MINNESOTA 5, SEATTLE 2 IN SEATTLE (GAME 1 OF DOUBLEHEADER)

Date:  Sunday, September 28.

Batting stars:  Johnny Roseboro was 2-for-4 with a double.  Cesar Tovar was 2-for-4 with a stolen base, his forty-fifth.  Rod Carew was 2-for-5 with three RBIs.  Ted Uhlaender was 1-for-3 with a home run, his eighth.

Pitching stars:  Dave Boswell pitched seven innings, giving up two runs (one earned) on three hits and four walks and striking out three.  Ron Perranoski struck out two in two perfect innings.

Opposition star:  John O'Donoghue struck out six in five shutout innings of relief, giving up two hits and a walk.

The game:  Uhlaender led off the game with a home run.  The Twins missed a chance for more, though.  Tony Oliva and Harmon Killebrew each walked with one out, but Graig Nettles hit into a double play to end the inning.  Seattle got the run back in the bottom of the first.  John Donaldson and Wayne Comer walked, and ex-Twin Don Mincher delivered a two-out single to tie it 1-1.

The Twins took the lead back in the second.  Singles by Tovar and Roseboro and a walk to Leo Cardenas loaded the bases with none out.  Boswell struck out and Uhlaender hit a fly to short left, but Carew delivered a two-run single to give the Twins a 3-1 advantage.

Neither team scored again until the seventh.  The Twins put a man in scoring position in the third, when Tovar hit a two-out single and stole second, and again in the fifth, when Oliva hit a one-out double, but nothing came of it.  In the bottom of the seventh, Ex-Twin Sandy Valdespino singled and scored from first on John Kennedy's double-plus-error, cutting the Twins' margin to 3-2.

That was the last Pilot to reach base, though.  The Twins put the game out of reach in the ninth.  Roseboro and Cardenas opened the inning with back-to-back doubles, making the lead 4-2.  With two out, Carew also doubled, increasing it to 5-2.

WP:  Boswell (20-11).  LP:  Miguel Fuentes (1-3).  S:  Perranoski (30).

Notes:  Rich Reese remained out of the lineup.  Killebrew was at first base, with Nettles making a rare (for 1969) start at third base (he started just 16 games there that season, as opposed to 44 in left field).  Bob Allison pinch-hit for him in the fifth and stayed in the game in left field, with Uhlaender moving to center and Tovar to third.  In the sixth, Rick Renick came in to play third, with Tovar moving back to center and Uhlaender coming out of the game.  Frank Quilici then came in to play third in place of Renick in the seventh.

Herman Hill pinch-ran for Roseboro in the ninth, with Tom Tischinski coming in to catch.

Carew was batting .334.  Oliva was 1-for-4 and was batting .306.  Perranoski lowered his ERA to 2.14.

I'm sure the Twins were thrilled to be playing a doubleheader in the last week of the regular season while they were getting ready for the playoffs.  Come to think of it, I don't suppose Seattle, which had long since been eliminated, was too happy about it, either.  The doubleheader came about because the game they day before had been rained out.

This was the only time Boswell would win twenty games.  It was also the last season he would be healthy.  In fact, he would win just four more games the rest of his career, which would be over in 1971.

This was the first time Perranoski reached thirty saves.  His previous high had been 21 with the Dodgers in 1963.  At that time, of course, relief aces (they weren't called closers then) were often brought into tie games or even close games with their team behind.  In addition to his 21 saves in 1963, he went 16-3 and led the league in winning percentage.  He would have 31 saves in 1969 and would top that in 1970, when he saved 34.  He would save only seven more games after that, however.

This was the last start and the next-to-last game of Miguel Fuentes' career.  His is actually a rather sad story, one that if I'd ever heard I'd forgotten about.  A native of Puerto Rico, he was signed by the Pilots as a free agent before the 1969 season at age twenty-three.  He was sent to the Midwest League, where he appeared in 26 games (6 starts) and went 8-2, 1.46 with a WHIP of 0.93 in 74 innings.  He got a September call-up and went 1-3, 5.19 in 8 games (4 starts).  His one win was a complete game victory over the White Sox, in which he gave up just one run on seven hits and two walks.  One assumes the Pilots/Brewers would have sent him to AA in 1970, but it never happened.  He returned to his home town of Loiza Aldea during the off-season and was shot and killed in a bar fight.  He was still just twenty-three years old.

