Note: I thought I had published this, but apparently I didn't. Sorry about that.
MINNESOTA 3, OAKLAND 1 IN MINNESOTA
Date: Saturday, August 8.
Batting stars: Danny Thompson was 2-for-4. Rich Reese was 1-for-3 with a two-run homer, his ninth.
Pitching stars: Luis Tiant pitched 6.2 innings, giving up one run on five hits and four walks and striking out four. Stan Williams pitched 2.1 scoreless innings, giving up one hit and striking out two.
Opposition stars: Bert Campaneris was 2-for-4. Sal Bando was 1-for-4 with a home run, his nineteenth. Bob Locker pitched three perfect innings. Mudcat Grant struck out two in two shutout innings, giving up one hit.
The game: Bando hit a one-out homer in the second inning to give the Athletics a 1-0 lead. A pair of walks followed, but Oakland did nothing further. The Twins took the lead in the bottom of the second when Killebrew led off with a walk and Reese followed with a two-run homer. The Twins added a run in the third when Tiant led off with a double, went to third on a Cesar Tovar single, and scored on a Thompson single.
And that was it. The Athletics got two on in the fourth with an error and a walk. They had two on with two out in the seventh on a single and a walk. But those were the only times they got a man past first base, and the Twins took a 3-1 win.
WP: Tiant (7-1).
LP: Rollie Fingers (5-9).
S: Williams (9).
Notes: Thompson was again at second base in place of Rod Carew. Tom Tischinski was behind the plate in place of George Mitterwald. Frank Quilici came in to play second base in the ninth inning, with Thompson moving to third and Killebrew going to the bench.
Tiant was 1-for-2 and was batting .423. Tony Oliva was 1-for-4 and was batting .329. Tiant had an ERA of 2.86. Williams had an ERA of 1.67.
Rollie Fingers started for Oakland and pitched just two innings, allowing three runs on five hits and a walk and striking out three. Fingers had been in the starting rotation since late May, but would start only two more games in 1970 and only twelve more in his career.
Record: The Twins were 69-38, in first place in the American League West, nine games ahead of California. This was the Twins largest lead of the season to this point.