MINNESOTA TWINS 6, CLEVELAND INDIANS 5 IN CLEVELAND (GAME 1–10 INNINGS)

Date:  Friday, August 25, 1967.

Batting stars:  Harmon Killebrew was 3-for-4 with a triple, a walk, and two RBIs.  Mudcat Grant was 2-for-2.  Tony Oliva was 2-for-4.  Ted Uhlaender was 2-for-5 with a two-run homer (his sixth) and three runs.

Pitching star:  Ron Kline pitched four innings of relief, giving up one run on three hits and one walk and striking out two.

Opposition stars:  Chuck Hinton was 3-for-5 with a home run (his eighth) and two runs.  Duke Sims was 2-for-4.  Max Alvis was 2-for-5.  Vic Davalillo was 2-for-5.  Joe Azcue hit a home run, his ninth.  Orlando Pena pitched three shutout innings of relief, giving up one hit and striking out two.

The game:  With one out in the first Ted Uhlaender singled, went to third on a Cesar Tovar single, and scored on a sacrifice fly to put the Twins up 1-0.  Chuck Hinton homered leading off the bottom of the first to tie it 1-1.

The Twins regained the lead in the third when Ted Uhlaender reached on an error, was bunted to second, and scored on a Harmon Killebrew single.  In the fourth Mudcat Grant singled with one out and scored on a two-out two-run homer by Uhlaender to put the Twins up 4-1.

Cleveland got one back in the fourth when Vic Davalillo led off with a single, went to second on a ground out, and scored on a two-out single by Max Alvis.  In the fifth, two-out singles by Chuck Hinton, Davalillo, and Leon Wagner produced a run to cut the lead to 4-3.  In the sixth, Max Alvis led off with a single and, with two out, Larry Brown singled and Don Demeter doubled to tie it 4-4.

It stayed 4-4 until the tenth.  Tony Oliva led off the inning with a single and Harmon Killebrew followed with an RBI triple.  A sacrifice fly scored him to give the Twins a 6-4 lead.  In the bottom of the tenth, Joe Azcue hit a home run to cut it to 6-5, but no one else reached base and the Twins were victorious.

WP:  Ron Kline (6-0).

LP:  John O’Donoghue (7-7).

S:  None.

Notes:  Hank Izquierdo was behind the plate in place of Jerry Zimmerman.  Jackie Hernandez was at short in place of Zoilo Versalles.  Cesar Tovar was at third.  Rich Rollins played the most games there with 97, with Tovar following at 72.  Sandy Valdespino was in left in place of Bob Allison.

Hank Izquierdo was batting .333.  He would finish at .269.

Stan Williams started for Cleveland.  He would pitch for the Twins from 1970-1971.

Hank Izquierdo came up to the Twins in early August and stayed the rest of the season.  He played in sixteen games and got twenty-six at-bats.  That was his only major league action, and when he made his debut he was thirty-six years old, which has to be one of the oldest debuts ever.  He was born in Cuba and made his professional debut in 1951 at age twenty.  He played in the Cleveland, Baltimore, Cincinnati, Minnesota, and Houston organizations.  He never hit–the only year he had an OPS of over. 800 was 1955 in Class B Keokuk.  He obviously loved baseball–he played in the Mexican League until he was forty-three, and managed there as well.  Later, he was a scout for the Twins and the Cubs.

Jim Perry pitched in relief.  He was mostly used out of the bullpen in 1967, making eleven starts and twenty-six relief appearances, pitching 130.2 innings.  He had led the league in starts in 1960 and would do so again in 1970.

Record:  Cleveland was 60-69, in seventh place in the American League, 12.5 games behind Minnesota.  They would finish 75-87, in eighth place, seventeen games behind Boston.

The Twins were 71-55, in first place in American League, a half game ahead of Boston and Chicago.  They would finish 91-71, tied for second with Detroit, one game behind Boston.

Random Record:  The Random Twins are 48-46 (.511).

MINNESOTA TWINS 4, CALIFORNIA ANGELS 1 IN CALIFORNIA

Date:  Friday, September 18, 1992.

Batting stars:  Chuck Knoblauch was 2-for-3 with a walk.  Pedro Munoz was 2-for-4 with a triple.  Gene Larkin was 2-for-4 with two RBIs.

Pitching stars:  Scott Erickson pitched 7.1 innings, giving up one run on four hits and two walks and striking out six.  Rick Aguilera pitched 1.1 scoreless innings, giving up one hit.

Opposition stars:  Lee Stevens was 2-for-4.  Gary Gaetti hit a home run, his twelfth.  Bert Blyleven pitched six innings, giving up three runs on six hits and one walk and striking out three.

The game:  Chuck Knoblauch led off the game with a single.  With one out Shane Mack was hit by a pitch, and with two out Pedro Munoz delivered an RBI single to give the Twins a 1-0 lead.  In the second, Lenny Webster singled with one out, went to second on a ground out, and Chuck Knoblauch delivered an RBI single to give the Twins a 2-0 lead.  In the third, Shane Mack led off with a single, went to second on a ground out, and Gene Larkin delivered an RBI single to give the Twins a 3-0 lead.

Meanwhile, Scott Erickson was in complete control.  The Angels only had one hit through six innings and only once advanced a man to second base.  That changed in the seventh, when Gary Gaetti led off with a home run to cut the Twins’ lead to 3-1.  California also got a pair of infield singles in the inning, but a double play took them out of the inning.

The Twins got the run back in the eighth.  Pedro Munoz hit a one-out triple and scored on a Gene Larkin single to make it 4-1.

And that was it.  California got only one more hit, a two-out double by Chad Curtis in the ninth, but it did not lead to anything.

WP:  Scott Erickson (13-10).

LP:  Bert Blyleven (8-9).

S:  Rick Aguilera (39).

Notes:  Lenny Webster was behind the plate in place of Brian Harper.  Gene Larkin was at first base in place of Kent Hrbek.  Jeff Reboulet was at short in place of Greg Gagne.  Terry Jorgensen was at third in place of Scott Leius.  J. T. Bruett was in center in place of Kirby Puckett, who was at DH in place of Chili Davis

Terry Jorgensen was batting .400   He would finish at .310.  Kirby Puckett was batting .328.  He would finish at .329.  Shane Mack was batting .322.  He would finish at .315.  Chuck Knoblauch was batting .302.  He would finish at .297.

Gary Wayne had an ERA of 2.01.  He would finish at 2.63.  Rick Aguilera had an ERA of 2.93.  He would finish at 2.84.

Gary Gaetti had played for the Twins from 1981-1990.  Bert Blyleven pitched for the Twins from 1970-1976 and 1986-1988,

The Twins were pretty much out of the race at this point, which is why there were so many reserves and September call-ups in the lineup.  It’s kind of impressive that with that lineup, the Twins still won.

Pedro Munoz hit eight triples in his career.  His career high was in 1992, when he hit three.

Record:  California was 66-81, in fifth place in the AL West, twenty-four games behind Oakland.  They would finish 72-90, in fifth place, twenty-four games behind Oakland.

The Twins were 82-66, in second place in the AL West, 8.5 games behind Oakland.  They would finish 90-72, in second place, six games behind Oakland.

Random Record:  The Random Twins are 46-46 (.500).