MINNESOTA 5, KANSAS CITY 2 IN MINNESOTA
Date: Thursday, May 14.
Batting stars: Rod Carew was 3-for-4 with two RBIs. Leo Cardenas was 2-for-3. Paul Ratliff was 2-for-4 with a double. Rich Reese was 2-for-4.
Pitching stars: Luis Tiant pitched four innings, giving up two runs on four hits and three walks and striking out three. Tom Hall struck out seven in five shutout innings, giving up one hit and no walks.
Opposition stars: Joe Keough was 2-for-4 with a triple. Pat Kelly was 2-for-4. Jim Rooker pitched five shutout innings of relief, giving up five hits and a walk and striking out three.
The game: The Twins took the lead in the bottom of the first. Cesar Tovar singled, stole second, and scored on a Tony Oliva single. Harmon Killebrew walked, moving Oliva to second, and Reese had an RBI single to make it 2-0 Twins.
The Royals had two on with one out in the second, and the Twins had two on with one out in the third, but it stayed 2-0 until the fourth. Bob Oliver singled and scored on Keough's triple. Paul Schaal followed with a sacrifice fly, and that quickly the game was tied 2-2. But the Twins came right back in the bottom of the fourth. Jim Holt and Cardenas led off with singles and Ratliff hit an RBI double to give Minnesota the lead. The next two batters went out, but Carew came through with a two-run single to put the Twins in front 5-2.
And that's where it stayed. The Twins put two on with one out in the fifth and again in the eighth, but could not add to their lead. The Royals only had two baserunners after the fourth and only got one to second base.
WP: Hall (1-1).
LP: Dave Morehead (1-1).
S: None.
Notes: Holt was in left field in place of Brant Alyea. Ratliff was behind the plate in place of George Mitterwald. Alyea and Mitterwald may have had minor injuries or illnesses, as they each missed a few consecutive games.
Charlie Manuel was going to pinch-hit for Tiant, but when Kansas City changed pitchers Rick Renick replaced him.
Carew was batting .389. Oliva was 1-for-3 and was batting .331. Killebrew was 0-for-2 and was batting .327. Tiant had an ERA of 2.96.
Holt was 1-for-4 and was batting .152.
Morehead started for the Royals and pitched three innings, giving up five runs on seven hits and three walks and striking out three.
Hall, who had pitched only twice between April 25 and May 9, had now pitched in three of four games, pitching a total of nine innings. He had pitched 2.2 innings just two days earlier.
I wonder when the last time is each team had a relief pitcher pitch five shutout innings. For that matter, I wonder when the last time is each team had a relief pitcher pitch five innings.
Carew was now 9-for-14 over the last three games. Reese was 6-for-15 over the last four games. Since April 22 he had raised his average from .148 to .239.
This was a makeup game from April 13, which had been snowed out. The attendance was 2121.
Record: The Twins were 20-10, in second place in the American League West, a half game behind California.