MINNESOTA 11, OAKLAND 3 IN MINNESOTA
Date: Tuesday, September 16.
Batting stars: Rich Reese was 3-for-4 with a double. Harmon Killebrew was 2-for-3 with a three-run homer (his forty-fourth) and a walk, scoring twice. Leo Cardenas was 2-for-4 with a home run (his tenth) and a double, scoring twice and driving in two. Johnny Roseboro was 2-for-4 with a home run, his third.
Pitching star: Jim Perry pitched a complete game, giving up three runs on ten hits and four walks and striking out five.
Opposition stars: Dick Green was 2-for-4 with a triple. Fred Talbot struck out two in two shutout innings, giving up two hits.
The game: The Athletics put men on first and second with one out in the first inning, but Sal Bando hit into a double play. The Twins took the lead in the bottom of the first. Rod Carew drew a one-out walk, Tony Oliva singled, and Killebrew hit a three-run homer to give Minnesota a 3-0 lead.
Oakland got on the board in the second when Green tripled and scored on a ground out. Each team put two men on in the third and did not score. The Athletics put two men on in the fourth and again did not score. The Twins didn't worry about putting men on base in the bottom of the fourth, as Roseboro and Cardenas started the inning with back-to-back homers to make the score 5-1 Twins.
The Twins put it out of reach in the fifth. With one out, Killebrew walked and Reese doubled, putting men on second and third. Cesar Tovar delivered a two-run single and went to third on a stolen base-plus-error. With two out, Cardenas had an RBI double, Perry had a run-scoring single, Ted Uhlaender walked, and Carew hit a two-run triple. It was 11-1 Minnesota.
Oakland again put two on in the sixth but did not score. They got a couple of runs in the seventh. Bert Campaneris and Jose Tartabull singled and Bobby Brooks walked, loading the bases with none out. Sal Bando struck out, but Tito Francona hit a two-run single to cut the margin to 11-3. There were still two on with one out, but Green hit into a double play to end the inning. The Athletics got only one more hit after that.
WP: Perry (19-6). LP: Jim Nash (8-8). S: None.
Notes: Carew was 1-for-4 and was batting .336. Reese was batting .325. Oliva was 1-for-5 and was batting .313. Perry's ERA went to 2.93.
I didn't notice this yesterday, but Reggie Jackson was apparently injured and missed this series. He had not played since September 9 and would not play until September 18. He certainly would not have missed a series that was, in effect, Oakland's last chance to get back into the race without a good reason. Bobby Brooks was in right field in Jackson's place.
Oakland had been the Twins' closest rival all season, but the Twins took care of them in September, winning five of six. They dominated the Athletics in the second half of the season, going 5-4 against them in the first half but 8-1 in the second half.
Record: Minnesota was 89-58, in first place in the American League West, ten games ahead of Oakland. The Twins' magic number was six.