CHICAGO 5, MINNESOTA 4 IN CHICAGO

Date:  Tuesday, May 16.

Batting stars:  Pedro Ramos was 3-for-3 with a home run (his second) and three runs.  Harmon Killebrew was 1-for-3 with a walk and two RBIs.

Pitching star:  Pedro Ramos pitched a complete game despite allowing five runs (four earned) on eight hits and four walks and striking out five.

Opposition stars:  Cam Carreon was 2-for-4.  Minnie Minoso was 1-for-3 with a home run (his fifth), a walk, and two RBIs.  Early Wynn pitched a complete game, giving up four runs on six hits and five walks and striking out seven.

The game:  Ramos led off the third with a home run, putting the Twins up 1-0.  In the bottom of the third, Carreon singled, Al Smith reached on an error, and walks to Nellie Fox and Minoso forced home a run to tie it 1-1.

In the fifth Ramos singled, Lenny Green drew a two-out walk, a wild pitch moved the runners up, and Killebrew delivered a two-run single to give the Twins a 3-1 lead.  Once again the White Sox tied it in the bottom of the inning.  Wynn walked, Smith singled, and Fox hit a two-run triple to make it 3-3.

Ramos led off the seventh with a single, was bunted to second, and scored on Green's double.  But once again, Chicago tied it in the bottom of the inning, as Minoso hit a two-out home run to make the score 4-4.

The White Sox took their only lead of the game in the eighth. Jim Landis walked, Carreon singled, and Wynn delivered a two-out RBI single to make the score 5-4 Chicago.  The Twins went down in order in the ninth.

WP:  Wynn (4-1).  LP:  Ramos (3-3).  S:  None.

Notes:  Billy Gardner was the second baseman in this game.  We've discussed the 1961 Twins' second base situation a couple of times, and there's no need to do so again.

Reno Bertoia was at third.  He was the regular third baseman until he was traded at the end of May.  Eventually, Bill Tuttle took over at third base.

Dan Dobbek went to left field in place of Jim Lemon in the seventh.  Don Mincher pinch-hit for Bertoia in the ninth.  Elmer Valo pinch-hit for Ramos in the ninth.  I suppose that last move made sense, but given how he had done, it would've been nice to see Ramos get one more chance to bat.

Killebrew was batting .371 on the young season.  He would finish at .288.  Ramos was batting .364.  He would finish at .172.  Earl Battey was batting .333.  He would end up leading the team in batting at .302.  Green was batting .314.  He would finish at .285.  The Twins were seventh in batting at .250.  Cleveland and Detroit tied for the league lead at .266.

Killebrew led the team in home runs with 46.  Bob Allison hit 29, Battey 17, and Lemon 14.  The Twins were four in home runs with 167.  New York led the league with 240.

Ramos led the staff in starts, and while his won-lost record doesn't look good he had a fairly good season.  He went 11-20, 3.95 ERA, 1.30 WHIP.  Camilo Pascual was the ace of the staff, going 15-16, 3.64, 1.21.  Jack Kralick was 13-11, 3.61, 1.33.  Jim Kaat rounded out the rotation at 9-17, 3.90, 1.35.  The only other pitcher with double-digit starts was Don Lee with exactly ten.  He went 3-6, 3.52, 1.11.  The Twins had a poor bullpen, though, and that left them seventh in team ERA at 4.28.  Baltimore led at 3.22.  The Twins were fifth in WHIP at 1.39.  Baltimore led there, too, at 1.25.

Despite his big day, Ramos was not a particularly good batter, going .155/.182/.240 for his career.  He hit 15 home runs in 703 at-bats.  Wynn was a better batter, going .214/.274/.285 in 1704 at-bats.  He hit 17 home runs.

It was kind of an odd game, in that each time the Twins would score in the top of the inning, the White Sox would score the exact same number of runs in the bottom of the inning.  In the end, of course, Chicago cheated and scored in an inning when the Twins did not score, and that was the difference in the game.

This game snapped a four-game winning streak by the Twins.

Record:  The Twins were 16-13, in third place in the American League, five games behind Detroit.  They would finish 70-90, in seventh place, 38 games behind New York.

The White Sox were 12-16, in eighth place in the American League, 8.5 games behind Detroit.  They would finish 86-76, in fourth place, 23 games behind New York.

Random Record:  The Twins are 43-42 in Random Rewind games.