MINNESOTA TWINS 11, KANSAS CITY ROYALS 2 IN KANSAS CITY

Date:  Sunday, June 21, 1970.

Batting star:  Bob Allison was 2-for-3 with a walk and three runs.  Rod Carew was 2-for-4 with a double.  Leo Cardenas was 2-for-5 with a double and three RBIs.  Rich Reese was 2-for-5.  Harmon Killebrew hit a home run, his seventeenth.

Pitching star:  Jim Perry struck out seven in 6.2 innings, giving up two runs on five hits.  Ron Perranoski pitched 2.1 scoreless innings, giving up two hits and striking out one.

Opposition stars:  Joe Keough was 2-for-4 with a double.  Lou Piniella was 2-for-4.  Al Fitzmorris pitched two shutout innings, giving up one hit.

The game:  Bob Allison created a run in the second, getting an infield hit, going to second on an error, and scoring on a stolen base-plus-error.  The Twins took control of the game in the fourth.  Allison reached on an error, Rick Renick walked, and Leo Cardenas brought home two runs on a single-plus-error.  Rich Reese then singled and George Mitterwald hit an RBI single.  A bunt moved runners to second and third and a sacrifice fly brought home the fourth run of the inning, giving the Twins a 5-0 lead.  It went to 6-0 in the fifth when Harmon Killebrew led off the inning with a home run.

Kansas City did not do much in the first six innings, but got on the board in the seventh.  With two out, consecutive singles by Bob Oliver, Joe Keough, Lou Piniella, and Ed Kirkpatrick plated two runs to make the score 6-2.

The Twins added five runs in the ninth.  Cesar Tovar doubled and scored on a Rod Carew single.  Harmon Killebrew walked and Bob Allison was hit by a pitch, loading the bases.  An error brough home one run and Leo Cardenas delivered a bases-clearing double, bringing the final score to 11-2.

WP:  Jim Perry (10-5).

LP:  Bill Butler (2-6).

S:  None.

Notes:  Rod Carew was the regular second baseman until the day after this game, when he was injured and missed most of the rest of the season.  He was replaced by Danny Thompson, who, while a nice person who met a sad end, was not exactly Rod Carew at the plate.  Rick Renick was in left field.  Jim Holt played the most games there (76), followed by Brant Alyea at 73 and Cesar Tovar at 45.  Bob Allison was in right field, one of only four games he played there in 1970, in place of Tony Oliva. 

Rod Carew was batting .378.  He would finish at .366.  Jim Perry was batting .368.  He would finish at .247.  Harmon Killebrew was batting .305.  He would finish at .271.

Jim Perry had an ERA of 2.82.  He would finish at 3.04.  Ron Perranoski had an ERA of 1.82.  He would finish at 2.43.

Joe Keough did not play for the Twins, but went to spring training with them in 1974.  Jackie Hernandez came in for defense in the ninth.  He played for the Twins from 1967-1968.

The Bill Butler who played in this game is the second-best Bill Butler in Royals history.

Record:  Kansas City was 23-40, in fourth place in the AL West, 17.5 games behind Minnesota.  They would finish 65-97, tied for fourth with Milwaukee, thirty-three games behind Minnesota.

The Twins were 39-21, in first place in the AL West, four games ahead of California.  They would finish 98-64, in first place, nine games ahead of Oakland.

Random Record:  The Random Twins are 34-39 (.466).