MILWAUKEE BREWERS 3, MINNESOTA TWINS 2 IN MILWAUKEE
Date: Thursday, June 21, 1979.
Batting star: Butch Wynegar was 2-for-4.
Pitching stars: Gary Serum pitched seven innings, giving up three runs on ten hits, striking out three. Mike Marshall pitched a scoreless inning.
Opposition stars: Paul Molitor was 3-for-4 with a double and two RBIs. Jim Wohlford was 2-for-3 with a double. Mike Caldwell pitched a complete game, giving up two runs (one earned) on five hits and two walks and striking out four.
The game: Milwaukee took a 1-0 lead in the third on consecutive doubles from Jim Wohlford and Paul Molitor. The Twins tied it in the fourth. Roy Smalley reached on an error, stole second, and scored on a Jose Morales single.
The Twins took the lead in the sixth when Ron Jackson singled, went to second on a ground out, and scored on a single by Butch Wynegar. The Brewers tied it in the bottom of the sixth on singles by Jim Wohlford, Sal Bando, and Cecil Cooper.
Milwaukee took the lead in the seventh. Sixto Lezcano led off with a single. Charlie Moore singled with one out, putting men on first and second. A force out moved the runners to first and third, and Paul Molitor laid down a two-out bunt single to bring in the go-ahead run. The Twins did not get a baserunner after Butch Wynegar’s RBI single in the sixth, and the game went to the Brewers.
WP: Mike Caldwell (7-5).
LP: Gary Serum (0-1).
S: None.
Notes: Bobby Randall was on second. He shared the position with Rob Wilfong, with the latter getting most of the playing time there. Hosken Powell, normally the right fielder, was in left, one of eight games he played there in 1979. Bombo Rivera made the most starts there (61), followed by Ken Landreaux (49), Glenn Adams (45), and Dave Edwards (36). Edwards was in right.
Hosken Powell was batting .372. He would finish at .293. Bobby Randall was batting .316. He would finish at .246. Jose Morales was batting .304. He would finish at .267.
Mike Marshall had an ERA of 2.25. He would finish at 2.65.
Paul Molitor would play for the Twins from 1996-1998 and would manage the Twins from 2015-2018.
This was the best of five starts Gary Serum made in 1979. It was his last year in the majors. He had been fairly good the previous season: 9-9, 4.10, 1.26 WHIP. In 1979, however, he went 1-3, 6.61, 1.77 WHIP.
Mike Caldwell has been largely forgotten, but he was a pretty good pitcher. His best season was 1978, when he went 22-9. 2.36, 1.06 WHIP and finished second to Ron Guidry in Cy Young voting. For his career, he was 137-130, 3.81, 1.32 WHIP. Not Hall of Famer or anything, but over fourteen seasons a very respectable career.
Record: Milwaukee was 39-30, in third place in the AL East, 6.5 games behind Baltimore. They would finish 95-66, in second place, eight games behind Baltimore.
The Twins were 32-32, in fourth place in the AL West, 6.5 games behind California. They would finish 82-80, in fourth place, six games behind California.
Random Record: The Random Twins are 29-34 (.460).