BALTIMORE 5, MINNESOTA 1 IN BALTIMORE
Date: Thursday, July 15.
Batting stars: Harmon Killebrew was 2-for-4 with a home run, his twenty-seventh. Rich Reese was 2-for-4.
Pitching star: Stan Williams pitched two shutout innings, giving up a hit and a walk and striking out one.
Opposition stars: Mike Cuellar pitched a complete game, giving up one run on nine hits and three walks and striking out four. Boog Powell was 1-for-2 with a home run (his twenty-fourth), a walk, and two RBIs.
The game: The Twins had men on second and third with one out in the first, but Cesar Tovar was thrown out at the plate on a grounder to third to end the inning. The Orioles then scored the game's first run in the bottom of the first when Don Buford singled, went to second on Paul Blair's bunt single, took third on a ground out, and scored on a passed ball.
The Twins had two on with none out in the second, but a double play took them out of the inning. Baltimore took it to 2-0 in the third when Blair singled, went to third on Frank Robinson's single, and scored on a sacrifice fly.
The Twins got on the board in the sixth when Killebrew homered, but the Orioles came back with three in the bottom of the sixth. Powell led off the inning with a home run. Brooks Robinson walked, Dave Johnson reached on an error, and Andy Etchebarren hit a two-run double, making it 5-1 Baltimore.
The Twins did not get a man past first base after that.
WP: Cuellar (12-5).
LP: Tom Hall (5-3).
S: None.
Notes: Danny Thompson remained at second base in place of Rod Carew. Bob Allison was in left field in place of Brant Alyea. Alyea and Rick Renick pinch-hit for pitchers. Frank Quilici pinch-ran for Alyea. Jim Holt pinch-ran for Renick.
Killebrew was batting .325. Tony Oliva was 0-for-3 and was batting .324. Tovar was 1-for-5 and was batting .313. Hall gave up four runs (three earned) in five innings and had an ERA of 2.30. Dick Woodson gave up an unearned run in a third of an inning and had an ERA of 2.63. Williams had an ERA of 1.39.
Jim Kaat was again used in relief, giving up no runs in two-thirds of an inning. It's hard to understand why, with a rested bullpen, it was necessary to use Kaat, but there it is. In fact, I really don't understand why Hall started the first game off the all-star game ahead of Kaat, although I will admit he had a much better ERA.
The Twins stranded nine and were 0-for-5 with men in scoring position.
Record: The Twins were 54-29, in first place in the American League West, four games ahead of California.