CHICAGO 8, MINNESOTA 7 IN MINNESOTA
Date: Sunday, September 13.
Batting stars: Tony Oliva was 3-for-5 with a double. Frank Quilici was 2-for-2 with a double. Paul Ratliff was 2-for-4 with a triple, a walk, two runs, and two RBIs. Leo Cardenas was 2-for-4. Rich Reese was 2-for-5 with two runs.
Pitching star: Ron Perranoski pitched two shutout innings, giving up two hits and a walk.
Opposition stars: Ed Herrmann was 3-for-4 with a double. Luis Aparicio was 3-for-5. Bill Melton was 2-for-4 with two RBIs. Ken Berry was 2-for-4. Rich Morales was 1-for-2 with a home run. Jerry Crider pitched two shutout innings, giving up a hit and a walk and striking out one.
The game: Cesar Tovar and Oliva singled and Harmon Killebrew walked, loading the bases with one out in the first inning, but the Twins could only score one run on an error. An error helped them in the second as well: Quilici doubled and scored with Jim Perry reached on a two-base error. Cardenas had an RBI single to make it 3-0 Twins. The Twins were helped by yet another error in the third: Reese reached on an error and scored on a Ratliff triple. A sacrifice fly put the Twins ahead 5-0.
The Twins were firmly in control, until all of a sudden they weren't. In the fifth Gail Hopkins singled, Herrmann doubled, and Berry, Bobby Knoop, and Lee Maye each followed with an RBI single. A ground out brought home a fourth run, but at least there was one out in the inning. Aparicio singled and Carlos May walked, loading the bases, and Melton delivered a two-run single to give the White Sox the lead. A sacrifice fly made it a seven-run inning and gave Chicago a 7-5 lead. Morales homered in the sixth to make it 8-5.
The Twins put together a two-out rally in the ninth. Reese singled, went to second on a wild pitch, and scored on a Ratliff single. Rick Renick walked and Bob Allison doubled, making the score 8-7 and putting the winning run in scoring position. But Tovar grounded to second to end the game.
WP: Crider (4-7).
LP: Stan Williams (9-1).
S: Wilbur Wood (21).
Notes: Ratliff was again behind the plate in place of George Mitterwald. Quilici was again at second base in place of Rod Carew. Charlie Manuel pinch-hit for Quilici in the seventh, with Danny Thompson going to second base. Jim Holt pinch-hit for Jim Kaat in the seventh. Renick pinch-hit for Thompson in the ninth. Allison pinch-hit for Perranoski in the ninth, with Herman Hill pinch-running for Allison.
Oliva was batting .320. Brant Alyea was 0-for-5 and fell back below .300 at .299. Williams gave up two runs (one earned) in a third of an inning and had an ERA of 2.13. Perranoski had an ERA of 2.06.
Perry pitched well for four innings, but as seen above, he fell apart in the fifth. His line was four innings, five runs, six hits, no walks, and two strikeouts. White Sox starter Billy Wynne struggled as well: two innings, five runs (three earned), six hits, one walk. no strikeouts.
The cable guy where I live is named Ed Herrmann. I don't think it's the same one. Similarly, the Ken Berry here is probably not the guy who was on "F Troop".
Oakland lost both games of a doubleheader to Kansas City, both in extra innings and both by a score of 8-7, so the Twins edged closer to clinching the division. The Twins next had a four-game series with California, which turned out to be not nearly as important a series as it appeared it might be a few weeks earlier.
Record: The Twins were 87-58, in first place in the American League West, eight games ahead of Oakland. Their magic number was down to nine.