Record:  The Twins were 95-63, in first place in the American League West, 9.5 games ahead of Oakland.  They had clinched first place in the division.

SEATTLE 4, MINNESOTA 3 IN SEATTLE (14 INNINGS)

Date:  Friday, September 26.

Batting stars:  Harmon Killebrew was 1-for-4 with a home run, his forty-eighth.  Ted Uhlaender was 1-for-4 with a double and two walks.  Graig Nettles was 1-for-4 with a double and two walks.

Pitching stars:  Jim Perry pitched three innings, giving up one run on three hits and a walk and striking out two.  Dick Woodson pitched two perfect innings, striking out one.  Ron Perranoski pitched 2.2 scoreless innings, giving up four hits and a walk.  Joe Grzenda pitched two shutout innings, giving up one hit.

Opposition stars:  Wayne Comer was 3-for-6 with a home run (his fifteenth) and a walk.  Greg Goossen was 2-for-6 with a home run (his ninth) and a double.  Ex-Twin Sandy Valdespino was 2-for-6.  John Kennedy was 2-for-6.  Diego Segui pitched two shutout innings, giving up a walk.  Bob Locker struck out four in three shutout innings, giving up one hit and two walks.

The game:  Uhlaender led off the game with a double and was on third with one out, but when Oliva hit what appeared to be a sacrifice fly he was called out on appeal for leaving third base too soon.  The Twins got on the board in the second, however.  Killebrew led off with a home run.  With one out, Cesar Tovar singled, stole second and third, and scored on a Johnny Roseboro single, putting the Twins in front 2-0.

Goossen led off the bottom of the second, cutting the lead to 2-1.  The Twins got the run back in the third.  Uhlaender walked, Rod Carew singled, and Graig Nettles delivered a two-out RBI double to make the score 3-1.

It stayed 3-1 until the seventh.  Jerry McNertney started the inning with a single and Valdespino hit a single-plus-error, putting men on second and third with none out.  Fred Stanley had a run scoring ground out followed by a Tommy Harper sacrifice fly, and that quickly the score was tied 3-3.

The Pilots started the eighth with singles by John Donaldson and Comer, but a double play took them out of the inning.  An error and a walk gave them two on with two out in the ninth, but Kennedy lined out to end the inning.  In the tenth, Steve Hovley advanced to third on a single and a stolen base-plus-error, but was stranded there.

Both teams missed chances in the twelfth.  Rick Dempsey led off the top of the inning with a double but remained on second.  Steve Whitaker started the bottom of the second with a single and was bunted to second, but got no farther.  Seattle had another chance in the thirteenth.  Goossen led off with a double.  An intentional walk and a force out left men on first and third with one down.  Stanley then hit back to the pitcher, who threw Goossen out at the plate.  A fly ball ended the inning.

The game finally ended in the fourteenth.  In the top of the inning Renick hit a one-out double but was thrown out trying to stretch it to a triple.  With two out in the bottom of the inning, Comer homered to end the game.

WP:  John Gelnar (3-10).  LP:  Tom Hall (8-7). S:  None.

Notes:  I wonder if Rich Reese had a minor injury.  He hasn't played since September 24 and was not used in this game despite the fact that the Twins used nine substitutes, including Jim Kaat as a pinch-hitter.

The Twins started with their regular lineup.  In the third, Frank Quilici replaced Carew at second base.  Herman Hill pinch-hit for Perry in the fourth.  Tom Tischinski replaced Roseboro in the sixth.  Renick replaced Leo Cardenas at shortstop in the seventh.  Charlie Manuel replaced Tovar in the seventh but went to left, with Uhlaender moving to center.  Bob Allison pinch-ran for Tischinski in the tenth, with Rick Dempsey going in to catch.  In the eleventh, Cotton Nash replaced Killebrew at first base and Jim Holt went to right to replace Oliva.  Kaat pinch-hit for Joe Grzenda in the twelfth.

Carew was 1-for-2 and was batting .333.  Oliva was 0-for-5 and was batting .307.  Perry's ERA was 2.85.  Perranoski dropped his ERA to 2.18.

Darrell Brandon made the last of his three appearances as a Twin in this game.  He had made two in July.  He had started the season with Seattle, but was sold to the Twins on July 8.  b-r.com refers to him as "Bucky" Brandon--perhaps that was his nickname, but I don't remember him being called that when he played.  On the other hand, we didn't have the media coverage that we do now, so if Herb Carneal didn't use the nickname I probably wouldn't have heard about it.

