CLEVELAND 5, MINNESOTA 1 IN MINNESOTA
Date: Monday, April 27.
Batting star: Brant Alyea was 1-for-2 with two walks.
Pitching star: Bill Zepp pitched four innings, giving up one run on three hits and a walk and striking out three.
Opposition stars: Ex-Twin Ted Uhlaender was 3-for-5 with a triple and two runs. Vada Pinson was 2-for-3 with three RBIs. Ray Fosse was 2-for-3 with a walk. Sam McDowell was 2-for-4 with two runs. He also pitched a complete game, giving up one run on six hits and five walks and striking out eight.
The game: The Indians started the scoring in the third. McDowell and Uhlaender led off the inning with singles, a ground out advanced them, and a sacrifice fly brought home the first run. Back-to-back RBI doubles by Tony Horton and Roy Foster made it 3-0 Cleveland.
The Twins got on the board in the fourth. With one out, Tony Oliva tripled and scored on Alyea's single. Rich Reese followed with another single, but the Twins could do no more and it was 3-1. The Twins got a pair of two-out walks in the sixth, but could do nothing with those, either.
The Indians added a run in the seventh when Uhlaender tripled and scored on Pinson's two-out single. The Twins started the eighth with a walk and an error but McDowell struck out the next three batters. In the ninth, McDowell and Uhlaender hit one-out singles and ex-Twin Graig Nettles walked to load the bases. A sacrifice fly brought home the game's final run. The Twins got two on in the ninth, but again did not score.
WP: McDowell (3-2).
LP: Dave Boswell (0-2).
S: None.
Notes: Frank Quilici was again at second base in the absence of Rod Carew. Leo Cardenas took Carew's number two spot in the lineup.
Minnie Mendoza pinch-hit for Boswell in the third. Bob Allison pinch-hit for Zepp in the seventh. Rick Renick pinch-hit for Tom Hall in the ninth.
Alyea was batting .395. Oliva was 1-for-4 and was batting .338. Cesar Tovar was 0-for-5 and was also batting .338. Harmon Killebrew was 1-for-4 and was batting .333. Zepp had an ERA of 2.25. Hall gave up no runs in two-thirds of an inning and had an ERA of 2.57.
George Mitterwald was 0-for-4 and was batting .159. Cardenas was 1-for-5 and was batting .193. Boswell pitched three innings, giving up three runs on six hits and a walk and striking out two. His ERA was 5.40.
The Twins stranded eleven runners and were 1-for-9 with men in scoring position.
We don't have pitch counts in 1970, but with five walks and eight strikeouts McDowell clearly threw a lot of pitches. This was his fifth start and his third complete game. He had pitched 39.1 innings to this point, and had walked 20 and struck out 40.
The Twins did not keep their "win four, lose two" streak going, as their winning streak was snapped at two games.
Record: The Twins were 10-5, in second place in the American League West, one game behind California.