MINNESOTA 4, CHICAGO 3 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Tuesday, September 30.

Batting stars:  Leo Cardenas was 3-for-4.  Ted Uhlaender was 2-for-2.  Tony Oliva was 2-for-5.  Jim Holt was 1-for-1 with a home run.  George Mitterwald was 1-for-3 with a home run, his fifth.

Pitching star:  Jim Perry pitched six innings, giving up one run on four hits and no walks and striking out two.

Opposition stars:  Walt Williams was 3-for-4 with two RBIs.  Tommy John pitched six innings, giving up two runs on nine hits and no walks and striking out four.

The game:  The Twins got two-out singles from Cesar Tovar and Oliva in the third, but did not score.  The White Sox got on the board in the fourth.  Williams led off with a single but was replaced on the bases by Luis Aparicio when Aparicio hit into a force out.  A ground out moved him to second and a Bill Melton single gave Chicago a 1-0 lead.

The Twins got the run back in the fourth.  Bob Allison led off with a single and went to second on a fly ball.  With two out, Cardenas delivered an RBI single to make it 1-1.  The Twins missed a chance to take the lead in the fifth, when two-out singles by Oliva and Harmon Killebrew went nowhere, but they went up 2-1 in the sixth when Mitterwald led off the inning with a home run.

The lead didn't even last a half-inning.  The first two White Sox were retired in the seventh, but then singles by Ken Berry, Bobby Knoop, and Ron Hansen loaded the bases and Williams hit a two-run single to make it 3-2 White Sox.

The Twins tied it in the eighth when Holt hit a two-out home run.  In the ninth, Rick Dempsey singled with one out.  Killebrew drew a two-out walk, and Uhlaender ended the game with a single that scored Dempsey.

WP:  Jim Kaat (14-13).  LP:  Danny Murphy (2-1).  S:  None.

Notes:  Allison started the game in left field, with Uhlaender on the bench.  Uhlaender pinch-hit in the eighth inning and went to center field.  Cesar Tovar had started the game in center field, but came out of the game when Dempsey entered the game to catch.  George Mitterwald had started the game at catcher, but Graig Nettles pinch-hit for him in the eighth.  Nettles remained in the game in left field.

Cotton Nash started the game at first, with Killebrew on third.  It was his only start of 1969 and one of two starts he made in his major league career.

Frank Quilici was at second base, with Rod Carew on the bench.  Regular catcher Johnny Roseboro was also on the bench.

Holt's home run in the eighth came as a pinch-hitter.  It was the first home run of his major league career.  He hit nineteen homers in his career, eleven of them in 1973, when he was the Twins' mostly-regular left fielder.  He actually did pretty well that season, batting .297/.341/.442.  It was the only good year he had, though.  The Twins traded him to Oakland in August of 1974, and by 1976 he was out of baseball.

It seems strange that Kaat was used for three innings of relief in a meaningless game, especially when the expanded rosters allowed for more pitchers.  I'm sure Kaat was fine with it--from what I've read he'd have pitched every day if they'd let him--but it doesn't seem like it was necessarily the smartest move.

This was the first loss of Danny Murphy's career.  He had come up in the middle of August and pitched really well, going 2-1, 2.01, 1.21 WHIP in 31.1 innings (17 games).  He could not sustain it in 1970, going 2-3, 5.69, 1.26 WHIP, although he did manage to stay with the club all season.  The White Sox traded him to Boston, he was in AAA for all of 1971, and then he was done.  Murphy had actually started his major league career in 1960 as a seventeen-year-old outfielder for the Cubs.  He had been a big star in high school and received a $100,000 bonus from the Cubs--while no source actually says so, I suspect he got caught in the "bonus baby" rule that required him to be in the majors.  He was used as a reserve and clearly wasn't ready, batting .120/.175/.187 in 81 plate appearances.  He played briefly with the Cubs in 1961 and 1962 as well.  He hit well in AA in 1963 and 1964, but struggled when promoted to AAA in 1965.  He made a handful of appearances as a pitcher in 1965 but turned to it full-time in 1966, at age twenty-three.  One has to wonder what would've happened had he been allowed to make a normal progression to the major leagues, but of course we'll never know.

