MINNESOTA 3, CLEVELAND 2 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Sunday, June 15.

Batting stars:  Harmon Killebrew was 1-for-2 with a triple, two walks, and two RBIs.  Rod Carew was 1-for-2 with two walks and two runs.

Pitching stars:  Dave Boswell pitched a complete game, giving up two runs (one earned) on five hits and two walks and striking out seven.

Opposition stars:  Tony Horton was 2-for-4.  Steve Hargan pitched 6.1 innings, giving up three runs on four hits and seven (!) walks, striking out four.

The game:  Ted Uhlaender opened the bottom of the first with an infield single and Rod Carew walked.  With one out, Killebrew tripled, bringing them both home and giving the Twins a 2-0 lead.

The Twins threatened to lengthen their lead in the third, but failed to do so.  Tony Oliva singled with one out and Killebrew walked.  A ground out moved the runners up and Graig Nettles was intentionally walked to load the bases.  Leo Cardenas popped up to end the threat.  It cost them, because the Indians tied it in the fourth.  Larry Brown singled, Ken Harrelson reached on an error, Horton singled home a run, and an error brought home the tying run.

The Twins put two on in the bottom of the fourth, but again did not score.  Neither team threatened after that until the seventh.  Carew walked leading off the inning and Killebrew walked with one out.  A force out put men on first and third with two down and Nettles got an infield hit to put the Twins ahead 3-2.  Cleveland did not have a hit after the fifth and did not get a baserunner after the seventh, so the lead held and the Twins won.

WP:  Boswell (8-7).  LP:  Hargan (1-3).  S:  None.

Notes:  Billy Martin went back to the defensive arrangement he had used so often at the start of the season, with Nettles in left, Killebrew at third, and Rich Reese at first.  It was Reese's first start at first base since May 14.  The standard defensive switches were also made, with Cesar Tovar coming in to play left, Frank Quilici going to third, and Killebrew moving to first, in the ninth inning.

Carew raised his average to .391, Boswell lowered his ERA to 2.93.

Boswell bounced back well after his previous start, in which he had allowed five runs (four earned) in just 3.1 innings.

Steve Hargan had a few years when he was very good, and a few more when he was fairly decent, but this was not one of them.  At the close of this game, his ERA was 8.20.  He would end the season at 5-14, 5.70 with a WHIP of 1.57.  Walks were a major reason for the swings in his career.  He had five seasons in which his walks per nine innings were under three and one in which it was just slightly over, and those were his five good years.  He had five years in which his walks per nine innings were over four, and those were his bad years.  His good seasons were 1966-1967, 1970, and 1974-1976.  A hard thrower, it appears that he had arm problems which hampered his control.  His mid-70s resurgence appears to have come from a conversion from a flamethrower to a junkballer.  We use that term with no disrespect--any legal way you can get major league batters out is a good way.  For his career, he was 87-107, 3.92, 1.35 WHIP.

Record:  The Twins were 31-26, tied for first place with Oakland in the American League West.  They were actually slightly behind based on winning percentage, .545 to .544.

CLEVELAND 12, MINNESOTA 0 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Saturday, June 14.

Batting stars:  None.  The Twins had six hits, all singles, and no player had more than one.  They did not draw any walks.

Pitching stars:  Jim Kaat pitched six innings, giving up four runs (one earned) on eight hits and two walks and striking out two.  Bob Miller pitched a scoreless inning, giving up one hit.

Opposition stars:  Dick Ellsworth pitched a complete game shutout, giving up six hits and no walks and striking out two.  He was also 2-for-5.  Tony Horton was 2-for-4 with a double and two walks.  Ken Suarez was 2-for-5 with a double and three RBIs.  Ex-Twin Zoilo Versalles was 2-for-5 with a walk and two runs.  Vern Fuller was 1-for-1 with a three-run homer, his second.

The game:  The Indians started the scoring in the third.  With two out and none on, Versalles singled and Larry Brown reached on an error.  Ken Harrelson then singled home a run, Horton walked, and Cap Peterson delivered a two-run single, making the scored 3-0.  Cleveland added a run in the fourth, as Max Alvis doubled, went to third on an Ellsworth single, and scored on a ground out.

