1970 Rewind: Game Nineteen

BALTIMORE 9, MINNESOTA 3 IN BALTIMORE

Date:  Friday, May 1.

Batting stars:  Cesar Tovar was 3-for-3 with a home run (his third), a double, a walk, and three runs.  Harmon Killebrew was 2-for-3 with a double and a walk.  Tony Oliva was 2-for-4 with two RBIs.

Pitching star:   Steve Barber pitched a scoreless inning, giving up one hit.

Opposition stars:  Dave Johnson was 2-for-3 with a double and a walk.  Terry Crowley was 2-for-4 with a three-run homer and two runs.  Brooks Robinson was 2-for-4 with a hit-by-pitch and two runs.  Dick Hall pitched 3.1 scoreless innings, giving up two hits and striking out two.

The game:  The Twins scored first, as Tovar opened the game with a single, went to third on Killebrew's double, and scored on Oliva's single.  The Orioles loaded the bases in the bottom of the first on three walks but did not score.  Tovar homered in the third to make it 2-0.

It was pretty much all Baltimore from there.  In the bottom of the third Crowley singled, went to second on a wild pitch, and scored on Robinson's single to cut the lead to 2-1.  In the fourth Clay Dalrymple walked, Dave McNally doubled, and Crowley hit a three-run homer to put the Orioles up 4-2.  Two singles and a sacrifice fly made it 5-2 in the fifth.

The Twins got one back in the sixth when Tovar and Killebrew walked and Oliva delivered an RBI single.  Baltimore then put it out of reach in the seventh.  An error an a hit batsman put men on first and second, Johnson doubled home a run, an intentional walk loaded the bases, and Dave May hit a three-run triple to make it 9-3.

WP:  McNally (4-1).

LP:  Dave Boswell (0-3).

S:  Hall (1).

Notes:  Frank Quilici remained at second base in the absence of Rod Carew.  Charlie Manuel pinch-hit for George Mitterwald in the sixth, with Tom Tischinski going behind the plate.  Jim Holt pinch-hit for the pitcher in the seventh.  Bob Allison replaced Brant Alyea in the eighth as part of a double switch.  Paul Ratliff pinch-hit for Tischinski in the ninth.  Minnie Mendoza pinch-hit for Quilici in the ninth.

Alyea was 0-for-4 and was batting .386.  Killebrew was batting .333.  Ratliff was 0-for-1 and was also batting .333.  Oliva was batting .325.  Tovar was batting .321.  Bill Zepp allowed a run in two innings and had an ERA of 2.70.  Stan Williams allowed four runs, but they were all unearned, leaving his ERA at zero.

Mitterwald was 0-for-2 and was batting .167.  Rich Reese was 0-for-3 and was batting .193.  Dave Boswell allowed four runs in four innings and had an ERA of 6.75.

McNally pitched 5.2 innings, giving up three runs on five hits and two walks and striking out seven.

Boswell hurt his arm in game two of the 1969 ALCS.  I couldn't quickly find what the injury was, and I don't have time now to look more, but he was obviously not healed from it, and it appears never really would be.  He stayed in the rotation through the end of July, but had only two games with a game score over fifty.

We've already seen a few three-inning (or more) saves.  Back then, a lot of managers believed in leaving a pitcher in the game as long as he was pitching well.  The theory was that you only take him out if he's in trouble, rather than taking him out before he gets into trouble.

Record:  The Twins were 12-7, in first place in the American League West based on winning percentage, but tied in games with California.