Record:  The Twins were 96-64, in first place in the American League West, nine games ahead of Oakland.  The Twins had clinched first place in the division.

SEATTLE 4, MINNESOTA 1 IN SEATTLE (GAME 2 OF DOUBLEHEADER)

Date:  Sunday, September 28.

Batting stars:  Harmon Killebrew was 2-for-4 with a double.  Ted Uhlaender was 2-for-4.  Rod Carew was 1-for-4 with a home run, his eighth.

Pitching star:  Bob Miller pitched six innings, giving up two runs on nine hits and no walks and striking out three.

Opposition stars:  Dick Baney pitched eight innings, giving up one run on eight hits and a walk and striking out five.  Ex-Twin Don Mincher was 3-for-4 with a home run (his twenty-fifth), a double, and three RBIs.  Wayne Comer was 2-for-4 with a double and two runs.  Steve Hovley was 2-for-4 with a double.  Tommy Harper was 2-for-4.

The game:  Carew hit a home run with one out in the first to give the Twins a 1-0 lead.  Killebrew followed with a double, but Tony Oliva and Graig Nettles struck out to end the inning.  In the second the Twins got singles from Leo Cardenas and Tom Tischinski with one out, but Miller hit into a double play.

The Pilots missed a huge chance in the second.  Singles by Mincher, Hovley, and Jim Pagliaroni loaded the bases with none out.  But ex-Twin Sandy Valdespino hit into a force out at the plate, and Fred Stanley and Baney were caught looking.  Seattle took the lead in the third, though.  With two out, Comer doubled and Mincher hit a home run to give the Pilots a 2-1 lead.

Seattle threatened again in the fourth, getting one-out singles from Valdespino and Stanley, but could do nothing with them.  The Twins meanwhile, could do nothing, period.  They did not get a man past first base in innings three through eight.  In the bottom of the eighth, Comer hit a one-out single, followed by back-to-back doubles by Mincher and Hovley, building the lead to 4-1.  That's where it was when the game ended.

WP:  Baney (1-0).  LP:  Miller (5-5).  S:  Diego Segui (12).

Notes:  Reese remained out of the lineup, with Killebrew at first and Nettles at third.  Cotton Nash replaced Nettles in the fifth inning and went to first base, with Killebrew moving to third.  Cesar Tovar started the game in center but came out in the second inning.  He was replaced by Charlie Manuel, who went to left with Ted Uhlaender moving to center.  Tom Tischinski was behind the plate, with Johnny Roseboro on the bench.

Carew was batting .333.  Oliva was 0-for-4 and was batting .304.  Jim Holt got a pinch-hit single and was batting .364 (4-for-11).

Mincher had a fine year for the Pilots, batting .246/.366/.454 with 25 homers and 78 RBIs and making the all-star team.  He had another fine year for Oakland in 1970, batting ,246/.327/.460 with 27 homers and 74 RBIs.  Oakland traded him to Washington in early May of 1971 and he again put up good numbers, batting .280/.386/.427, although with just 12 home runs.  He became a part-time player in 1972 and retired after that.  He is the only man to play for both Washington Senators franchises and for the two teams they became, the Twins and the Rangers.

This was the first win of Dick Baney's major league career and his only start of 1969.  In 18.2 innings he was 1-0, 3.86 at age 22.  He spent the next three seasons in AAA, not making it back to the majors until 1973 as a September call-up with the Cincinnati Reds.  He again did well, going 2-1, 2.93 in 30.1 innings.  He was with Cincinnati for about four months in 1974 and did not do well, going 1-0, 5.49 in 41 innings.  If you take out two really bad appearances, though, in which he gave up 11 runs in 1.2 innings, his ERA becomes 3.20.  Apparently no one wanted to look at it that way, though, and he never played in the majors again.  He did have a successful career after that, however, first working in his father's contracting business and then working as a real estate investor and property manager.

Record:  The Twins were 95-64, in first place in the American League West, nine games ahead of Oakland.  They had clinched first place in the division.

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

Date:  Sunday, September 28.

Batting stars:  Johnny Roseboro was 2-for-4 with a double.  Cesar Tovar was 2-for-4 with a stolen base, his forty-fifth.  Rod Carew was 2-for-5 with three RBIs.  Ted Uhlaender was 1-for-3 with a home run, his eighth.