Meanwhile, the Twins weren't doing much of anything on offense.  They had a mild threat in the third, when Frank Quilici singled and Rick Renick reached on a two-out error, but Leo Cardenas flied out to end the inning.

Cleveland put the game out of reach in the seventh.  Harrelson and Horton opened the inning with back-to-back walks.  A bunt moved them to second and third, and Jose Cardenal was intentionally walked.  Chuck Hinton grounded out, but Suarez delivered a three-run double to make the score 7-0.  They added five in the eighth, including Fuller's three-run homer, to make it 12-0.

The Twins did manage to put two men on in the eighth, when Cesar Tovar and Tom Tischinski had one-out singles.  Renick hit into a double play to end the threat.

WP:  Ellsworth (3-2).  LP:  Kaat (6-5).  S:  None.

Notes:  Renick was at third base and was also leading off, despite the fact that he was sporting a .161 batting average and an OBP of .257.  The Twins had four men in the starting lineup with averages lower than .210.  In addition to Renick, there was Quilici (.145), Bob Allison (.203), and Tovar (.209).  And that does not include Kaat (.143).  In addition, George Mitterwald (.233) was behind the plate rather than Johnny Roseboro.

With only one of the runs he gave up earned, Kaat's ERA fell to 2.42.  Miller's ERA fell to 2.70.

Jerry Crider's scoreless string came to an end with a thud.  He pitched two-thirds of an inning, giving up four runs on two hits and two walks.  His ERA went from zero to 5.14.

This game featured the season debut of Danny Morris.  He had appeared in three games as a September call-up in 1968.  He came on in the seventh inning and faced two batters.  Russ Synder laid down a sacrifice bunt and Cardenal was intentionally walked.  So, in a sense, he really didn't face anybody.

The Twins used a total of seven pitchers in this game.  Five of them pitched less than one inning.

Ken Suarez had nine RBIs for the season.  He had five of them in this series.

Record:  The Twins were 30-26, tied for first place with Oakland in the American League West.  They actually were one percentage point behind, .537 to .536.  They were 12-18 since May 11.

BOSTON 13, MINNESOTA 5 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Wednesday, June 11.

Batting stars:  Rod Carew was 3-for-5 with a double.  Leo Cardenas was 2-for-3 with a double and two RBIs.  Johnny Roseboro was 2-for-3 with a walk.

Pitching star:  Al Worthington pitched a scoreless inning, giving up one hit and striking out one.

Opposition stars:  Joe Lahoud was 3-for-5 with three home runs and four RBIs.  Dick Schofield was 3-for-5 with three doubles and a walk, scoring twice.  George Scott was 3-for-4 with a walk and two RBIs.  Reggie Smith was 3-for-4 with a stolen base (his fourth), scoring twice and driving in two.   Sonny Siebert struck out five in five shutout innings of relief, giving up two hits.

The game:  The Red Sox opened the scoring in the second, as Rico Petrocelli walked and Lahoud hit a two-run homer.  The Twins got a two-out double from Graig Nettles in the bottom of the second, but Roseboro was intentionally walked and Dave Boswell struck out.  In the third, two walks and an infield single loaded the bases for Boston with one out, but Petrocelli hit a short fly to center and Lahoud struck out to end the inning.

The Red Sox appeared to break it open in the fourth.  With men on first and second and one out Schofield hit an RBI double, Dalton Jones had a two-run single, a two-out passed ball scored a fourth run, and later Petrocelli had an RBI single to make it 7-0.  The Twins got back into it with four in the bottom of the fourth.  With two out and a man on third, the Twins got four consecutive singles (Cardenas, Roseboro, Rick Renick, and Ted Uhlaender) and a double from Carew to cut the margin to 7-4.

Lahoud hit his second home run in the fifth to make the score 8-4.  The Twins got the run back in the bottom of the fifth on a sacrifice fly.

That was as good as it would get for the Twins.  Smith had an RBi single and Scott drove in two with a single in the sixth to give Boston an 11-5 lead.  Smith hit a sacrifice fly in the seventh and Lahoud hit his third home run in the eighth.

WP:  Siebert (5-6).  LP:  Boswell (7-7).  S:  None.

Notes:  Reese was again in left, with Nettles at third base.

