Monthly Archives: October 2021

Keeping Track

1970 Rewind: Game Fifteen

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.

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–October 20

Jigger Statz (1897)
Bruce Campbell (1909)
Mickey Mantle (1931)
Juan Marichal (1937)
Dave Collins (1952)
Keith Hernandez (1953)
Jerry Meals (1961)
Rudy Seanez (1968)
Juan Gonzalez (1969)

William Julius "Judy" Johnson was a star third baseman in the Negro Leagues.

Jerry Meals has been a major league umpire since 1998.

It appears that no players associated with the Twins were born on this day.

We also want to wish a very happy birthday to GreekHouse and to freealonzo’s mother.

Keeping Track

1970 Rewind: Game Fourteen

MINNESOTA 6, DETROIT 0 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Sunday, April 26.

Batting stars:  Luis Tiant was 3-for-4 with a double and a stolen base.  Cesar Tovar was 2-for-4 with a stolen base, his sixth.  Rich Reese was 2-for-4.  Harmon Killebrew was 2-for-5 with two RBIs.  Tony Oliva was 2-for-5.

Pitching stars:  Tiant pitched a complete game shutout, giving up three hits and a walk and striking out six.

Opposition star:  Dick McAuliffe was 2-for-4.

The game:  The Twins put men on second and third with two out in the third but did not score.  They broke through in the fourth, however.  Oliva singled, Brant Alyea walked, Reese had an infield single to load the bases, and George Mitterwald had another infield single to make it 1-0 Twins.

The Twins put two on in the fifth, but did not score.  They broke the game open in the sixth with a two-out rally.  The first two men were retired, but Frank Quilici singled, Tiant hit an RBI double, Tovar had an infield single, Tiant and Tovar pulled off a double steal, Leo Cardenas tripled them both home, and Killebrew had an RBI single, making the score 5-0 Twins.

The Twins added one more in the eighth.  Tiant singled, a wild pitch moved him to second, Tovar bunted him to third, and Killebrew singled him home.

The Tigers never had a man beyond first base and only once had the leadoff man on base.

WP:  Tiant (3-0).

LP:  Mickey Lolich (4-2).

S:  None.

Notes:  Quilici was again at second in the absence of Rod Carew.  Cardenas remained in Carew's number two spot in the batting order.

Jim Holt replaced Brant Alyea in left field in the eighth inning.  Minnie Mendoza pinch-ran for Killebrew in the eighth and remained in the game at third base.

Tiant was batting .556.  Brant Alyea was 0-for-3 and was batting .390.  Tovar was batting .367.  Oliva was batting .344.  Killebrew was batting .341.  Quilici was batting .308.

Mitterwald was 1-for-4 and was batting .175.  Cardenas was 1-for-5 and was batting .192.

Tiant wasn't a terrible batter over his career, but he wasn't exceptional, either:  a career line of .164/.185/.224.  In 1970, however, he was exceptional:  .406/.424/.531 in 32 at-bats.  Small sample size, obviously, and maybe that's the full explanation.  But it's still pretty amazing.  The stolen base he got in this game was the only one he had in his career, and it was a steal of third on the front end of a double steal.  I don't know how many players have a steal of third as the only stolen base of their career, but I suspect it's a pretty short list.

This was Tiant's only shutout in 1970, and one of two complete games.

Lolich pitched 5.2 innings, allowing five runs on ten hits and a walk and striking out six.  It was the Tigers' fifteenth game of the season, and it was Lolich's sixth start.  The other five had been complete games (one of them 9.2 innings) and two of them had been shutouts.  Lolich pitched over 200 innings every year from 1964-1975; over 220 from 1968-1975; over 240 from 1969-1975; over 270 from 1970-1974, and over 300 from 1971-1974, with a high of 376 in 1971.  Interestingly, he only led the league in starts and complete games once, both 1971, when he had 45 starts and 29 complete games.  He continued to be an effective starter through age 35, and had a really good half-season as a reliever for the Padres in 1978, when he was thirty-seven.  Memory and a google search reveal that he was considered overweight, but he's listed at 6' 1", 170.  If he was overweight, it certainly didn't affect his pitching.

