CHICAGO 11, MINNESOTA 10 IN CHICAGO (GAME 2 OF DOUBLEHEADER)

Date:  Sunday, June 28.

Batting stars:  Tony Oliva was 3-for-5 with a two-run homer (his eleventh) and three runs.  George Mitterwald was 3-for-5 with a home run (his sixth) and four RBIs.  Cesar Tovar was 2-for-5 with a hit-by-pitch and two stolen bases (his sixteenth and seventeenth).

Pitching stars:  Ron Perranoski pitched a scoreless inning, giving up a hit and a walk.  Tom Hall pitched a perfect inning.

Opposition stars:  Ken Berry was 2-for-4 with a home run (his sixth) and two RBIs.  Syd O'Brien was 2-for-4 with a double.  Bill Melton was 2-for-5 with a home run (his fourteenth), two runs, and two RBIs.  Danny Murphy was 1-for-1 with a home run.  He also pitched four innings, giving up an unearned run on three hits and three walks.  Luis Aparicio was 1-for-3 with a home run (his third), two walks, and two runs.

The game:  The Twins scored four in the top of the first inning.  Tovar led off with a single, went to second on a ground out, stole third, and scored on a sacrifice fly.  Oliva then singled, Brant Alyea walked, and Mitterwald hit a three-run homer, putting the Twins up 4-0.

The lead lasted until the bottom of the first.  O'Brien led off with a double and Aparicio walked.  Starter Dave Boswell then came out of the game due to injury.  Dick Woodson came in.  Carlos May walked, loading the bases.  An error brought home two runs, Ed Herrmann singled home a run, Rich McKinney hit a two-run double, and after McKinney was picked off Berry hit a home run, giving the White Sox a 6-4 lead after one inning.  It went to 8-4 in the second, as singles by Melton, Bob Spence, Berry, and Barry Moore plated two runs.

The Twins got back into it in the third.  Harmon Killebrew walked, Oliva singled, and Alyea was hit by a pitch, loading the bases with none out.  A pair of RBI ground outs and a run-scoring double by Frank Quilici cut the Chicago lead to 8-7 through three innings.

The Twins put two on in the fifth but did not score.  In the bottom of the fifth, solo homers by Murphy and Aparicio made it 10-7 White Sox.  Melton homered in the sixth to make it 11-7.

In the seventh, walks to Jim Holt and Paul Ratliff and a two-out RBI single by Rick Renick cut the lead to 11-8.  In the eighth Killebrew singled and Oliva followed with a two-run homer to make it 11-10.  But that was as good as it got.  The Twins had men on first and second with two out, but a ground out ended the inning.  In the ninth Tovar singled and stole second with one out, but a pair of strikeouts ended the game.

WP:  Murphy (1-0).

LP:  Woodson (0-1).

S:  Wilbur Wood (11).

Notes:  Danny Thompson remained at second base in place of Rod Carew.  Quilici pinch-hit for Thompson in the third and stayed in the game at second base.  Bob Allison pinch-hit for pitcher Steve Barber in the third.  Holt pinch-hit for Alyea in the seventh and stayed in the game in left field.  Paul Ratliff pinch-hit for Quilici in the seventh.  Herman Hill pinch-hit for pitcher Jim Kaat in the seventh, but when Wood then came in to pitch Renick pinch-hit for Hill.  Renick stayed in the game in left field, with Holt moving to center and Tovar to second.  Tom Tischinski pinch-hit for pitcher Ron Perranoski in the eighth.

Oliva was batting .327.  Killebrew was 1-for-4 and was batting .305.  Bill Zepp gave up two runs in 2.2 innings and had an ERA of 2.80.  Perransoki had an ERA of 1.75.  Hall had an ERA of 2.18.

Thompson was 0-for-1 and was batting .188.  Quilici was 1-for-2 and was batting .180.  Boswell gave up two runs in zero innings and had an ERA of 6.55.

Boswell had doubtless been pitching with an injury all season, but it apparently finally became too much for him in this game.  He would make his next start, however, making five starts in July before finally giving up.

Hall, as you may remember, had pitched 6.2 innings in the first game of the doubleheader, then came in to pitch an inning in the second game.  I wonder when the last time is someone started the first game of a doubleheader and then relieved in the second game.  I especially wonder when the last time is someone started and pitched that many innings in the first game and then relieved in the second game.  In the b-r.com game log, under days rest, it says "-1".

The Twins used seven reserve position players in this game.  I don't know if it was a better game when teams had that many players on the bench, but I think it was more fun.  They also used seven pitchers.

Tom Tischinski was one of those seven.  He got his first at-bat of the season in this game, going 0-for-1.  He would stay with the Twins the rest of the season as the third catcher.

Wood got a hit in this game, going 1-for-1.  He had two hits in all of 1970, going 2-for-18.

The Twins closed out their road trip of three of the worst teams in the league with a record of 5-6.  They would now go home to play two of those same teams, Kansas City and Chicago.

Record:  The Twins were 43-25, in first place in the American League West, three games ahead of California.