Carew raised his average to .393.  Roseboro raised his average to .303.  Tony Oliva was 0-for-5 to make his average .300.

Boswell lasted just 3.1 innings, allowing five runs (four earned) on five hits and three walks and striking out two.  In his prior two starts, he had thrown seven shutout innings and eight shutout innings.  The Twins used seven pitchers, only two of whom went unscored upon.  In addition to Worthington, Jerry Crider pitched one-third of an inning without giving up a run.  He actually gave up a hit to the only man he faced, but Smith was thrown out at the plate trying to score from second on Petrocelli's single.  Crider still had not given up a run in six major league appearances (5.1 innings).

Outfielder Joe Lahoud was in his first full major league season.  He would hit only nine home runs in 1969, one-third of them in this game.  He was used as a reserve, playing in 101 games but getting just 218 at-bats.  He played in parts of eleven seasons, never getting more than 325 at-bats in a season.  He batted over .250 just once, when he hit .271 for California in 1974.  That was also the only season in which he posted an OPS of over .800, putting up a mark of .825.  He played for Boston from 1968-1971, Milwaukee in 1972-1973, California from 1974-1976, Texas for the latter part of 1976, and Kansas City from 1977-1978.  His career numbers are .223/.334/.372.  He hit sixty-five home runs, with a season high of fourteen in 1971.  One assumes he was considered a superior defender, although he played corner outfield almost exclusively.  He doesn' t look like he was very good, really, but again, he played in parts of eleven seasons, so somebody must have thought he was doing something well.  As he put it during the 1975 season, "It's easy to stay in the majors for seven and a half years when you hit .300, but when you hit .216, like me, it's really an accomplishment."

Record:  The Twins were 30-24, in first place in the American League West, 1.5 games ahead of Oakland.  They were now 11-16 since May 11.

MINNESOTA 6, BOSTON 2 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Tuesday, June 10.

Batting stars:  Leo Cardenas was 2-for-3.  Harmon Killebrew was 1-for-2 with a triple, two walks, a stolen base, two runs, and two RBIs.

Pitching star:  Jim Kaat pitched a complete game, giving up two runs on seven hits and two walks and striking out two.

Opposition stars:  Reggie Smith was 2-for-4.  Carl Yastrzemski was 1-for-4 with a two-run homer, his fifteenth.  Bill Landis retired all seven men he faced, striking out three.

The game:  There were no baserunners until the third, when George Scott drew a leadoff walk and Ray Culp had a one-out bunt single.  A double play ended the threat.  The Twins came through with a five-spot in the bottom of the third.  Cardenas led off with a single and scored on Kaat's one-out double.  Ted Uhlaender singled to bring Kaat home.  Rod Carew singled and Killebrew followed with a two-run triple.  He scored on Rich Reese's single to make it 5-0.

The Red Sox got on the board in the sixth, when Jerry Moses led off with a single and Yastrzemski hit a two-out two-run homer.  The Twins got one of the runs back in the bottom of the sixth when Killebrew singled, stole second, and scored on a Cardenas single, making the score 6-2.

That's where it stayed.  The only other Boston threat came in the eighth, when Dick Schofield led off with a double.  Kaat came back to strike out Dalton Jones and Yastrzemski and got Smith on a grounder.

WP:  Kaat (6-4).  LP:  Culp (9-3).  S:  None.

Notes:  Reese was again in left, with Nettles at third and Killebrew at first.  Billy Martin made a defensive change, putting Frank Quilici at third in place of Nettles, in the seventh.  In the eighth, Cesar Tovar pinch-ran for Killebrew and went to left field, with Reese going to first.  I find it hard to believe that Quilici was a substantially better third baseman than Nettles, but this was early in Nettles' career, so I suppose it could be that he was at that time.

This was Kaat's fifth complete game of the season.  He would end the year with ten.  That was actually a low total for Kaat--he had eight seasons in which he had more than that.  He led the league once, in 1966, when he had nineteen complete games.

Killebrew had twenty-four triples and nineteen stolen bases in his career.  I don't know how many times he had both in the same game, but it was clearly a rare thing.  His career high in triples was seven, in 1961.  His career high in stolen bases was eight, in 1969.

