KANSAS CITY ROYALS 6, MINNESOTA TWINS 3 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Friday, July 9, 1971.

Batting star:  Leo Cardenas was 2-for-4 with a triple.  Rod Carew was 2-for-4.

Pitching star:  None.

Opposition stars:  Freddie Patek hit for the cycle, going 4-for-5 with three runs and two RBIs.  Paul Schaal was 2-for-4 with a home run (his sixth), a walk, and two RBIs.  Bobby Knoop was 2-for-4.  Mike Hedlund pitched 7.1 innings, giving up three runs on eight hits and two walks.

The game:  Freddie Patek led off the game with a double and Paul Schaal followed with a single, putting Kansas City up 1-0.  In the second, singles by Bobby Knoop, Patek, and Schaal loaded the bases with two out and Amos Otis delivered a two-run single, making the score 3-0 Royals.

The Twins threatened in the second, getting singles by Rod Carew and Jim Holt, but nothing came of it.  In the third, however, Steve Braun and Cesar Tovar each walked with one out.  Harmon Killebrew singled home one run, a ground out scored another, and a Leo Cardenas triple tied the score 3-3.

Each team threatened in the third but did not score.  Freddie Patek hit a two-out triple for Kansas City, and Jim Perry and Steve Braun hit one-out singles for the Twins, but it remained 3-3.  There were no more threats until the eighth, when Rod Carew and Leo Cardenas hit one-out singles, but again the score remained 3-3.

Then came the ninth.  Bobby Knoop singled with one out.  Starter Jim Perry remained in the game and struck out Lou Piniella, but Freddie Patek then hit a two-run homer and Paul Schaal followed with a solo shot, making the score 6-3.  The Twins did not get a man past first in the ninth, and the game went to the Royals.

WP:  Tom Burgmeier (4-2).

LP:  Jim Perry (12-8).

S:  Ted Abernathy (15).

Notes:  Rich Reese was in left, with Cesar Tovar moving to right and Tony Oliva on the bench.

Tom Burgmeier would pitch for the Twins from 1974-1977.

Jim Perry somehow made the all-star team in 1971.  This was his last start before the all-star break, and he was 12-8, 4.10, 1.37 WHIP.  Not awful, but not numbers that say “all-star”.  He had won the Cy Young award in 1970, and so presumably made the team based on reputation.  He would finish 17-17, 4.23, 1.35 WHIP.  It was his worst ERA since 1961 (when, oddly enough, he also made the all-star team) and would be his worst until his last season since 1975.

The two Royals who homered in the ninth were very unlikely home-run hitters.  Paul Schaal hit 57 career home runs, with a career high of 11 in 1971.  Freddie Patek hit 41 career home runs, with a career high of 6 in 1971.

Jim Kaat was used as a pinch-hitter in the ninth.  As we said recently, Kaat was over-rated as a batter–it was “good hitter for a pitcher”, not “good hitter”.  In 1971, he batted .161/.179/.194.  If he was truly their best pinch-hitting option, it speaks very poorly of the Twins’ bench.

On the other hand, he did get a hit.

Record:  Kansas City was 43-39, in second place in the AL West, eleven games behind Oakland.  They would finish 85-76, in second place, sixteen games behind Oakland.

The Twins were 39-46, in third place, 16.5 games behind Oakland. They would finish 74-86, in fifth place, 26.5 games behind Oakland.

Random Record:  The Random Twins are 30-35 (.462).