OAKLAND ATHLETICS 7, MINNESOTA TWINS 3 IN OAKLAND (GAME 1)
Date: Sunday, June 22, 1969.
Batting stars: Tony Oliva was 3-for-4 with a double. Rod Carew was 3-for-5 with two runs. Ted Uhlaender was 2-for-5 with two doubles.
Pitching stars: Al Worthington pitched two shutout innings, giving up one hit and striking out one.
Opposition star: Ted Kubiak was 3-for-4 with a home run (his first) and two runs. Sal Bando was 2-for-3 with two home runs (his thirteenth and fourteenth), three RBIs, and a walk. Phil Roof was 2-for-3. Reggie Jackson was 2-for-4 with a home run (his twenty-seventh), two runs, and three RBIs. Chuck Dobson pitched a complete game, giving up three runs on eleven hits and a walk and striking out three.
The game: Ted Uhlaender led off the game with a double, Rod Carew followed with a single, and Harmon Killebrew hit a two-run double, putting the Twins up 2-0 three batters into the game. Unfortunately, the lead only lasted until the bottom of the first, when Ted Kubiak singled and Sal Bando hit a two-out two-run homer to tie it 2-2.
Then came the third. With two out and no one on, Ted Kubiak, Reggie Jackson, and Sal Bando hit consecutive homers. Solo homers may not hurt you, but three of them in a row tend to sting a little, and it was 5-2 Oakland.
The Twins got one run back in the fifth when Rod Carew hit a one-out single and scored from first on a Tony Oliva two-out double, making it 5-3. In the sixth, however, Phil Roof led off with a single, Ted Kubiak hit a two-out single, a wild pitch advanced the runners to second and third, and Reggie Jackson singled them both home to give the Athletics a 7-3 advantage.
And that was it. The Twins got a pair of singles in the seventh, but they did not get a baserunner after that.
WP: Chuck Dobson (8-5).
LP: Jim Kaat (7-6).
S: None.
Notes: Graig Nettles was in left field. Bob Allison played the most games there at 58, but Nettles was right behind at 53. Also in the left field mix were Ted Uhlaender (44), Charlie Manuel (41), and Cesar Tovar (40).
Rod Carew was batting .376. He would finish at a league-leading .332.
Despite giving up five runs in three innings, Jim Kaat had an ERA of 2.63. He would finish at 3.49.
Phil Roof would play for the Twins from 1971-1976.
This was one of only two home runs Ted Kubiak hit in 1969. He would finish with thirteen in a ten-year career.
Graig Nettles is one of several third basemen the Twins have tried to turn into outfielders. Others include Rick Renick, Trevor Plouffe!, and Miguel Sano. I’m sure there are others I’ve forgotten about.
This was Al Worthington’s seventh game of the season. He had retired after the 1968 season, but was persuaded to come back to help the Twins’ bullpen. His ERA after this game was 9.95 due to one bad outing in which he gave up six runs in two-thirds of an inning. He would end with an ERA of 4.57.
Record: Oakland was 35-27, in first place in the AL West by percentage points over Minnesota. They would finish 88-74, in second place, nine games behind Minnesota.
The Twins were 35-29, in second place in the AL West, percentage points behind Oakland. They would finish 97-65, in first place, nine games ahead of Oakland.
Random Record: The Random Twins are 48-49 (.495).