Boston starter Ray Culp lasted just 2.2 innings, allowing five runs on six hits.  He walked none and struck out none.  He was a fine pitcher, though.  He was up and down early in his career, having fine seasons in 1963 and 1965 but poor ones in 1964 and 1966.  He was with Philadelphia then, but moved to the Cubs in 1967 and Boston in 1968.  That was where he had his best seasons, going 64-44, 3.34 from 1968-1971.  He pitched over two hundred innings each season and pitched a total of 493.2 innings in just 1970-1971.  The workload may have taken a toll, because he did not have a good year after 1971 and was out of baseball by 1973.  For his career he was 122-101, 3.58, 1.28 WHIP in 322 games, 268 of them starts.  He made two all-star teams (1963 and 1969) and finished third in Rookie of the Year voting in 1963 (behind Pete Rose and Ron Hunt).  Not a superstar, but a very respectable career.

Record:  The Twins were 30-23, in first place in the American League West, 2.5 games behind Oakland.

WASHINGTON 7, MINNESOTA 5 IN MINNESOTA (12 INNINGS)

Date:  Sunday, June 8.

Batting stars:  Tony Oliva was 3-for-5 with a double, a walk, and a stolen base (his third).  Harmon Killebrew was 2-for-5 with a home run (his fourteenth), a double, and a walk, driving in four.  Ted Uhlaender was 2-for-6.  Johnny Roseboro was 1-for-2 with a home run, his second.

Pitching stars:  Bob Miller retired all five batters he faced, striking out two.  Al Worthington pitched a scoreless inning, giving up one hit and striking out one.  Ron Perranoski pitched two shutout innings, giving up a walk.

Opposition stars:  Frank Howard was 2-for-4 with a home run (his seventeenth), scoring twice and driving in two.  Del Unser was 2-for-6 with a two-run homer (his second), scoring twice.  Ken McMullen was 2-for-6.  Mike Epstein was 1-for-4 with a three-run homer (his fourteenth) and two walks.  Darold Knowles struck out three in two shutout innings, giving up two hits.  Casey Cox pitched two shutout innings, giving up three hits and a walk and striking out one.

The game:  With two out and none on in the first, Oliva singled, stole second, and scored on a Killebrew double.  A pair of walks then loaded the bases, but Roseboro flied out to left.  Roseboro made up for it to an extent in the fourth, hitting a home run to put the Twins ahead 2-0.

The Senators had only two hits, both singles, in the first five innings, but they came alive in the sixth.  With one out, Unser, Ed Stroud, and Howard all singled, putting Washington on the board.  Epstein then hit a three-run homer to give the Senators a 4-2 lead.  They got an insurance run in the eighth when Howard hit a two-out home run.

The Twins tied it in the eighth.  Cardenas reached on an error to start the inning and Oliva doubled putting men on second and third.  The Senators pitched to Killebrew and regretted it, as he hit a three-run homer to tie it 5-5.  Both teams threatened in the ninth, getting two singles, but did not score.

The Twins missed a great chance in the eleventh.  Cesar Tovar led off with a single.  Perranoski was allowed not just to bat but apparently to swing away and hit into a forceout.  Dave Boswell came in to pinch-run for him.  Ted Uhlaender delivered a single-plus-error, putting men on second and third.  Cardenas lined out and Oliva was intentionally walked to bring up Killebrew.  He struck out to end the inning.

Washington put it away in the twelfth.  Tom Hall came in to pitch and gave up a single to Paul Casanova.  He struck out Cox, but Unser came through with a two-run homer to put the Senators up 7-5.  The Twins got a leadoff single from Charlie Manuel in the twelfth, but a double play ended the threat.

WP:  Cox (4-1).  LP;  Hall (3-4).  S:  None.

Notes:  With Carew still out, Tovar was at second base.  Graig Nettles was at third and Manuel in left.

Jim Perry started for the Twins and pitched 5.1 innings, allowing four runs on six hits and no walks and striking out one.  As noted above, he pitched very well for five innings.  He had not pitched since June 1, when he went just five innings.

