MINNESOTA 9, CHICAGO 1 IN CHICAGO
Date: Saturday, June 27.
Batting stars: Rich Reese was 3-for-4 with a walk. Tony Oliva was 3-for-5 with a three-run homer (his ninth) and three runs. Cesar Tovar was 3-for-5 with a home run (his seventh), two runs, and two RBIs. George Mitterwald was 2-for-4 with a stolen base. Danny Thompson was 2-for-5.
Pitching star: Bert Blyleven pitched a complete game, giving up one run on two hits and a walk and striking out eight.
Opposition stars: Bob Spence was 1-for-3 with a home run. Floyd Weaver struck out three in two shutout innings, giving up a hit and a walk.
The game: Tovar led off the game with a single, Leo Cardenas reached on an error, and Oliva hit a three-run homer to put the Twins up 3-0. The Twins got a pair of singles in the second and did not score. Oliva led off the third with a single and went to second when the White Sox tried to throw behind him at first base. Reese then delivered an RBI single to make it 4-0. Tovar homered in the fourth to increase to lead to 5-0.
The game calmed down a bit from there, but in the sixth Thompson singled, was bunted to second, and scored on a Tovar single, making it 6-0. Spence homered in the eighth to get Chicago on the board at 6-1. The Twins then scored three in the ninth. Oliva singled, Reese drew a two-out walk, and RBI singles by Jim Holt, Mitterwald, and Thompson followed, bringing the final score to 9-1.
WP: Blyleven (3-2).
LP: Garry Janeski (7-5).
S: None.
Notes: Bob Allison was in left in place of Brant Alyea. Thompson was at second in place of Rod Carew. Holt replaced Allison in left in the sixth. Frank Quilici replaced Harmon Killebrew in the ninth, with Quilici going to second and Thompson moving to third.
Oliva was batting .321. Killebrew was 0-for-5 and was batting .302. Blyleven had an ERA of 2.82.
Thompson raised his average to .167.
The stolen base in this game was the first of Mitterwald's career. He stole 14 bases in his career, with a high of three (done four times). He was caught stealing 17 times.
Janeski pitched 3.1 innings, allowing five runs on nine hits and no walks and striking out three. He was a rookie in 1970 and remained in the starting rotation all season despite going 10-17, 4.77, 1.51 WHIP. He was traded to Washington after the season for Rick Reichardt and had a poor season there. He was in AAA from 1972-1974, making four appearances for Texas in 1972.
Spence's home run was the first of four major league home runs he hit, all in 1970. His entire major league career (1969-1971) was spent with the White Sox, but 1970 was the only time he got more than 27 at-bats (130). His numbers were .202/.265/.306. He hit well in AAA--.286/.392/.493--but couldn't translate that to major league success, although he didn't get very much of a chance, either. He was a first baseman, and Chicago was playing Gail Hopkins at first base, so you'd think they might have given him more of a shot. But by 1971 they had Carlos May, and in 1972 they had Dick Allen, so Spence wasn't going to get a shot by then.
Record: The Twins were 42-24, in first place in the American League West, three games ahead of California.