Speaking of nicknames, I'd completely forgotten that Fred "Chicken" Stanley started his career as a Seattle Pilot.

The starting pitcher for Seattle was Claude "Skip" Lockwood.  He pitched seven innings, giving up three runs on seven hits and two walks and striking out two.

Record:  The Twins were 94-63, in first place in the American League West, leading Oakland by nine games.  They had clinched the division.

SEATTLE 5, MINNESOTA 1 IN SEATTLE

Date:  Thursday, September 25.

Batting stars:  Rick Renick was 2-for-4 with a home run, his fifth.  Tom Tischinski was 2-for-4.

Pitching stars:  None.

Opposition stars:  Greg Goossen was 3-for-4 with two home runs (his seventh and eighth) and a double, scoring three times and driving in three.  Steve Barber struck out ten in eight innings, giving up one run on nine hits and three walks.

The game:  The Twins had men on first and second with one out in the first, but Bob Allison and Renick both struck out.  It cost them, as the Pilots scored two in the bottom of the first.  John Kennedy walked and Goossen hit a two-out two-run homer to give Seattle a 2-0 lead.

The Twins missed another chance in the fourth, as singles by Leo Cardenas and Tischinski put men on first and second with two out but Jim Kaat struck out.  Again, the Pilots scored in the bottom of the inning.  With one out, Goossen doubled, Jerry McNertney was intentionally walked, and John Donaldson singled to load the bases.  Steve Whitaker delivered a sacrifice fly and Seattle led 3-0.

The Twins opened the sixth with singles by Renick and Cotton Nash, putting men on first and third with none out.  They were turned aside once more, as Rod Carew grounded out, Tischinski popped up, and Tony Oliva grounded out.  The Pilots did not score right away in the sixth this time, but they did add a run in the seventh, as triples by Whitaker and Kennedy made the score 4-0.

The Twins finally got on the board in the eighth as Renick hit a solo homer.  Goossen got the run back with a homer in the bottom of the eighth to make it 5-1.  The Twins got their first two men on base in the ninth, but that was as close as they would come.

WP:  Barber (4-6).  LP:  Kaat (13-13).  S:  John O'Donoghue (6).

Notes:  The Twins kind of treated this like a spring training game.   Renick started the game in left field and Allison was in right, with both Ted Uhlaender and Oliva on the bench.  Frank Quilici started at third base, with Harmon Killebrew moving to first and Rich Reese on the bench.  Tischinski was behind the plate, with Johnny Roseboro again out.

Oliva was used as a pinch-hitter.  In the sixth, Nash replaced Cardenas and went to left field, with Renick going to shortstop.  In the eighth, Graig Nettles went to center field, replacing Cesar Tovar.  In the eighth, Jim Holt replaced Killebrew and went to right field, with Allison moving to left and Nash to first base.  Also, Herman Hill went to center field in place of Carew, with Nettles moving to third base and Quilici going to second.

Carew was 1-for-4 and was batting .333.

Kaat struck out six in five innings, but gave up three runs on three hits and three walks.  Tom Hall pitched the last three innings, giving up two runs on four hits and striking out one.

This was the only outfield appearance of Nash's career, although he did see time there in the minors.  This was the second and last appearance in center field of Nettles' career--he had played four innings there in 1968.

Greg Goossen is best remembered for the Casey Stengel quote (when both were with the Mets) "I've got a kid here named Goossen, he's twenty years old and in ten years he's got a chance to be thirty."  He actually had a fine year in 1969 (when he was twenty-three), batting .309/.385/.597, although in just 157 plate appearances.  He had hit well in AAA Vancouver in 1969, too, and one would've thought he looked like a star in the making.  He started 1970 in the majors but played sporadically.  He did well when he was given the chance, batting .255/.407/.353 in 59 plate appearances, but the Brewers preferred Mike Hegan  at first base and sent him to the minors in mid-May, then sold him to Washington.  The Senators had Mike Epstein at first base, so he never got much chance there, either.  He was in AAA in 1971, played in Mexico in 1972, then was done.  My recollection from "Ball Four" is that Goossen was kind of a character, and characters weren't always welcome in baseball back then.  Still, one wonders what would've happened if he'd just been put in the lineup and given a chance to play.

