Monthly Archives: December 2021

Keeping Track

1970 Rewind: Game Seventy-one

MINNESOTA 2, KANSAS CITY 1 IN MINNESOTA (10 INNINGS)

Date:  Wednesday, July 1.

Batting stars:  Cesar Tovar was 2-for-4 with a walk.  Rick Renick was 1-for-4 with a home run, his sixth.

Pitching stars:  Bert Blyleven struck out nine in seven innings, giving up an unearned run on five hits and one walk.  Ron Perranoski pitched three shutout innings, giving up three hits and two walks and striking out two.

Opposition stars:  Jim Rooker pitched nine innings, giving up two runs (one earned) on six hits and five walks and striking out five.  Amos Otis was 2-for-4.  Paul Schaal was 1-for-2 with two walks.

The game:  The Royals had men on first and second with one out in the first but did not score.  Instead, Renick homered leading off the second to give the Twins a 1-0 lead.  Neither team really threatened after that until the sixth, when the Twins failed to capitalize on a Danny Thompson leadoff double.  In the seventh, Kansas City tied it.  Ed Kirkpatrick reached on a two-base error and scored on a two-out single by Tommy Matchick.

The Twins threatened in the bottom of the seventh.  Herman Hill, pinch-running for Brant Alyea, was on second with two out.  Tovar singled, but Hill was thrown out at the plate.  The Royals threatened in the ninth, loading the bases with one out, but Cookie Rojas grounded into a double play.  Kansas City threatened again the tenth, putting two on with two out, but Lou Piniella flied out to end the inning.

In the tenth, leadoff batter George Mitterwald reached on an error.  Jim Kaat pinch-ran for him.  Pinch-hitter Frank Quilici bunted and reached on another error, putting men on first and third.  Tovar was intentionally walked, loading the bases with none out.  Pinch-hitter Rich Reese hit a sacrifice fly to win the game.

WP:  Perranoski (5-2).

LP:  Rooker (4-7).

S:  None.

Notes:  Thompson was at second base in place of Rod Carew.  Renick was at third, with Harmon Killebrew moving to first and Reese going to the bench.  Hill pinch-ran for Alyea in the seventh and stayed in the game in center field, with Tovar moving to left.  Bob Allison and Quilici pinch-hit for pitchers.  Kaat pinch-ran for Mitterwald.  Reese pinch-hit for Thompson.

Tony Oliva was 1-for-4 and was batting .326.  Killebrew was 0-for-4 and was batting .307.  Tovar was batting .306.  Blyleven had an ERA of 2.38.  Perranoski had an ERA of 1.65.

Hill was 0-for-1 and was batting .133.

This was Blyleven's seventh major league start.  The Twins scored three or fewer runs in five of them.

The only ex-Twin to play for the Royals in this game was Jackie Hernandez, who went 1-for-4.

This was the third time Perranoski had pitched as many as three innings in a game in 1970.

Record:  The Twins were 46-25, in first place in the American League West, four games ahead of California.

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–December 16

Sammy Strang (1876)
Tony Kaufmann (1900)
Neil Chrisley (1931)
Adolfo Phillips (1941)
Mike Flanagan (1951)
Rick Sofield (1956)
Tom Gorman (1957)
Billy Ripken (1964)
Jeff Granger (1971)
Charles Gipson (1972)
Matt Kinney (1976)
Alcides Escobar (1986)
Hector Santiago (1987)
Tyler Chatwood (1989)

The reason Neil Chrisley is listed is because his given name is Barbra O’Neil Chrisley. No explanation for this name could be found, but it seems reasonable to assume that he’s the only man to play major league baseball whose first name was Barbra.

Jeff Granger was drafted by Minnesota in the fourteenth round in 1990, but did not sign.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–December 16 →

Keeping Track

1970 Rewind: Game Seventy

MINNESOTA 8, KANSAS CITY 5 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Tuesday, June 30.

Batting stars:  Harmon Killebrew was 2-for-4 with a home run (his twenty-first) and two runs.  Jim Holt was 2-for-4 with a triple and two RBIs.  Cesar Tovar was 2-for-5.  Rick Renick was 1-for-1 with a pinch-hit grand slam, his fifth homer.

Pitching stars:  Bill Zepp pitched a scoreless inning, giving up one hit.  Dick Woodson pitched a perfect inning.  Stan Williams pitched three shutout innings, giving up a walk and striking out one.

Opposition stars:  Bob Oliver was 2-for-4 with a home run (his thirteenth) and three RBIs.  Paul Schaal was 2-for-4 with a home run, his second.  Amos Otis was 2-for-4 with a stolen base (his sixteenth) and three runs.

The game:  In the first Schaal singled and Oliver hit a two-run homer, giving the Royals an early 2-0 lead.  The Twins got one back in the second when Rich Reese reached on a two-base error and scored on a Leo Cardenas single.  The lead went back to two in the third when Otis reached on a single-plus-error and scored on Oliver's double.  The score went to 5-1 in the fifth when Schaal led off with a homer, Otis and Lou Piniella singled, and a double play brought home a run.

The Twins came back in the sixth.  Killebrew led off the inning with a home run, cutting the lead to 5-2.  With one out Holt singled and Cardenas and George Mitterwald walked, loading the bases.  Bob Johnson came in to face pinch-hitter Renick, who hit a grand slam and put the Twins up 6-5.  They added two more in the seventh when Killebrew and Reese singled and both scored on a Holt triple.

Kansas City did not get a hit after the fifth inning.

WP:  Woodson (1-1).

LP:  Johnson (1-5).

S:  Williams (5).

Notes:  Herman Hill was again in center, with Tovar moving to second base in place of Rod Carew.  Holt was in left in place of Brant Alyea.  Danny Thompson went to third in the eighth inning in place of Killebrew.  Paul Ratliff and Renick were used as pinch-hitters for pitchers.

Tony Oliva was 1-for-5 and was batting .327.  Killebrew was batting .313.  Tovar was batting .303.  Zepp had an ERA of 2.74.  Williams had an ERA of 1.70.

Hill was 0-for-5 and was batting .143.

This was the second time Jim Kaat had pitched in relief and then started two days later as if nothing had happened.  Neither time did it go well.  In this game, he pitched four innings and allowed five runs on seven hits and a walk, striking out one.  In the two starts combined, he had an ERA of 7.20 and a WHIP of 2.20.  I'm sure Kaat was more than willing to take the ball both times, but the fact that someone is willing to do something does not necessarily mean it's a good idea to let them do it.

The Royals' starter was Don O'Riley.  He pitched 5.1 innings, giving up four runs (three earned) on six hits and two walks and struck out none.  This was his first major league start.  He would start again on July 4, which would be his last major league start.  For his career he pitched in 27 games, 18 in 1969 and 9 in 1970.  He pitched 46.2 innings, pitching 23.1 in each of his two seasons.  He was 1-1, 6.17, 1.76 WHIP.  I suspect that makes him not unusual for a pitcher on an expansion team.

Record:  The Twins were 45-25, in first place in the American League West, four games ahead of California.

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–December 15

Nig Clarke (1882)
Eddie Robinson (1920)
Ray Herbert (1929)
Haywood Sullivan (1930)
Sammy Esposito (1931)
Stan Bahnsen (1944)
Art Howe (1946)
Mike Proly (1950)
Bud Bulling (1952)
Mo Vaughn (1967)
Rick Helling (1970)
Kevin Cameron (1979)
Ryan Pressly (1988)
Trevor Hildenberger (1990)
Ryan Eades (1991)

Continue reading Happy Birthday–December 15 →