This was Worthington's first appearance of the season.  Forty years old, he had retired after the 1968 season, but was persuaded to come back by the Twins.  He was not the pitcher he had been, but he gave the Twins some good value.  A couple of really bad outings in August make his numbers look significantly worse, as he put up an ERA of 4.57 and a WHIP of 1.39.  Take out those two bad games, and his ERA drops to 3.64.  He would retire again, this time for good, after the 1969 campaign.

Roseboro came out of the game after six innings for no obvious reason.  He was replaced by George Mitterwald.  Roseboro would be back in the lineup the next day.  His 1-for-2 raised his average to .310.  Oliva raised his average to .305.

I don't know for sure that Perranoski did not bunt in the eleventh.  The play-by-play says "Groundout: P-SS/Forceout at 2B".  Normally it would specify "bunt" if that was what happened, but I'm not sure they're totally consistent about it.  It sounds like he swung away, but I can't really say for sure.
Miller dropped his ERA to 1.86.  Perranoski's ERA was 1.59.  Jerry Crider came on to put two-thirds on an inning without giving up a run, making 4.2 scoreless innings to start his career.

Washington's starter was ex-Twin Camilo Pascual.  He pitched five innings, giving up two runs on three hits and three walks and striking out one.  Pascual was near the end of a fine career.  He would make only three more starts in 1969.  He was sold to Cincinnati at mid-season, made ten appearances out of the Dodgers bullpen in 1970, and pitched briefly for Cleveland in 1971.  From 1958-1965, though, he was one of the best pitchers in baseball.  He went 41-20 from 1962-1963.  He led the league in complete games three times and in shutouts three times.  He also led the league in strikeouts three times.  He played in six all-star games in four years, a feat made possible by the fact that there were two all-star games in a few seasons.  He had some bad seasons at the beginning and end of his career that hurt his numbers, but for several years, he was one of the best.

Record:  The Twins were 29-22, in first place in the American League West, three games ahead of Oakland.

WASHINGTON 1, MINNESOTA 0 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Friday, June 6.

Batting star:  George Mitterwald was 2-for-3 with two doubles and a hit-by-pitch.

Pitching stars:  Jim Kaat pitched 6.2 innings, giving up one run on nine hits and four walks and striking out six.  Dick Woodson pitched 1.1 scoreless innings, giving up two hits and a walk and striking out one.

Opposition stars:  Frank Howard was 3-for-4.  Eddie Brinkman was 2-for-5.  Hank Allen was 2-for-5.  Barry Moore pitched five shutout innings, giving up two hits and three walks and striking out four.  Darold Knowles struck out four in four shutout innings of relief, giving up two hits and a walk.

The game:  The Senators had baserunners all over the place, but only scored one run.  Unfortunately, it was enough.  They had a pair of one-out singles in the first and did not score.  They opened the second with a walk and a single and did not score.  The Twins had a chance in the third, as Mitterwald opened the inning with a double, but he was lost trying to take third on a ground ball to short.  The Twins also had a pair of two-out walks in the fifth, but a fly out ended the inning.

Washington got on the board in the sixth, but it wasn't easy.  Frank Howard singled, future Twin Brant Alyea walked, and Ken McMullen singled loading the bases with one out.  Dick Billings then hit into a 6-4-3 double play, scoring the game's only run.

The Senators loaded the bases again in the seventh.  Brinkman had a one-out single, Howard had a two-out single, and Alyea walked.  Bob Miller came in to replace Kaat and strike out McMullen to end the inning.  The Twins got another double from Mitterwald in the seventh, this time with one out, but it did not do them any good.  In fact, it was the last hit the Twins would get.  They did get a walk in the eighth and hit-by-pitch in the ninth, but neither man advanced past first base.

WP:  Moore (5-1).  L:  Kaat (5-4).  S:  Knowles (1).

Notes:  Cesar Tovar was at third and Bob Allison in left.  Mitterwald caught in place of Johnny Roseboro.

Rod Carew was 0-for-3 with a walk and was batting .391.  Kaat lowered his ERA to 2.53.  Miller, in striking out the only man he faced, dropped his ERA to 1.62.  Ron Perranoski retired both men he faced to make his ERA 1.67.

It's not easy to get eleven hits and five walks and only score one run.  It's even harder when the hits are bunched in the lineup--the first three men in the Washington batting order went 7-for-14 with a walk.  The Senators managed it by a) having all the hits be singles; b) hitting into two double plays, and c) going 1-for-12 with men in scoring position.

