MINNESOTA TWINS 7, NEW YORK YANKEES 5 IN NEW YORK (10 INNINGS)

Date:  Friday, July 28, 1978.

Batting stars:  Rich Chiles was 2-for-2 with a double and two RBIs.  Roy Smalley was 2-for-5 with a home run and two runs.  Dan Ford was 2-for-5 with a double.  Willie Norwood hit a home run, his fifth.

Pitching stars:  Geoff Zahn pitched seven innings, giving up three runs on eight hits and two walks and striking out three.

Opposition stars:  Lou Piniella was 3-for-4 with a double and a walk.  Reggie Jackson was 2-for-4 with a walk.  Sparky Lyle pitched 5.1 innings of relief, giving up two runs on three hits and two walks.

The game:  Roy Smalley homered in the first inning to give the Twins a 1-0 lead.  The Twins got singles by Mike Cubbage and Rich Chiles in the second to put two men on with one out, but nothing came of it.  Roy White led off with a triple in the third, but was stranded there.  The Twins increased their lead in the fourth.  Dan Ford led off with a single and Mike Cubbage reached on an error, putting men on first and second with none out.  A bunt moved runners to second and third, Rich Chiles delivered a two-run double, and Glenn Adams followed with an RBI single, giving the Twins a 4-0 lead.

New York got on the board in the bottom of the fourth.  Thurman Munson singled and Lou Piniella doubled, putting men on second and third.  Chris Chambliss singled home a run, Reggie Jackson walked to load the bases, and with one out Roy White hit a sacrifice fly to cut the Twins’ lead in half at 4-2.

The Twins got a run back in the fifth when Roy Smalley singled, went to second on a ground out, and scored on a two-out single by Mike Cubbage.  The Yankees got the run back in the sixth when Lou Piniella singled, Chris Chambliss walked, a fly out moved them to second and third, and a sacrifice fly brought home a run.

It stayed 5-3 until the eighth, when Mike Marshall came in to relieve Geoff Zahn.  Lou Piniella drew a one-out walk, and with two out Reggie Jackson singled and Graig Nettles hit a two-run double to tie the score 5-5.

Each team went down in order in the ninth.  In the tenth, Dan Ford led off with a double, but was thrown out trying to go to third on a Mike Cubbage grounder back to the pitcher.  The baserunning blunder appeared costly, but not to worry.  With two out, Willie Norwood hit a two-run homer off Sparky Lyle, who had been pitching since two out in the fifth.  The Twins led 7-5.  New York went down in order in the tenth, the Evil Empire was vanquished, and the good guys won!

WP:  Mike Marshall (5-8).

LP:  Sparky Lyle (7-2).

S:  None.

Notes:  Rob Wilfong was at second.  He shared duties there with Bobby Randall, with Randall making the most appearances.  Rich Chiles was in left.  Willie Norwood, who substituted for Chiles in the sixth inning, made the most appearances in left.

Rod Carew was batting .336.  He would finish at .333.  Mike Cubbage was batting .315.  He would finish at .282.  Jose Morales was batting .315.  He would finish at .314.  Dan Ford was batting .304.  He would finish at .274.

Mike Marshall had an ERA of 2.90.  He would finish at 2.45.

Graig Nettles played for the Twins from 1967-1969.

This was one of nine times Mike Marshall would pitch three or more innings of relief in 1978.  He appeared in 54 games and pitched 99 innings, so his average appearance was not far from two innings.

This was the longest appearance of the season for Sparky Lyle, but not by much.  He pitched five innings of relief against Seattle on June 14.  He had twelve appearances of three innings or more in 1978.  In 59 appearances he pitched 111.2 innings, so his average appearance was just over two innings.

Willie Norwood hit 18 home runs in his career.  He set his season high in 1978 with 8.

Bob Lemon was the Yankee manager at this point, having taken over from Billy Martin three days earlier.  The next day, it would be announced that Martin would be back as manager in 1980.  The Bronx Zoo.

Record:  New York was 55-45, in fourth place in the AL East, 8 games behind Boston.  They would finish 100-63, in first place, one game ahead of Boston, winning a game 163.  They had the best record in baseball after this game, 45-18.

The Twins were 44-54, in fifth place in the AL West, 12.5 games behind Kansas City.  They would finish 73-89, in fourth place, 19 games behind Kansas City.

Random Record:  The Random Twins broke their losing streak and are back to .500 at 24-24.