Pitching stars:  Dave Boswell pitched seven innings, giving up two runs (one earned) on three hits and four walks and striking out three.  Ron Perranoski struck out two in two perfect innings.

Opposition star:  John O'Donoghue struck out six in five shutout innings of relief, giving up two hits and a walk.

The game:  Uhlaender led off the game with a home run.  The Twins missed a chance for more, though.  Tony Oliva and Harmon Killebrew each walked with one out, but Graig Nettles hit into a double play to end the inning.  Seattle got the run back in the bottom of the first.  John Donaldson and Wayne Comer walked, and ex-Twin Don Mincher delivered a two-out single to tie it 1-1.

The Twins took the lead back in the second.  Singles by Tovar and Roseboro and a walk to Leo Cardenas loaded the bases with none out.  Boswell struck out and Uhlaender hit a fly to short left, but Carew delivered a two-run single to give the Twins a 3-1 advantage.

Neither team scored again until the seventh.  The Twins put a man in scoring position in the third, when Tovar hit a two-out single and stole second, and again in the fifth, when Oliva hit a one-out double, but nothing came of it.  In the bottom of the seventh, Ex-Twin Sandy Valdespino singled and scored from first on John Kennedy's double-plus-error, cutting the Twins' margin to 3-2.

That was the last Pilot to reach base, though.  The Twins put the game out of reach in the ninth.  Roseboro and Cardenas opened the inning with back-to-back doubles, making the lead 4-2.  With two out, Carew also doubled, increasing it to 5-2.

WP:  Boswell (20-11).  LP:  Miguel Fuentes (1-3).  S:  Perranoski (30).

Notes:  Rich Reese remained out of the lineup.  Killebrew was at first base, with Nettles making a rare (for 1969) start at third base (he started just 16 games there that season, as opposed to 44 in left field).  Bob Allison pinch-hit for him in the fifth and stayed in the game in left field, with Uhlaender moving to center and Tovar to third.  In the sixth, Rick Renick came in to play third, with Tovar moving back to center and Uhlaender coming out of the game.  Frank Quilici then came in to play third in place of Renick in the seventh.

Herman Hill pinch-ran for Roseboro in the ninth, with Tom Tischinski coming in to catch.

Carew was batting .334.  Oliva was 1-for-4 and was batting .306.  Perranoski lowered his ERA to 2.14.

I'm sure the Twins were thrilled to be playing a doubleheader in the last week of the regular season while they were getting ready for the playoffs.  Come to think of it, I don't suppose Seattle, which had long since been eliminated, was too happy about it, either.  The doubleheader came about because the game they day before had been rained out.

This was the only time Boswell would win twenty games.  It was also the last season he would be healthy.  In fact, he would win just four more games the rest of his career, which would be over in 1971.

This was the first time Perranoski reached thirty saves.  His previous high had been 21 with the Dodgers in 1963.  At that time, of course, relief aces (they weren't called closers then) were often brought into tie games or even close games with their team behind.  In addition to his 21 saves in 1963, he went 16-3 and led the league in winning percentage.  He would have 31 saves in 1969 and would top that in 1970, when he saved 34.  He would save only seven more games after that, however.

This was the last start and the next-to-last game of Miguel Fuentes' career.  His is actually a rather sad story, one that if I'd ever heard I'd forgotten about.  A native of Puerto Rico, he was signed by the Pilots as a free agent before the 1969 season at age twenty-three.  He was sent to the Midwest League, where he appeared in 26 games (6 starts) and went 8-2, 1.46 with a WHIP of 0.93 in 74 innings.  He got a September call-up and went 1-3, 5.19 in 8 games (4 starts).  His one win was a complete game victory over the White Sox, in which he gave up just one run on seven hits and two walks.  One assumes the Pilots/Brewers would have sent him to AA in 1970, but it never happened.  He returned to his home town of Loiza Aldea during the off-season and was shot and killed in a bar fight.  He was still just twenty-three years old.

Record:  The Twins were 95-63, in first place in the American League West, 9.5 games ahead of Oakland.  They had clinched first place in the division.