Record:  The Twins were 94-62, in first place in the American League West, ten games ahead of Oakland.  They had clinched first place in the division.

MINNESOTA 2, KANSAS CITY 1 IN KANSAS CITY (10 INNINGS)

Date:  Wednesday, September 24.

Batting stars:  Rick Renick was 2-for-4 with a home run (his fourth) and two runs.  Ted Uhlaender was 2-for-5.

Pitching stars:  Jim Perry pitched 7.1 innings, giving up one run on six hits and three walks and striking out five.  Dick Woodson pitched 1.2 innings, giving up two hits.  Ron Perranoski pitched a perfect inning.

Opposition stars:  Dick Drago pitched a ten-inning complete game, giving up two runs on nine hits and a walk and striking out four.  Ed Kirkpatrick was 2-for-5 with a double.  Mike Fiore was 2-for-5.

The game:  It was quite a pitchers' duel.  The Royals had men on first and second with one out in the first, as Fiore and Kirkpatrick singles, but Lou Piniella hit into a double play.  There really was not another threat until the sixth, when Perry tripled.  A ground out and a line out left him at third base.

The Royals had a major threat in the seventh.  Piniella and Joe Foy opened the inning with walks.  A bunt/force out left runners at first and second, with Foy on second and Jerry Adair at first.  Paul Schaal singled to right, but Tony Oliva gunned down Foy at the plate.  Runners were still on second and third with two down.  Eliseo Rodriguez was intentionally walked to load the bases.  Manager Joe Gordon elected to allow Drago to bat.  He struck out and the threat was over.

The Twins finally got on the board in the eighth when Renick led off with a home run.  Kansas City got the run back in the bottom of the eighth.  Fiore singled and Kirkpatrick doubled, putting men on second and third with one out.  Piniella hit a grounder to short, but the throw home was too late and Fiore scored to tie it 1-1.  In the ninth, Rodriguez doubled with two out, but Drago again was allowed to bat and he fouled out to end the inning.

The Twins took the lead in the tenth.  With one out, Renick, George Mitterwald, and Graig Nettles hit consecutive singles to make the score 2-1.  Kansas City went down in order in the bottom of the tenth.

WP:  Woodson (7-5).  LP:  Drago (10-13).  S:  Perranoski (29).

Notes:  Uhlaender was again in center, with Charlie Manuel in left and Cesar Tovar on the bench.  Tovar was used as a pinch-runner in the tenth.  Mitterwald was again behind the plate in place of Johnny Roseboro.

Rod Carew was 1-for-4 and was batting .333.  Rich Reese was 1-for-4 and was batting .320.  Oliva was 0-for-4 and was batting .310.  Perry lowered his ERA to 2.85.  Perranoski lowered his ERA to 2.23.

You have to wonder about Drago batting for himself twice in run-scoring situations.  I can understand the seventh--Drago was pitching well, there were still two innings (at least) to play, and of course pitch counts weren't a thing back then.  But in the ninth?  When a base hit wins the game?  It's not like Drago was a good hitter, even for a pitcher--in 1969 he was 3-for-52 (.058), and for his career he batted .077.  Not that the Royals had a lot of great hitter on their bench, but almost anyone would do better than .058.  And it's not like they didn't have anyone who could pitch out of the bullpen--Moe Drabowsky had a fine year in 1969.  As we've said before, second-guessing a manager fifty years after the fact is tricky--there are all kinds of things that we don't know and have no way to know.  But on the face of it, this does not make much sense to me.

Record:  The Twins were 94-61, in first place in the American League West, eleven games ahead of Oakland.  The Twins had already clinched the division.

MINNESOTA 6, KANSAS CITY 2 IN KANSAS CITY

Date:  Tuesday, September 23.

Batting stars:  Rich Reese was 2-for-4 with three RBIs.  Rod Carew was 2-for-5 with a stolen base, his nineteenth.  Tony Oliva was 2-for-5.

Pitching stars:  Dave Boswell pitched seven innings, giving up two runs on four hits and four walks and striking out six.  Tom Hall pitched a scoreless inning, giving up one hit.  Ron Perranoski pitched a perfect inning.

Opposition star:  Mike Hedlund pitched seven innings, giving up four runs (three earned) on eight hits and a walk and striking out three.

