MINNESOTA TWINS 7, BOSTON RED SOX 3 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Tuesday, August 2, 1966.

Batting stars:  Tony Oliva was 2-for-4 with two RBIs.  Jimmie Hall was 2-for-5 with a grand slam (his eleventh homer) and two runs.

Pitching star:  Jim Perry pitched 8.2 innings, giving up three runs on seven hits and a walk and striking out seven.

Opposition stars:  Mike Ryan was 2-for-3 with a walk.  Don Demeter was 2-for-4 with a two-run homer, his tenth.  Rico Petrocelli hit a home run, his eighteenth.  Jim Lonborg struck out four and walked one in 4.1 scoreless innings of relief.

The game: George Scott led off the second with a single and Demeter followed with a two-run homer, putting Boston up 2-0.  The Twins put men on first and second with one out in the bottom of the second, but a fly out and a ground out ended the inning.  In the third, however, walks to Perry and Zoilo Versalles were followed by Hall’s single, loading the bases with none out.  Oliva delivered a two-run single to tie it, and a run scored on a double play to give the Twins a 3-2 lead.

The two teams combined for one hit in innings four through seven.  In the eighth, though, Petrocelli hit a one-out homer to tie it 3-3.

It was still tied going to the bottom of the ninth.  Earl Battey led off with a walk.  Cesar Tovar bunted and reached on an error, putting men on second and third.  Ted Uhlaender was intentionally walked to load the bases with none out.  The next two batters went out, and it looked like the game might go to extra innings.  But Hall launched a grand slam home run to walk it off for the Twins, as they took the 7-3 victory.

WP:  Al Worthington (3-1).

LP:  Don McMahon (8-7).

S:  None.

Notes:  Tovar was at second in this game.  He shared second base duties with Bernie Allen and also played a number of games at third.

Oliva was batting .328.  He would finish at .307.

Perry had an ERA of 2.90.  He would finish at 2.54.  Worthington, who came in to get the last out of the ninth, had an ERA of 2.20.  He would finish at 2.46.

The starting pitcher for the Red Sox was Darrell Brandon, who would appear in three games for the Twins in 1969.  baseball-reference.com says his nickname was “Bucky”, which I don’t recall, but then, he wasn’t around the Twins for very long.

Lenny Green pinch-hit for Boston and went 0-for-1.  He was an original Twin and stayed with the club until 1964, when he was traded to the Angels.

Don McMahon pitched the eighth and ninth, giving up the walkoff grand slam.  He would be the Twins’ pitching coach under Gene Mauch from 1976-78.

Jim Lonborg started the season in the bullpen, was in the rotation for a little over a month, went back to the bullpen, then finished the season back in the starting rotation.  The next year he would be in the starting rotation all year and win the Cy Young award, leading Boston to the American League pennant.

Record:  Boston was 45-63, in tenth (last) place, 26.5 games behind Baltimore.  They would finish 72-90, in ninth place, 26 games behind Baltimore.

The Twins were 53-52, in fifth place, 17 games behind Baltimore.  They would finish 89-73, in second place, 9 games behind Baltimore.  They would go 36-21 after this game, the best record in the American League.

Random Record:  The Random Twins are 21-13 (.618).