MINNESOTA TWINS 4, CHICAGO WHITE SOX 1 IN MINNESOTA
Date: Thursday, August 1, 1968.
Batting stars: Rod Carew was 3-for-4 with a double. Frank Quilici was 2-for-3 with a walk. Bob Allison was 2-for-4 with a home run (his twelfth), two runs, and two RBIs. Ted Uhlaender was 2-for-4.
Pitching star: Jim Perry pitched 8.2 innings, giving up one run on seven hits and a walk and striking out one.
Opposition stars: Leon Wagner was 2-for-4. Sandy Alomar was 2-for-4. Cisco Carlos pitched three innings, giving up one run on two hits and striking out one.
The game: With two out in the first, Ted Uhlaender singled. He was then caught stealing, but was safe on an error. It cost Chicago, as Bob Allison delivered an RBI single, John Roseboro singled, and Rod Carew hit an RBI double, putting the Twins up 2-0. In the third, Jim Perry reached on an error and went to second on a Cesar Tovar single. A double play moved Perry to third and he scored on Uhlaender’s single to make the score 3-0. Allison homered leading off the fifth to make it 4-0.
Meanwhile the White Sox didn’t do much on offense. They put one man on base, but only one, in five of the first seven innings. They finally got on the board in the eighth on singles by Luis Aparicio, Walt Williams, and Leon Wagner. But they did not get the tying run to bat, and the Twins got the victory.
WP: Jim Perry (8-6).
LP: Jack Fisher (5-7).
S: Dean Chance (1).
Notes: Rich Reese was at first base for an injured Harmon Killebrew. Ron Clark was at short. Jackie Hernandez played the most games at short with 79, followed by Clark with 44, Rick Renick with 40, and Cesar Tovar with 35. Frank Quilici was at third base. Tovar played the most games there with 77, followed by Rich Rollins with 56, Clark with 53, and Quilici with 40. Tovar was in right field in place of Tony Oliva.
Jim Perry would finish with an ERA of 2.81. He would finish at 2.27. Dean Chance had an ERA of 2.52. He would finish at 2.53.
Jim Perry retired the first two batters in the ninth, then was replaced by Dean Chance. Apparently he injured himself, as he would not pitch again until August 17.
This was the only save Dean Chance had in 1968, and one of only four relief appearances he made. He had pitched seven innings three days earlier and would pitch a complete game shutout two days later.
Dick Kenworthy was the third baseman for Chicago. He got cups of coffee in the majors in 1962, 1964, 1965, and 1966, playing a total of seventeen games in those years and getting thirty-two at-bats. He was in the majors for about half the season in 1967 and 1968 as a substitute third baseman. He did not hit, batting .215/.250/.295 in 251 at-bats. On the other hand, the White Sox as a whole didn’t hit: they batted .225/.291/.329 in 1967 and .228/.284/.311 in 1968. Even in the late ‘60s, that wasn’t very good. Kenworthy did hit for a good average in AAA, although without much power.
Record: Chicago was 45-56, in ninth place in American League, eighteen games behind Detroit. They would finish 67-95, tied for eighth place with California, thirty-six games behind Detroit.
The Twins were 49-54, in seventh place in the American League, fifteen games behind Detroit. They would finish 79-83, in seventh place, twenty-four games behind Detroit.
Random Record: The Random Twins are 49-49 (.500).