CLEVELAND 3, MINNESOTA 1 IN MINNESOTA
Date: Sunday, July 19.
Batting stars: None.
Pitching stars: Bert Blyleven pitched six innings, giving up three runs on seven hits and a walk and striking out two. Steve Barber pitched 2.1 scoreless innings, giving up two hits and a walk.
Opposition stars: Sam McDowell struck out fourteen in a complete game, giving up one run on three hits and no walks. Roy Foster was 2-for-4 with two doubles. Vada Pinson was 2-for-4 with a hit-by-pitch. Graig Nettles was 2-for-5 with a two-run homer, his fourteenth.
The game: The Twins got on the board in the first inning, as Cesar Tovar doubled and scored on a two-out single by Tony Oliva. That was the first Twins run of the game, but it was also the last, and it was not enough.
The Indians took the lead in the third when Jack Heidemann walked and Nettles hit a two-out two-run homer. In the fourth Ray Fosse led off with a single, went to third on Eddie Leon's single, and scored on a balk to make it 3-1 Cleveland.
The Twins never threatened after the first inning. In fact, they had only one more hit after the first inning, and that came with two out in the ninth when Rich Reese singled. It brought the tying run to the plate in Harmon Killebrew, but he struck out to end the game.
WP: McDowell (14-4).
LP: Blyleven (3-3).
S: None.
Notes: Rick Renick was in left in place of Brant Alyea. Frank Quilici was at second base in place of Rod Carew. Tom Tischinski caught in place of George Mitterwald. Alyea and Bob Allison were used as pinch-hitters for pitchers.
Oliva was 1-for-4 and was batting .325. Killebrew was 0-for-4 and was batting ,.321. Tovar was 1-for-4 and was batting .309. Blyleven had an ERA of 2.67. Stan Williams retired both men he faced and had an ERA of 1.63.
Quilici was 0-for-3 and was batting .183.
In Blyleven's three losses, the Twins scored a grand total of three runs.
Oddly, the Twins started a new series on a Sunday, having played in Baltimore the day before. I assume this was a consequence of the all-star break, although the more common thing was to play a four-game series Thursday through Sunday after the break. This would be the start of a nine-game homestand: two with Cleveland, three with Detroit, and four with Baltimore.
Record: The Twins were 56-30, in first place in the American League West, 3.5 games ahead of California.