The game:  The runs came in pairs.  The Twins started it by getting two in the first inning.  Ted Uhlaender reached on an error and Oliva hit a one-out single.  Harmon Killebrew walked to load the bases and Reese delivered a two-run single to make it 2-0.

Kansas City drew a pair of one-out walks in the second but did not score.  In the third, Carew singled and reached third on a stolen base-plus-error with none out, but did not score.  in the bottom of the third, the Royals tied it.  Alcaraz and Fiore started the inning with singles and runners were at first and third with one out.  A ground out scored one and a Joe Foy single made the score 2-2.

The Twins got the lead back in the sixth.  Oliva, Killebrew, and Reese all singled to make the score 3-2.  With two out, Rick Renick hit another single to make it 4-2.  Kansas City did not get a man past first base after the third inning.  In the ninth, Rick Dempsey singled and Renick walked.  An error brought home one run and Uhlaender's sacrifice fly rounded out the scoring.

WP:  Boswell (19-11).  LP:  Hedlund (3-6).  S:  Perranoski (28).

Notes:  Uhlaender was in center field, with Cesar Tovar on the bench.  Graig Nettles played left field.  Renick was at shortstop, with Leo Cardenas on the bench.

Carew was batting .334.  Reese was batting .321.  Oliva was battine .312.  Perranoski's ERA was 2.25.

This was the major league debut for Rick Dempsey, who went 1-for-2.  He would appear in five games in 1969, going 3-for-6 with a double and a walk.  He would ultimately appear in 1765 major league games over twenty-four seasons.

Boswell had nineteen wins with one, possibly two, starts remaining.  Would he get number twenty?  We will see.

Record:  The Twins were 93-61, in first place in the American League West, ten games ahead of Oakland.  They had clinched first place in the division.

MINNESOTA 4, KANSAS CITY 3 IN KANSAS CITY

Date:  Monday, September 22.

Batting stars:  Cesar Tovar was 3-for-4 with a stolen base (his thirty-second).  Tony Oliva was 2-for-5.  Harmon Killebrew was 1-for-4 with a home run, his forty-seventh.

Pitching stars:  Bob Miller pitched eight innings, giving up three runs on seven hits and three walks and striking out five.  Al Worthington pitched a scoreless inning, giving up a hit and a walk.

Opposition stars:  Mike Fiore was 2-for-4 with a double.  Buck Martinez was 2-for-4.  Jim Rooker pitched eight innings, giving up three runs on seven hits and three walks and striking out five.

The game:  Fiore hit a one-out double in the first but could not get past third base.  The Twins put two on with two out in the second and did not score.  The Royals got on the board in the third on singles by Pat Kelly and Fiore and an Ed Kirkpatrick sacrifice fly.

The Twins came back to take the lead in the fourth.  Killebrew led off with a home run to tie it 1-1.  Bob Allison then doubled, went to third on a fly out, and scored on George Mitterwald's sacrifice fly, making the score 2-1 Twins.  They added to the lead in the fifth when Cardenas got a leadoff double and scored on Tovar's single.

The Twins got one more run in the ninth when Frank Quilici walked, was bunted to second, and scored on a single by Tovar.  They needed it, as Kansas City came back in the bottom of the ninth.  Kirkpatrick led off with a single and Lou Piniella delivered an RBI double.  With one out, Jerry Adair walked and Martinez singled, cutting the margin to 4-3.  They lost a man on the bases, however, as pinch-runner Scott Northey rounded second too far and was cut down by Oliva.  Paul Schaal grounded out to end the game.

WP:  Miller (5-4).  LP:  Rooker (4-15).  S:  Worthington (3).

Notes:  Quilici started at second base, with Rod Carew on the bench.  Carew entered the game in the seventh for defense, with Quilici moving to third and Rick Renick, who started at third, coming out of the game.  Killebrew played the entire game at first base, with Rich Reese on the bench.  This has to be one of the few times in his career that Carew entered a game as a defensive replacement.

Mitterwald was again behind the plate, with Johnny Roseboro on the bench.  I don't know if Roseboro had a minor injury or ailment or whether, with the pennant race well in hand, Billy Martin just chose to give him a couple of days off.  Roseboro would be in-and-out of the lineup the rest of the season, but would not play a complete game.

This was Miller's first start since August 8.  He had missed about a month due to injury and made three relief appearances in that span.

This was the game that clinched the pennant for the Twins.

