WASHINGTON 5, MINNESOTA 4 IN MINNESOTA (10 INNINGS)
Date: Saturday, August 22.
Batting stars: Jim Kaat was 2-for-2 with a double. Danny Thompson was 2-for-5. Harmon Killebrew was 1-for-3 with a two-run homer (his thirty-eighth) and two walks. Leo Cardenas was 1-for-3 with a two-run homer (his tenth) and a walk.
Pitching stars: Tom Hall struck out six in four innings, giving up one run on three hits and no walks.
Opposition stars: Frank Howard was 2-for-3 with two home runs (his thirty-third and thirty-fourth) and two walks. Tim Cullen was 2-for-4. Rick Reichardt was 2-for-5 with a double. Tom Grieve was 2-for-5 with two RBIs. George Brunet pitched 2.2 scoreless innings, giving up a hit and a walk. Darold Knowles pitched two shutout innings, giving up two hits and a walk and striking out one. Horacio Pina pitched two shutout innings, giving up a hit and a walk and striking out one.
The game: With one out in the first, Wayne Comer walked, went to second on a pickoff error, and stole third. Frank Howard then walked, and a force out scored Comer. Aurelio Rodriguez doubled to put men on second and third, and Grieve delivered a two-run single to make it 3-0 Senators before the Twins came to bat.
The Twins came back. With one out in the second Jim Holt doubled and Cardenas followed with a two-run homer to cut the lead to 3-2. With one out in the third Tony Oliva singled and Killebrew followed with a two-run homer to put the Twins in front 4-3.
The Twins loaded the bases with one out in the fourth, but Thompson hit into a double play to end the inning. It cost them, as Howard homered in the fifth to tie the score 4-4. Washington went on to put two on with one out, but a pair of ground outs ended the inning. The Twins had two on with one out in the eighth but another double play, this one hit into by Cardenas, ended the inning. Cesar Tovar hit a two-out double in the ninth, but nothing came of it.
Howard led off the tenth with his second home run to put the Senators up 5-4. Killebrew walked with one out in the bottom of the tenth, but a pair of forceouts ended the game.
WP: Pina (4-1).
LP: Hall (6-5).
S: None.
Notes: Thompson remained at second base in place of Rod Carew. Holt was in center, with Tovar in left. Rick Renick pinch-hit for Holt in the eighth and stayed in the game in left field, with Tovar moving to center. Bob Allison pinch-ran for Killebrew in the tenth.
Oliva was 1-for-5 and was batting .319. Hall had an ERA of 2.85.
Kaat pitched well after the first inning, but his line was still six innings, four runs. eight hits, and four walks. He struck out two.
I understand why you would pinch-run for Killebrew in the tenth, but I don't know why you would use Allison. Allison had some speed when he was younger--Dazzle would've said "he can run a little bit"--but he was thirty-five by this time, and whatever speed he had was basically gone. Certainly Frank Quilici would've been a better pinch-runner, plus he could've gone to third base if the Twins had tied the score. In addition, while Allison wasn't the hitter he had once been, he'd have been a better pinch-hitter than Quilici if the game had continued. I don't understand this one.
Jim Hannan was the Washington starter. He lasted just 2.2 innings, allowing four runs on six hits, with no walks and no strikeouts.
I've probably pointed this out before, but Aurelio Rodriguez has all the vowels in his first name and all but one in his last name.
Record: The Twins were 73-49, in first place in the American League West, five games ahead of California.