CLEVELAND INDIANS 6, MINNESOTA TWINS 5 IN CLEVELAND

Date:  Wednesday, May 4, 1977.

Batting stars:  Rod Carew was 2-for-4 with a home run (his second) and a walk.  Larry Hisle hit a three-run homer, his sixth.

Pitching star:  Jeff Holly pitched three innings, giving up one run on two hits and a walk and striking out two.

Opposition stars:  Johnny Grubb was 2-for-4 with two RBIs.  Duane Kuiper was 2-for-4.

The game:  Lyman Bostock led off the second with a double.  With one out Mike Cubbage was intentionally walked to pitch to Larry Hisle(!), who hit a three-run homer to put the Twins ahead 3-0.

Rick Manning hit a one-out triple and scored on a ground out in the bottom of the second to make it 3-1.  In the third, Larvell Blanks led off with a double and scored on a Fred Kendall single.  With two out, Jim Norris singled and went to second on a throw, putting men on second and third.  Johnny Grubb then delivered a two-run single to give Cleveland a 4-3 lead.

Rod Carew homered with one out in the fifth to tie it 4-4.  In the sixth Larry Hisle walked, stole second, and scored on a two-out single by Rich Chiles to give the Twins a 5-4 lead.

In the sixth, Rick Manning drew a two-out walk and scored on a Rico Carty double to tie it 5-5.  With one out in the seventh Fred Kendall walked and Duane Kuiper and Buddy Bell followed with singles, putting the Indians up 6-5.

The Twins did not get a hit in the final three innings.  They did draw three walks, and put the potential tying run on third with two out in the eighth, but the score remained 6-5 Cleveland.

WP:  Don Hood (1-0).

LP:  Tom Johnson (3-2).

S:  Dave LaRoche (3).

Notes:  Rob Wilfong was at second.  He shared the position with Bobby Randall, with Randall playing the most games there, 101 to 66.  Rich Chiles was the DH.  He shared the position with Craig Kusick and Glenn Adams.  Kusick played the most games there with 85, followed by Chiles (62) and Adams (46).

Mike Cubbage was batting .350.  He would finish at .264.  Rod Carew was batting .343.  He would finish at a league-leading .388.  Rob Wilfong was batting .333.  He would finish at .246.  Butch Wynegar was batting .317.  He would finish at .261.  Lyman Bostock was batting .310.  He would finish at .336.

Jeff Holly had an ERA of 0.90.  He would finish at 6.89.  Tom Johnson had an ERA of 1.29.  He would finish at 3.13.

Dave LaRoche had pitched for the Twins in 1972.

As you can see, the Twins had a lot of players get off to hot starts, which propelled them in to first place early in the season.  Obviously, they did not stay there, but they were in contention for the first half of the season.

You may be wondering, as I was, why in the world you would walk Mike Cubbage to pitch to Larry Hisle.  Yes, it set up the double play, and yes, Cubbage was batting .350.  But Hisle was batting .290, so it’s not like he was in a slump.  And even with the difference in batting average, Hisle had the better OPS.  Frank Robinson was the Cleveland manager at that time, and he obviously knows more about baseball than I do, but it does not seem like a smart decision to me.

Record:  Cleveland was 8-13, in sixth place in the AL East, 5.5 games behind Milwaukee.  They would finish 71-90, in fifth place, 28.5 games behind New York.

The Twins were 15-10, in first place in the AL West, a half game ahead of Chicago.  They would finish 84-77, in fourth place, 17.5 games behind Kansas City.

Random Record:  The Random Twins are 49-50 (.495).

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).

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).