his best offensive season, as he batted .243/.287/.422 with nine home runs in 263 at-bats. He got the most playing time of his career in 1970 with the White Sox, when he appeared in 121 games and got 467 plate appearances at third and second. He batted .247, but with an OPS of just .625. He moved on to the Angels for 1971 and was traded to Milwaukee at the July deadline in 1972. He played in AAA for Pittsburgh and Detroit in 1973 before his playing career ended. One assumes he was considered a good fielder, and of course being able to play multiple positions helped him stay in the majors. His career offensive numbers are .230/.273/.347 with 24 home runs in 1130 plate appearances. He had a successful business career after baseball and was living in northern California at last report.
Record: The Twins were 72-50, in first place in the American League West, 1.5 games ahead of Oakland.