MINNESOTA TWINS 4, BALTIMORE ORIOLES 1 IN BALTIMORE

Date:  Sunday, August 20, 1972.

Batting stars:  Bobby Darwin was 2-for-3 with a three-run homer (his sixteenth) and a walk.  Steve Braun was 2-for-4 with a double and a walk.  Danny Thompson was 2-for-4.  Glenn Borgmann was 2-for-4.

Pitching star:  Ray Corbin pitched a complete game, giving up one run on four hits and two walks and striking out eight.

Opposition stars:  Terry Crowley hit a home run, his eighth.  Roric Harrison pitched 7.2 innings of relief, giving up one run on seven hits and two walks and striking out seven.

The game:  The Twins jumped on Baltimore starter Mike Cuellar for three runs in the first inning.  Cesar Tovar led off with a single, Steve Braun hit a one-out single, and Bobby Darwin blasted a three-run homer to give the Twins a 3-0 lead.

It became a pitchers’ duel after that, but it’s always good to start a pitchers’ duel with a 3-0 lead.  Boog Powell led off the second with a double but was stranded at third.  Bobby Darwin drew a two-out walk in the third and Danny Thompson followed with a single, but nothing came of it.  The Twins put two on in the fifth as well, when Steve Braun walked and Darwin singled with one out, but again the runners were stranded.

Terry Crowley put Balitmore on the board in the fifth with a leadoff homer, cutting the lead to 3-1.  It stayed 3-1 until the seventh, when Rod Carew hit a one-out single, stole second, and scored on a Steve Braun double, making it 4-1.  The Orioles did not get a man past first base after that, and the Random Twins’ losing streak was over!

WP:  Ray Corbin (7-6).

LP:  Mike Cuellar (12-10).

S:  None.

Notes:  Rich Reese was at first base in place of Harmon Killebrew.  Steve Braun was at third base, a position he shared that season with Eric Soderholm.  Steve Brye, who mostly played in left, was in center.  Bobby Darwin, who mostly played center, was in right.  Cesar Tovar, who mostly played in right, was in left.  Perhaps the configuration of the ballpark had to do with that, but that’s speculation.

Rod Carew was batting .312.  He would finish with a league-leading .318.  Steve Braun was batting .303.  He would finish at .289.

Ray Corbin had an ERA of 2.43.  He would finish at 2.62.

Don Baylor was in center field for Baltimore and went 1-for-4.  He would play for the Twins at the end of the 1987 season.  Terry Crowley would be the Twins’ batting coach from 1991-1998.

We think of the 1960s as low offense, but things hadn’t improved a lot by 1972.  The league average ERA was 3.06.  Boston led the league with 604 runs scored, a total which beat only the White Sox in 2024.  The American League would introduce the designated hitter the next year to increase offense.

Bobby Darwin and Terry Crowley, both of whom homered in this game, share a birthday, February 16.

I don’t know if Mike Cuellar wasn’t feeling well or if Earl Weaver just had a quick hook, but Cuellar was out after a third of an inning, facing just five batters.  Roric Harrison, in his rookie season, took over and pitched through the eighth.  Cuellar would not miss a start, so if it was illness or injury it was short-lived.

Record:  Baltimore was 61-54, in second place in the AL East, 1.5 games behind Detroit.  They would finish 80-74, in third place, five games behind Detroit.

The Twins were 60-52, in third place in the AL West, five games behind Chicago and Oakland.  They would finish 77-77, in third place, 15.5 games behind Oakland.

Random Record:  The Random Twins are 27-32 (.458).

TORONTO BLUE JAYS 3, MINNESOTA TWINS 1 IN TORONTO

Date:  Monday, August 1, 1988.

Batting star:  Kent Hrbek was 2-for-4.

Pitching star:  Frank Viola pitched 7.2 innings, giving up two runs on seven hits and a walk and striking out three.

Opposition stars:  Jesse Barfield was 2-for-2 with two doubles and a walk.  Manny Lee was 2-for-4.  George Bell hit a three-run homer, his fifteenth.  Dave Stieb pitched eight innings, giving up one run on three hits and one walk and striking out six.

The game: Only one man reached second base in the first four innings, a two-out double in the second by Jesse Barfield.  The Twins got on the board in the fifth, though.  Kent Hrbek led off with a single and Gary Gaetti walked.  With two out, Steve Lombardozzi delivered an RBI single to put the Twins up 1-0.

Toronto threatened in the fifth when Barfield led off with a double and Sil Campusano got an infield single with one out, but the runners were stranded.  The Twins did not have the same luck in the eighth, however.  With two out, Tony Fernandez and Manny Lee singled.  Frank Viola was replaced by Jeff Reardon, who gave up a three-run homer to George Bell.

That was pretty much the ball game.  Kent Hrbek hit a two-out single in the ninth, but that was it, and it stayed 3-1 Toronto.

WP:  Dave Stieb (11-7).

LP:  Frank Viola (16-4).

S:  Tom Henke (19).

Notes:  Kirby Puckett was batting .355.  He would finish at .356.  Gary Gaetti was batting .305.  He would finish at .301.  

Frank Viola had an ERA of 2.32.  He would finish at 2.64 and win the Cy Young Award.  Jeff Reardon had an ERA of 2.68.  He would finish at 2.47.

Sal Butera caught for Toronto and went 1-for-3.  He had played for the Twins from 1980-1982 and also in 1987.

The Twins had only four hits, all singles.

It seems like George Bell has pretty much been forgotten, but he was a really good ballplayer.  He won the MVP in 1987, when he led the league in RBIs.  He got MVP votes five other times, finishing in the top ten three times and in the top five twice.  He also won three Silver Slugger awards.  He drove in more than a hundred runs four times and hit over twenty homers eight times.  His career numbers are .278/.316/.478 with 265 home runs in 12 major league seasons.  He’s not a Hall of Famer or anything, but he was a force in the middle of the lineup for quite a while.

Tom Henke was also really good.  He had an ERA of under three in ten of his fourteen major league seasons.  He also had a WHIP of under 1.2 in ten of his fourteen major league seasons.  He had 311 saves, leading the league in 1987 with 34.  Even in his last year, at age thirty-seven, he had an ERA of 1.82 and a WHIP of 1.10 with 36 saves.  He didn’t retire because he couldn’t do it anymore–he retired because he was tired of the baseball life and truly did want to spend more time with his family.  It’s rare in baseball that someone is able to retire on his own terms like that.

Record:  Toronto was 52-54, tied for fifth with Milwaukee in the AL East, 10.5 games behind Detroit.  They would finish at 87-75, tied for third with Milwaukee, two games behind Boston.

The Twins were 57-46, in second place in the AL West, 6.5 games behind Oakland.  They would finish 91-71, in second place, thirteen games behind Oakland.

Random Record:  The Random Twins are 26-32 (.448).