In two games against the Twins, Barry Moore pitched fourteen innings and gave up one run on eight hits and five walks.  He struck out seven.  He will face the Twins one more time in 1969, on August 26, and the result will be significantly different.

Darold Knowles was a fine reliever for the Senators from 1967-1971, going 20-27, 2.36 with 73 saves.  He somehow managed to go 2-14 in 1970 despite posting a 2.04 ERA.  He may have been brought into a lot of tie games--nine unearned runs probably didn't help, either.  Washington traded him to Oakland in May of 1971 and Knowles became a valuable member of the Athletics bullpen in their 1970s championship years.  He moved on to the Cubs in 1975-1976, Texas in 1977, Montreal in 1978, and finished his career with St. Louis in 1979-1980.  His career totals were 66-74, 3.12, 143 saves over sixteen seasons.  A pretty darn good career, really.

Record:  The Twins were 28-21, first in the American League West, 2.5 games ahead of Oakland.

MINNESOTA 4, NEW YORK 2 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Wednesday, June 4.

Batting stars:  Rod Carew was 3-for-4 with a walk and a stolen base, his tenth.  Leo Cardenas was 3-for-4.

Pitching stars:  Tom Hall pitched 7.2 innings, giving up two runs on five hits and two walks and striking out four.  Ron Perranoski pitched 1.1 scoreless innings, giving up one hit.

Opposition stars:  Horace Clarke was 3-for-3 with a walk.  Bill Robinson was 1-for-4 with a home run.  Mel Stottlemyre pitched seven innings, giving up three runs on seven hits and two walks and striking out three.

The game:  Rod Carew got an infield hit in the first and advanced to third base, but no farther.  The two teams combined for just one more hit until the fifth.  With one out in the fifth, Johnny Roseboro doubled and scored on a Cardenas single.  Cesar Tovar was hit by a pitch, and with two out Ted Uhlaender singled to make the score 2-0.

The Yankees got on the board in the sixth when Gene Michael doubled and scored on a two-out single by Clarke.  The Twins got the run back in the bottom of the sixth when Carew doubled, went to third on a ground out, and scored on a Graig Nettles sacrifice fly, making the score 3-1 Twins.

The Twins missed a chance to add to their lead in the seventh when Cardenas and Tovar led off the inning with singles.  They went to second and third on a ground out, but Cardenas was caught trying to steal home.  Bill Robinson led off the eighth with a home run, cutting the margin to 3-2.  Michael drew a one-out walk and Clarke hit a two-out single, resulting in Perranoski replacing Hall.  Bobby Cox got an infield single to load the bases, but Roy White hit into a forceout to end the inning.

The Twins got an insurance run in the ninth.  Carew led off with a single and went to second on a ground out.  Harmon Killebrew was intentionally walked.  Carew went to third on a fly out.  With men on first and third and one out, Killebrew stole second (!).  Roseboro walked to load the bases.  The Twins then pulled off a triple steal, with Carew stealing home to make the score 4-2.  The Yankees went down in order in the ninth.

WP:  Hall (3-3).  LP:  Stottlemyre (8-4).  S:  Perranoski (12).

Notes:  Nettles was in left field, with Tovar at third base.  Quilici again came in to play third in the eighth, with Tovar moving to left.

Carew raised his average to .399.  Cardenas raised his average to .306.  Roseboro was 1-for-3 with a walk and was batting .305.  Tony Oliva was 0-for-3 with a walk and was batting .301.  Perranoski lowered his ERA to 1.70.

I don't know how many times Killebrew stole two bases in a game, much less in the same inning, but it can't be very many.  And his steal of second was actually a straight steal, not the back end of anything.  He had nineteen stolen bases in his career, with eight of them coming in 1969.  For his career he was 19-for-37, obviously not a good percentage, but in 1969 he was 8-for-10.

Hall had not pitched since May 27.  He would make three more appearances, all in relief, then would miss a month.

After giving up runs in back-to-back appearances, Perranoski had now made four consecutive scoreless appearances.

Record:  The Twins were 28-20, in first place in the American League West, 3.5 games ahead of Oakland.