The Twins had won four, lost two, won four, lost two, and now won two.  Could they win four?

Record:  The Twins were 10-4, in first place in the American League West by winning percentage, but a half game behind California.

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–October 19

Mordecai Brown (1876)
Fred Snodgrass (1887)
Bob O'Farrell (1896)
Al Brazle (1913)
Walt Bond (1937)
Sandy Alomar (1943)
Al Gallagher (1945)
Mark Davis (1960)
Tim Belcher (1961)
Dave Veres (1966)
Keith Foulke (1972)
Horacio Estrada (1975)
Michael Young (1976)
Randy Ruiz (1977)
Jose Bautista (1980)
Rajai Davis (1980)
J. A. Happ (1982)
Josh Tomlin (1984)
Daniel Descalso (1986)
Jordan Lyles (1990)

The Twins chose Tim Belcher with the first pick of the 1983 draft, but he did not sign.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–October 19 →

Keeping Track

1970 Rewind: Game Thirteen

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MINNESOTA 4, DETROIT 3 IN MINNESOTA

Date: Saturday, April 25.

Batting stars: Tony Oliva was 2-for-4 with a home run (his third) and two runs. Rich Reese was 1-for-3 with a home run.

Pitching star: Jim Kaat pitched 8.1 innings, giving up three runs on eight hits and two walks and striking out five.

Opposition stars: Mickey Stanley was 2-for-3 with a home run. Elliott Maddox was 2-for-3. Willie Horton was 2-for-4. Earl Wilson pitched six innings, giving up two runs on three hits and no walks and striking out two.

The game: Maddox led off the third with a single and was bunted to second. Wilson then doubled, but Maddox was only able to make third--presumably it was a fly ball that he thought might be caught. Stanley walked to load the bases, but Dick McAuliffe hit into a double play to end the inning and keep the game scoreless.

The Twins took a 2-0 lead in the fourth on solo homers by Oliva and Reese. Stanley hit a solo homer in the sixth to cut the lead to 2-1. It stayed 2-1 until the eighth, when Paul Ratliff doubled, went to third on a Frank Quilici single, and scored on a sacrifice fly by Kaat. But in the ninth, Horton singled and Jim Northrup hit a one-out triple to cut the lead to 3-2. Kaat left in favor of Stan Williams, who allowed a sacrifice fly by Norm Cash to tie it at three.

In the bottom of the ninth, Oliva hit a one-out single and went to second on an error. Harmon Killebrew then delivered a single to right to score Oliva and give the victory to the Twins.

WP: Williams (2-0).

LP: Tom Timmerman (0-1).

S: None.

Notes: Quilici was at second base in place of Rod Carew. Ratliff was behind the plate in place of George Mitterwald. Jim Holt replaced Brant Alyea for defense in the eighth.

Carew would not play again until May 6. I don't know if he was injured or if he was fulfilling a National Guard commitment.

Alyea was 1-for-3 and was batting .421.  Cesar Tovar was 0-for-4 and was batting .357.  Oliva was batting .339.  Killebrew, Ratliff, and Quilici were all batting .333.  Kaat had an ERA of 2.86.  Williams continued to have an ERA of zero.

Leo Cardenas was moved up to the second spot in the order with Carew out, but went 0-for-4 and was batting .191.

The Tigers' third was interesting.  Maddox, batting in the seventh spot, led off with a single.  Eighth-place batter Cedar Guttierez then bunted, with pitcher Earl Wilson coming up next.  It worked, as Wilson delivered a double, but how often do you have the eighth-place hitter bunt with the pitcher coming up next?  But Wilson was a pretty good batter.  His career batting line is .195/.265/.369 with 35 home runs in 740 at-bats.  A .195 average may not sound like much, but he played almost his entire career in the 1960s.  There are middle infielders who had substantial careers in the 1960s with lower batting averages than that.

The Twins had won four, lost two, won four, lost two, and now have won one.  We'll see if they can win four again.

Record:  The Twins were 9-4, in first place in the American League West by winning percentage, but a half game behind California.