TEXAS RANGERS 2, MINNESOTA TWINS 1 IN MINNESOTA
Date: Monday, June 20, 1977.
Batting stars: Butch Wynegar was 3-for-4. Roy Smalley was 3-for-4. Lyman Bostock was 2-for-4 with a walk.
Pitching star: Paul Thormodsgard pitched a complete game, giving up two runs on five hits and two walks and striking out five.
Opposition stars: Toby Harrah hit a home run, his ninth. Dock Ellis pitched 6.1 scoreless innings, despite giving up ten hits and three walks. He struck out two. Adrian Devine pitched 1.1 scoreless innings, giving up one hit and striking out one.
The game: Claudell Washington hit a two-out double in the first, but did not score. Wynegar and Smalley hit two-out singles in the second, but Wynegar was thrown out trying to go from first to third on Smalley’s single. Texas got on the board in the third when Bump Wills singled, was sacrificed to second, and scored on a Juan Beniquez single.
Harrah got a two-out walk and stole second in the fourth, but nothing came of it. In the bottom of the fourth, Glenn Adams led off with a single. Two-out singles by Wynegar and Smalley loaded the bases, but Rob Wilfong grounded out to end the threat. The Twins threatened again in the fifth, when Rod Carew drew a one-out walk and Bostock followed with a single that sent Carew to third, but Smalley grounded into a double play. In the seventh, Harrah homered to put Texas up 2-0.
Jim Sundberg led off the eighth with a single and was bunted to second, but did not advance beyond there. The Twins got on the board in the bottom of the eighth. Bostock led off with a single, took second on a wild pitch, and scored on a Dan Ford single, cutting the deficit to 2-1. Ford was bunted to second, but Craig Kusick struck out and Wynegar fouled out, ending the inning. Smalley led off the ninth with a single and was bunted to second. Carew drew a two-out walk, but Bostock lined to right to end the game.
WP: Ellis (3-6).
LP: Thormodsgard (4-4).
S: Paul Lindblad (3).
Notes: Bobby Randall is listed as the regular second baseman in 1977, but he was platooned with Wilfong, who started this game. Adams, who was usually used at DH, was the right fielder in this game. Regular right fielder Ford pinch-hit for him in the eighth. Kusick is listed as the regular DH, but Adams and Rich Chiles also saw significant time at the DH spot. Chiles was the DH in this game.
Carew was batting .381 after this game. He would finish at .388. Bostock was batting .349. He would finish at .336. Adams was batting .333. He would finish at .338.
A very frustrating game for the Twins. They out-hit Texas 12-5, but still lost 2-1. All the hits were singles. The Twins were 3-for-10 with men in scoring position, but still could only manage one run. They stranded eleven runners.
There were five sacrifice bunts in this game, two by Texas and three by the Twins. It was a different time, for sure.
I had forgotten that Bert Campaneris played for Texas. He was leading off in this game and actually made the all-star team for them that year at age thirty-five. He would play six more seasons, ending his career with the Yankees in 1983 at age forty-one.
Record: Texas was 31-30, tied for third with California in the AL West, three games behind Chicago and Minnesota. They would finish 94-68, in second place, eight games behind Kansas City.
Minnesota was 36-29, tied for first with Chicago in the AL West, three games ahead of Texas and California. They would finish 84-77, in fourth place, 17.5 games behind Kansas City.
Random record: The Random Twins are 0-2.