KANSAS CITY 4, MINNESOTA 3 IN KANSAS CITY
Date: Monday, September 6 (Game 2 of doubleheader).
Batting stars: Jim Merritt was 2-for-3 with two RBIs. Jimmie Hall was 1-for-4 with a stolen base (his ninth) and a run. Jerry Zimmerman was 1-for-3 with an RBI.
Pitching star: Merritt pitched 7.2 innings, giving up three runs on five hits and four walks with four strikeouts.
Opposition stars: Rollie Sheldon pitched eight innings, allowing three runs on seven hits and two walks with five strikeouts. Jim Landis was 0-for-1 with three walks and a run. Rene Lachemann was 1-for-3 with a walk and an RBI.
The game: In the second, Merritt had an RBI single as part of a two-run inning that put the Twins ahead 2-0. Lachemann singled in a run in the third to cut the lead to 2-1, but Merritt delivered another run-scoring single in the fourth to make it 3-1. It looked like that would be enough, but in the eighth the Athletics turned three doubles into two runs and tied the score 3-3. In the ninth, a walk, an error, and a walk loaded the bases with none out for Kansas City. Al Worthington struck out MIke Hershberger, but pinch-hitter Santiago Rosario hit a sacrifice fly to right field to end the game.
Of note: Zoilo Versalles was 1-for-4 with a double. Sandy Valdespino was 1-for-4. Tony Oliva was 1-for-4 with a double. Don Mincher was 0-for-4.
Record: The Twins were now 87-54. Chicago swept a doubleheader from California, so the Twins lead dropped to 4.5 games.
Notes: Oliva was now hitting .318...Valdespino again played left in place of Bob Allison. Zimmerman was catching in place of Earl Battey...Coming in to pitch the ninth and get the win for Kansas City was Catfish Hunter. He was in his rookie season and was mostly used as a starter. In fact, he had pitched 6.1 innings just two days earlier...This would be the only major league season for Santiago Rosario. A first baseman from Puerto Rico, he had been in the low minors for St. Louis from 1960-63, then came to the Athletics. The Royals brought him up in late June of 1965 but used him mostly as a pinch-hitter, which one would think was not the best thing for the twenty-five-year-old's development. He played in eighty-one games but started only nine of them. He had eighty-five at-bats and hit .235/.287/.341. He stayed in the Kansas City organization through 1967, was with Altanta from 1968-71, then played in the Mexican League through 1976. Even granting that he played mostly in the 1960s, there's nothing that impressive about his minor league numbers: .268/.357/.391 in AA, .239/.298/.304 in AAA. He got a little over half a season in the majors and got to play ball for a living for sixteen years. A fella could do a lot worse. Santiago Rosario passed away in 2013 in his native Puerto Rico.