MINNESOTA 8, OAKLAND 6 IN OAKLAND
Date: Wednesday, July 8.
Batting stars: Tony Oliva was 4-for-4 with a home run (his twelfth) and two runs. Leo Cardenas was 3-for-4 with two doubles and two runs. Danny Thompson was 2-for-5 with two runs. Rich Reese was 1-for-5 with a home run, his sixth.
Pitching stars: None.
Opposition stars: Sal Bando was 4-for-4 with a double and three runs. Don Mincher was 2-for-4. Reggie Jackson was 2-for-4. Dave Duncan was 1-for-4 with a three-run homer, his eighth.
The game: The Twins took the lead in the first when Tovar singled and Oliva hit a two-run homer. The Athletics got on the board in the second when Bando singled, went to third on Jackson's single, and scored on a sacrifice fly. They tied it in the fourth when Bando doubled and scored on Mincher's single.
The Twins got the lead back in the sixth. Thompson reached third on a single-plus-error, scored on a sacrifice fly, and then Reese homered to make it 4-2. They added two more in the seventh. Cardenas led off with an infield single. He had only gotten to second with two out, but then Jim Perry walked and Thompson and Oliva had run-scoring singles, making it 6-2. The Twins got one more in the eighth when Cardenas doubled and scored on a Perry single, and one more in the ninth when Oliva singled, went to second on a ground out, and scored on a Frank Quilici double.
So it was 8-2 going to the bottom of the ninth, and Perry had given up just one hit since the fourth. But with one out Bando, Jackson, and Mincher all singled, making it 8-3, and Duncan hit a three-run homer, making the Twins' lead just 8-6. Ron Perranoski came in and walked Felipe Alou. Frank Fernandez fanned, but Bert Campaneris singled, bringing the winning run to the plate in Joe Rudi. But he grounded out and the Twins held on for the victory.
WP: Perry (13-6).
LP: Catfish Hunter (13-6).
S: Perranoski (20).
Notes: Thompson was at second base in place of Rod Carew. Rick Renick was at third base in place of Harmon Killebrew, who got his first day off of the season. Jim Holt was in left in place of Brant Alyea. Quilici replaced Renick in the eighth, with Quilici going to second and Thompson moving to third.
Oliva was batting .331. Tovar was 1-for-4 and was batting .314. Perranoski had an ERA of 1.65.
Quilici was 1-for-1 and was batting .188.
Perry pitched very well for eight innings, but his like was 8.1 innings, six runs, eleven hits, one walk, and three strikeouts.
Hunter pitched 6.2 innings, giving up six runs on eight hits and one walk and striking out two.
I don't suppose it's all that rare, but it does seem somewhat unusual to have both starters give up six runs.
This was the third four-hit game for Oliva in 1970.
The Twins had won four in a row, nine of ten, and eleven of thirteen.
Record: The Twins were 52-26, in first place in the American League West, five games ahead of California.