MINNESOTA 6, CHICAGO 0 IN MINNESOTA
Date: Friday, September 11.
Batting stars: George Mitterwald was 2-for-3 with a home run (his fourteenth), a walk, and two runs. Brant Alyea was 2-for-4 with a triple and a double. Cesar Tovar was 2-for-5. Frank Quilici was 1-for-3 with a three-run homer (his second) and a walk. Harmon Killebrew was 1-for-4 with a home run, his forty-first.
Pitching star: Bill Zepp pitched a complete game shutout, giving up five hits and five walks and striking out four.
Opposition stars: Syd O'Brien was 2-for-4. Lee Stange pitched two shutout innings, giving up a walk and striking out one.
The game: With two out in the first Killebrew hit a home run to give the Twins a quick lead. The next batter, Tony Oliva, was hit by a pitch, and Alyea then delivered an RBI double to make it 2-0 Twins.
It stayed 2-0 through three, with the White Sox not advancing a man past first. In the fourth Rick Renick singled, Mitterwald walked, and Quilici hit a three-run homer to put the Twins up 5-0.
Chicago had their first threat in the fifth, putting men on second and third with two out, but Bobby Knoop struck out to end the inning. A single and an error gave them men on first and third with one out in the fifth, but a strikeout and a popup ended that threat.
Mitterwald homered in the eighth to make it 6-0. The White Sox put two on with two out in the ninth, but Tom McCraw popped up to end the game.
WP: Zepp (8-4).
LP: Barry Moore (3-9).
S: None.
Notes: Renick was at third base, with Killebrew moving to first and Rich Reese on the bench. Quilici was at second base in place of Rod Carew.
Reese pinch-hit for Renick in the fifth and stayed in the game at first base, with Killebrew moving to third. Jim Holt went to center field in the fifth, with Cesar Tovar moving to right and Oliva coming out of the game. Danny Thompson came in to play third base in the eighth, with Killebrew coming out of the game. Jim Nettles went to right field in the eighth, with Tovar moving to left and Alyea coming out of the game.
Oliva was 0-for-1 and was batting .317. Alyea was batting .308.
This was the only shutout of Zepp's career. It was also the only complete game of Zepp's career.
Barry Moore's given name was Robert Barry Moore. If your last name is Moore and you're going to give your son the middle name of Barry, it seems like you should also give him the first name of Lionel. Or at least John.
The Twins had won four in a row, nine of ten, and eleven of thirteen. The were 6-1 just over half-way through their thirteen game homestand.
Record: The Twins were 87-56, in first place in the American League West, 8.5 games ahead of Oakland. Their magic number was eleven.