This was Scott Northey's only season in the majors.  It was really just the month of September--he got a September call-up after batting .327 in a half-season of AAA.  He batted .262/.337/.410 in 68 plate appearances.  He was only twenty-two, and probably big things were expected.  Instead, he went backward.  He started 1970 in AAA, but went back to AA after batting just .226.  He spent in 1971 and 1972 in AA, didn't do much, and his playing career was over.  He's the son of major league outfielder Ron Northey.

Record:  The Twins were 92-61, in first place in the American League West, 10.5 games ahead of Oakland.  They clinched first place in the division.  They would play Baltimore, who had long since clinched the American League East and led Detroit by twenty games.

SEATTLE 4, MINNESOTA 3 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Sunday, September 21.

Batting stars:  Harmon Killebrew was 3-for-3 with two home runs (his forty-fifth and forty-sixth) and a walk.  George Mitterwald was 3-for-4.

Pitching stars:  Dean Chance pitched six innings, giving up three runs (two earned) on eight hits and two walks and striking out three.  Jim Kaat struck out three in three innings, giving up one run on one hit.

Opposition stars:  Tommy Harper was 2-for-4 with two stolen bases, his seventh-second and seventy-third.  John Donaldson was 2-for-4 with a stolen base, his sixth.  Steve Hovley was 2-for-4.  John O'Donoghue pitched two shutout innings, giving up a walk.

The game:  Harper led off the game with a single and stole second.  Future Twin Danny Walton got a bunt single, with Harper staying at second.  They then pulled off a double steal, moving to second and third with one out.  But Hovley lined into an unassisted double play at shortstop, and the game remained scoreless until the bottom of the first, when Killebrew hit a two-out home run to give the Twins a 1-0 lead.

The Pilots took the lead in the fourth.  With one out, Walton walked, Hovley singled, and Ex-Twin Don Mincher walked, loading the bases.  Jerry McNertney hit into a force out to tie the score and Donaldson singled to center to put Seattle in front 2-1.  The lead lasted until the second batter of the bottom of the fourth, when Killebrew again homered, tying it 2-2.

Each team scored once in the sixth.  Seattle got singles by Hovley, Mincher, and Donaldson to go ahead 3-2.  In the bottom of the inning, Tovar was hit by a pitch, stole second and third, and scored on a Rod Carew single, tying the score 3-3.

The Twins missed a chance in the eighth.  Kaat led off with a single, and an error on Tovar's sacrifice bunt put men on first and third with none out.  Carew grounded out to put men on second and third, Killebrew was intentionally walked, and Oliva hit into a 1-2-3 double play.  The missed chance cost the Twins, as Kennedy homered with two out in the ninth to give the Pilots a 4-3 lead.  It was enough, as the Twins went down in order in the bottom of the ninth.

WP:  O'Donoghue (2-2).  LP:  Kaat (13-12).  S:  None.

Notes:  Bob Allison was in left, with Ted Uhlaender on the bench.  Uhlaender pinch-hit in the seventh and remained in the game.  Rick Renick was at third, with Killebrew moving to first and Rich Reese on the bench.  Reese pinch-hit in the seventh and remained in the game.  Mitterwald was behind the plate in place of Johnny Roseboro.

This game was the last major league appearance for Frank Kostro, who pinch-hit for Chance in the sixth inning.  Kostro had gone back-and-forth between the Twins and AAA since 1964.  He got exactly 300 plate appearances as a Twin, batting .251/.292/.331.  The most playing time he got as a Twin came in 1968, when he appeared in 63 games and had 118 plate appearances.

The Seattle starting pitcher was Bob Meyer.  He pitched six innings, giving up three runs on six hits and no walks and striking out seven.  Meyer began his major league career in 1964, pitching for three teams (Yankees, Angels, Athletics) and going 2-8, 4.37 in 22 games, 13 of them starts.  He then spent the next four seasons in the minors, not making it back until late August of 1969 with the Pilots.  He appeared in six games, five of them starts, and while he went 0-3 it was with an ERA of 3.31 and a WHIP of 1.22.  He started 1970 in the bullpen with the now Milwaukee Brewers, but in ten games went 0-1, 6.38.  He spent the rest of the season in the minors, was released in late March of 1971, and his playing career ended.  For his career he was 2-12, 4.38 in 129.1 innings.  He appeared in 38 games, 18 of them starts.  Still, for an undrafted free agent, that's not too bad.

