MINNESOTA 7, CHICAGO 6 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Tuesday, June 29.

Batting stars:  Harmon Killebrew was 2-for-4 with a double, scoring once and driving in two.  Jimmie Hall was 2-for-4 with a double, scoring once and driving in two.  Tony Oliva was 1-for-4 with a double and two runs.

Pitching star:  Jim Kaat pitched 7.1 innings, giving up four runs (three earned) on seven hits and one walk with three strikeouts.

Opposition stars:  Danny Cater was 2-for-3 with a double and a walk, scoring once and driving in two.  John Romano was 2-for-3 with a double and a walk, scoring twice.  Smoky Burgess was 1-for-1 with a pinch-hit two-run homer, his second.

The game:  Hall doubled in a run  and Killebrew singled in another to give the Twins a 2-0 lead in the first.  Single runs in the second and third made it 4-0.  Cater doubled in a run in the fourth, but the Twins tallied twice in the fifth, one on Killebrew's RBI double, to take a seemingly comfortable 6-1 lead.  In the sixth, however, Cater singled home a run and Ron Hansen drove in two with another single to make it 6-4.  With one out in the ninth, Burgess hit a pinch-hit two-run homer off Dick Stigman to tie it 6-6.  Bernie Allen led off the ninth with a double and was pinch-run for by Dave Boswell.  Joe Nossek bunted him to third and Zolio Versalles hit a sacrifice fly to center to bring home the winning run.

Of note:  Versalles was 0-for-3 with two sacrifice flies.  Sandy Valdespino was 2-for-4.

Record:  The win made the Twins 43-27 and lifted them into second place, a half game behind Cleveland.

Notes:  Bob Allison was apparently dealing with some sort of injury, as he was in and out of the lineup int his period.  Sandy Valdespino was playing left field in his place.  Hall's day raised his average to .325.  He was batting fourth in this stretch, between Oliva and Killebrew.  Burgess had sixteen pinch-hit home runs in his career.