MINNESOTA 8, CHICAGO 1 IN CHICAGO
Date: Sunday, September 20.
Batting stars: Cesar Tovar was 3-for-5 with a double, a stolen base (his thirtieth), and two runs. Jim Holt was 3-for-5 with a double. Tony Oliva was 3-for-5. Paul Ratliff was 2-for-4 with a home run (his fourth), a walk, and two RBIs. Rich Reese was 2-for-5.
Pitching star: Bert Blyleven pitched a complete game, giving up one run on three hits and one walk and striking out four.
Opposition star: Ed Herrmann was 2-for-3.
The game: Ratliff homered in the second to give the Twins a 1-0 lead. Bill Melton led off the second with a double and scored on Herrmann's single to tie it 1-1.
It was all Twins after that. In the third Tovar singled, stole second, went to third on a passed ball, and scored on a ground out to put the Twins up 2-1. In the fourth Harmon Killebrew singled, went to third on a Holt double, and scored on a ground out to make it 3-1. In the fifth Tovar doubled, Leo Cardenas reached on a sacrifice/fielders' choice, putting men on first and third, Oliva singled in a run, and yet another run scored on a ground out to make it 5-1.
The Twins put it away in the seventh. With two out Killebrew walked, followed by consecutive singles by Reese, Holt, and Ratliff, bringing in three runs and making the score 8-1.
The White Sox had only one hit after the second inning, and that runner was erased by a double play.
WP: Blyleven (10-8).
LP: Gerry Janeski (10-16).
S: None.
Notes: Holt was in center field, with Tovar moving to left. Ratliff was behind the plate in place of George Mitterwald. Danny Thompson was at second base in place of Rod Carew. Frank Quilici went to third base in the seventh inning in place of Killebrew.
Oliva was batting .320. Tovar was batting .302.
Since Carew went out, Bill Rigney's standard defensive move was to put Quilici at second base and move Thompson to third. In this game, for some reason, he left Thompson at second and put Quilici at third. Maybe he just wanted to get Quilici a little practice at third base in case a situation came up where he was needed there in the playoffs. Is it a big deal? No. It just seems kind of odd.
This was Gerry Janeski's only full season as a rotation starter. He went 10-17, 4.77, 1.51 WHIP. He was only twenty-four, though, and one would think leaving him in the rotation all year meant the White Sox thought he was a promising young player. Instead, they traded him after the season for Rick Reichardt. He pitched poorly for them in a half-season, was sent to AAA, and stayed there through 1974, making only four more appearances in the majors. His career numbers are 11-23, 4.73, 1.55 WHIP.
Oakland lost to California 4-2, so the Twins lowered their magic number by two. It gave them the chance to clinch the division the next day, when they played at Oakland.
Record: The Twins were 92-60, in first place in the American League West, 8.5 games ahead of Oakland.