I have to admit that I kind of miss the days when players would steal, fifty, sixty, or seventy bases in a season.  I'm not arguing the analytics or anything.  I just think it was an exciting brand of baseball, and I miss it.

Record:  The Twins were 91-61, in first place in the American League West, ten games ahead of Oakland.  The Athletics defeated California 12-2, so the Twins magic number remained one.

MINNESOTA 3, SEATTLE 2 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Saturday, September 20.

Batting stars:  Rod Carew was 3-for-4 with a walk and two runs.  Ted Uhlaender was 3-for-5 with a triple.  Cesar Tovar was 2-for-3 with a walk.  Tony Oliva was 2-for-5 with a double.

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

Opposition stars:  John Kennedy was 2-for-3 with a two-run homer, his third.  Steve Whitaker was 2-for-4.  Gene Brabender pitched 6.1 innings, giving up two runs on nine hits and three walks and striking out four.

The game:  John Dondaldson and Whitaker started the game with singles, but Perry came back to strike out the next three batters.  The Pilots broke through in the second, though.  Jerry McNertney walked and Kennedy followed with a two-run homer, putting Seattle ahead 2-0.

Then came some frustration.  The Twins got two-out singles from Tovar and Johnny Roseboro in the second but did not score.  In the third the Twins got one-out singles from Uhlaender and Carew and again did not score.  In the fourth the Pilots got one-out singles from McNertney and Kennedy and did not score.  In the fifth, the Twins got a one-out single by Uhlaender followed by a walk to Carew and could not cash it in.  In the sixth, Killebrew walked and Tovar got a one-out single, but it again came to nothing.

Finally, in the seventh, the Twins got on the board.  Uhlaender tripled with one out and scored on a single by Carew.  Oliva followed with another single.  With two out, Rich Reese delivered an RBI single to tie the score 2-2.

It was still tied going to the bottom of the ninth.  With one out, Carew singled.  Oliva followed with a double, scoring Carew from first base with the deciding run.

WP:  Perry (20-6).  LP:  Diego Segui (11-6).  S:  None.

Notes:  Carew was restored to the second spot in the batting order and raised his average to .334.  Reese was 1-for-4 and was batting .321.  Oliva was batting .313.  Perry's ERA was 2.90.

This was the first time Perry won twenty games.  He would do it again in 1970, leading the league in wins with twenty-four.  He finished third in Cy Young voting in 1969 (behind Mike Cuellar and Denny McLain) and would win the award in 1970.

The Twins stranded eleven runners, going 2-for-10 with men in scoring position.

Record:  The Twins were 91-60, in first place in the American League West, eleven games ahead of Oakland.  The Athletics lost to California 7-3.  The Twins had clinched a tie for first place, which of course means their magic number was now one.

MINNESOTA 2, SEATTLE 1 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Friday, September 19.

Batting stars:  Tony Oliva was 2-for-4 with a stolen base, his tenth.

Pitching star:  Dave Boswell struck out fourteen and pitched a complete game, giving up one run on five hits and a walk.

Opposition stars:  Steve Barber pitched five innings, giving up two runs (one earned) on seven hits and no walks and striking out two.  John Gelnar pitched two perfect innings, striking out one.

The game:  The Twins got one-out singles from Oliva and Killebrew in the first inning, but Bob Allison hit into a double play.  In the second, Rick Renick led off with a single, Leo Cardenas reached on an error, and Rod Carew singled, loading the bases with none out.  The Twins got only one run out of it, and that run scored on a double play off the bat of George Mitterwald.  Still, the Twins led 1-0.

The Pilots nearly tied it in the fourth, as John Donaldson led off with a triple.  But Boswell struck out Steve Hovley and future Twin Danny Walton and got ex-Twin Don Mincher to ground out to second, stranding Donaldson at third.  The Twins added a run in the fifth on singles by Allison and Cardenas and a force out hit by Carew, making the score 2-0.

Seattle got on the board in the seventh.  Walton hit a one-out double and with two out Jerry McNertney singled him home.  In the eighth the Pilots got the tying run to third.  With two out, Tommy Harper walked, stole second, and went to third on a wild pitch, but Donaldson grounded out to end the inning.

WP:  Boswell (18-11).  LP:  Barber (3-6).  S:  None.

