NEW YORK 5, MINNESOTA 2 IN NEW YORK
Date: Sunday, August 30.
Batting stars: Paul Ratliff was 2-for-3 with a double, a walk, and two RBIs. Jim Holt was 2-for-4.
Pitching star: Ron Perranoski struck out two in two shutout innings, giving up three hits and a walk.
Opposition stars: Jake Gibbs was 3-for-4 with a home run, his seventh. Roy White was 1-for-4 with a grand slam, his nineteenth homer. Steve Kline pitched 8.1 innings, giving up two runs on eight hits and two walks and striking out five.
The game: In the second Harmon Killebrew and Holt singled and Ratliff followed with a two-run double. Ratliff was on second with none out, but the Twins could do no more damage. Still, the Twins had a 2-0 lead. Rich Reese doubled with one out in the third, but he was also stranded at second.
Gibbs led off the third with a home run to cut the lead to 2-1. The Twins had men on first and second with none out in the fourth but again did not score. They had men on first and second with one out in the fifth and did not score.
And in the bottom of the fifth they paid the price. Gibbs led off with a single and Jerry Kinney walked. A bunt moved the runners to second and third, Frank Baker walked with two out to load the bases, and White hit a grand slam to put New York ahead 5-2.
The Twins got one-out singles from Ratliff and Leo Cardenas to bring the tying run to the plate. Danny Thompson fouled out, but Rick Renick got a pinch-hit single. Unfortunately, Ratliff was thrown out at the plate, trying to score from second on the hit, and the game was over.
WP: Kline (3-3).
LP: Bert Blyleven (8-6).
S: Lindy McDaniel (21).
Notes: Cesar Tovar was again in left, with Holt in center and Brant Alyea on the bench. Ratliff was again behind the plate in place of George Mitterwald. Frank Quilici was again at second in place of Rod Carew.
Alyea pinch-hit for Quilici in the seventh. Charlie Manuel pinch-hit for Blyleven in the seventh. Thompson went to second in place of Quilici. Renick pinch-hit for Perranoski in the ninth.
Tony Oliva was 0-for-3 and was batting .315. Perranoski had an ERA of 2.28.
Blyleven pitched six innings, allowing five runs on five hits and three walks and striking out four. The solo homer didn't hurt him, but the grand slam sure did.
This was Steve Kline's rookie year, and he'd been in the majors about a month and a half at this point. He was very good in his first three seasons, especially in 1971 and 1972, when he posted ERAs under three and WHIPs under 1.1 in both years. He then developed arm problems, was traded to Cleveland early in 1974, missed all of 1975, tried to come back, but was done after 1977. From 1970-1972, though, he was 34-28 with an ERA of 2.80, 1.11 WHIP. He was only twenty-four after the 1972 season, but had pitched 458.2 innings in the past two seasons, which may have contributed to his arm problems. If not for injury, he might have had a fine major league career.
Record: The Twins were 76-54, in first place in the American League West, three games ahead of California.