KANSAS CITY 4, MINNESOTA 3 IN MINNESOTA
Date: Sunday, September 14.
Batting stars: Johnny Roseboro was 2-for-3 with a walk. Tony Oliva was 2-for-4 with a home run, his twenty-third.
Pitching star: Bob Miller struck out five in 4.2 innings, giving up one run on no hits and a walk.
Opposition stars: Dick Drago pitched a complete game, giving up three runs on ten hits and a walk and striking out five. Luis Alcaraz was 1-for-4 with a home run.
The game: Alcaraz hit a home run with one out in the first to put the Royals up 1-0. Each team then missed some chances--the Twins got a pair of two-out singles in the second, Kansas City loaded the bases with two out in the third, and the Twins got another pair of two-out singles in the bottom of the third. The Royals increased their lead to 2-0 in the fourth when Chuck Harrison doubled and ex-Twin Jackie Hernandez singled.
The Twins tied it in the sixth. Harmon Killebrew and Rich Reese singled with one-out in the first. A ground out moved the runners up and Johnny Roseboro was given an intentional walk. Cardenas foiled the strategy with a two-run double to make the score 2-2. The Twins took the lead in the eighth when Oliva led off with a home run.
Lou Piniella led off the bottom of the eighth with a walk. Ron Perranoski came in and allowed a run-scoring double to Hawk Taylor, making the score 3-3. A bunt moved Taylor to third and Jerry Adair singled to put Kansas City up 4-3. The Twins went down in order in the bottom of the ninth.
WP: Drago (10-11). LP: Perranoski (9-10). S: None.
Notes: The Twins used their regular lineup. Rod Carew was 1-for-4 and was batting .337. Reese was 1-for-4 and was batting .323. Oliva was batting .313. Perranoski raised his ERA to 2.22.
Tom Hall pitched 3.1 innings, giving up two runs on four hits and three walks and striking out one. It seems like a pretty quick hook for Hall. Maybe Billy Martin thought that if you can't get Jackie Hernandez out when you need to, you shouldn't be in the game.
This was one of four major league home runs hit by Luis Alcaraz. An infielder, he had gotten a September call-up with the Dodgers in 1967 and spent about half of 1968 with them. He batted just .151 in 1968, however, and even in a pitchers' era that was considered unacceptable. He was sold to Kansas City after the season and got a couple of months with them in both 1969 and 1970. For his career, he batted .192/.235/.260 with four home runs in 391 plate appearances. He then played in the Mexican League for several years, finally ending his playing career in 1981 at age forty. He is a distant cousin of Orlando Cepeda and was a player-manager in the last few years of his career.
Record: The Twins were 87-58, in first place in the American League West, eight games ahead of Oakland.