Notes:  Carew was moved from his customary number two spot to seventh in the batting order.  Oliva moved up to second, Harmon Killebrew batted third, and Allison was fourth.  Allison was in left field.  Rick Renick batted fifth and played third base, with Killebrew on first.

Carew was 1-for-3 and was batting .330.  Oliva was batting .312.

By game scores, this was Boswell's best game of the season, with a score of 86.  His next highest score was 79, when he pitched twelve innings on July 14.  The fourteen strikeouts were a season high, topping the thirteen he had on May 13 in Baltimore.

In addition to Walton and Mincher, two other players connected to the Twins played in this game.  Ex-Twin Sandy Valdespino was used as a pinch-hitter and ex-Twin Ron Clark played shortstop as part of a double switch late in the game.  Ex-Twin Rich Rollins was also on the 1969 Seattle Pilots, but he played only half the season before missing the rest due to injury.

Record:  The Twins were 90-60, in first place in the American League West, ten games ahead of Oakland.  The Athletics lost to California 7-6, so the Twins' magic number was three.

CALIFORNIA 5,  MINNESOTA 2 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Thursday, September 18.

Batting star:  Cesar Tovar was 2-for-4 with a home run, his eleventh.

Pitching stars:  Bob Miller pitched two shutout innings, giving up two hits and striking out one.  Al Worthington pitched two innings, giving up two hits and striking out one.

Opposition stars:  Andy Messersmith pitched 6.1 innings, giving up one run on five hits and two walks and striking out five.  Jim Fregosi was 3-for-5.  Billy Cowan was 2-for-2.  Jay Johnstone was 2-for-5.  Rick Reichardt was 1-for-3 with two walks and two runs.

The game:  Ted Uhlaender singled and stole second with none out in the first but stayed there.  Reichardt and Cowan opened the second with singles but did not score.  Reichardt opened the fourth with a walk and Cowan and Jarvis Tatum singled, loading the bases with none out.  This time, the Angels did score, as Joe Azcue had a run-scoring ground out and Aurelio Rodriguez hit a two-run single, making the score 3-0.

In the fifth Tovar singled, was balked to second, and went to third on an error, but could not advance the last ninety feet.  California got three walks in the sixth but could do nothing with them.  That was not true of the seventh, however.  With two out and none on, Fregosi singled and Reichardt and Roger Repoz walked, loading the bases.  Bill Voss then delivered a two-run single, making the score 5-0.

The Twins got on the board in the bottom of the seventh.  Harmon Killebrew singled and Rich Reese walked.  With one out, Johnny Roseboro hit an RBI single to make the score 5-1.  Leo Cardenas walked, loading the bases and bringing the tying run to the plate, but Graig Nettles hit into a line drive double play.  The Twins would not bring the tying run to the plate again.  They scored once more when Tovar homered with two out in the ninth, but that was it.

WP:  Messersmith (16-9).  LP:  Tom Hall (8-6).  S:  Vern Geishert (1).

Notes:  Rod Carew was 0-for-4 and was batting .330.  Rich Reese was 0-for-3 with a walk and was batting .322.  Tony Oliva was 1-for-4 and was batting .310.

Miller lowered his ERA to 2.99.  Ron Perranoski pitched a third of an inning and gave up no runs on one hit, making his ERA 2.27.

Hall started and pitched three innings, allowing three runs on five hits and two walks and striking out two.

This was the only save of Vern Geishert's career.  He pitched in just eleven major league games, two of them against the Twins.

Jarvis Tatum was a September call-up for the Angels in both 1968 and 1969.  He did much better in 1969, batting .318 in 22 plate appearances.  He had no walks and no extra-base hits, so his line was .318/.318/.318.  He was in the majors for almost all of 1970 as a reserve outfielder.  He did not do well, batting .238/.302/.276 in 201 plate appearances.  He was only twenty-three, though, so one would've thought the Angels would give him another chance.  They didn't.  Instead, they traded him to Boston as part of the Tony Conigliaro trade.  Boston released him in early April of 1971.  He played in Japan in 1971, in AAA for the Padres in 1972, and in Mexico in 1973 before ending his playing career.  Jarvis Tatum passed away on January 6, 2003 at the young age of fifty-six.  He is one of two major league players to have the first name "Jarvis", with ex-Twin Jarvis Brown being the other.

Record:  The Twins were 89-60, in first place in the American League West, nine games ahead of Oakland.  The Athletics lost to Kansas City 6-1, so the Twins' magic number was down to five.