MINNESOTA 3, NEW YORK 1 IN NEW YORK

Date:  Saturday, August 29.

Batting star:  Paul Ratliff was 2-for-4 with a home run (his third) and two RBIs.

Pitching stars:  Bill Zepp pitched six shutout innings, giving up nine hits and a walk and striking out one.  Tom Hall struck out three in 2.1 innings, giving up one run on two hits and no walks.

Opposition stars:  Frank Baker was 2-for-3 with a hit-by-pitch.  Jim Lyttle was 2-for-4.  Thurman Munson was 2-for-5.  Roy White was 2-for-5.  Mel Stottlemyre pitched a complete game, giving up three runs (one earned) on seven hits and no walks and striking out seven.

The game:  Cesar Tovar started the game with a single and went to third when Tony Oliva reached on an error with one out.  A sacrifice fly brought home a run and singles by Jim Holt and Ratliff brought home another, giving the Twins a 2-0 lead.

The Yankees got three hits in the bottom of the first, but a double play kept them from taking advantage of them.  They loaded the bases in the second on a single, a hit batsman, and a walk, but a line drive double play took them out of that inning.  Each team had two on with one out in the fourth and did not score.  New York got a pair of singles with two out in the sixth and did not score.  So, it remained 2-0 going to the ninth.

Ratliff homered with two out in the top of the ninth to make it 3-0.  But the Yankees did not just go away quietly.  With one out Ron Woods tripled and scored on a sacrifice fly to make it 3-1.  Munson then singled to bring the tying run to bat with two out.  White hit a ball to deep right, but it was just a fly out and the game was over.

WP:  Zepp (7-3).

LP:  Stottlemyre (12-11).

S:  Hall (4).

Notes:  Holt was in center, with Tovar in left and Brant Alyea on the bench.  Ratliff was behind the plate in place of George Mitterwald.  Frank Quilici was at second base in place of Rod Carew.  Bob Allison pinch-hit for Zepp in the seventh.  Danny Thompson went to third base in the ninth, replacing Harmon Killebrew.

Oliva was 0-for-4 and was batting .317.  Zepp had an ERA of 2.79.  Stan Williams did not give up a run in two-thirds of an inning and had an ERA of 2.04.  Hall had an ERA of 2.92.

Allison was 0-for-1 and was batting .197.

The was the first time Ratliff had started since August 10 and the first time he had played an entire game since July 10.

The Twins had only two at-bats with men in scoring position, going 1-for-2.  The Yankees had eight at-bats with men in scoring position, but went 0-for-8.  They stranded eleven.

Record:  The Twins were 76-53, in first place in the American League West, four games ahead of California.