Tag Archives: Aurelio Rodriguez

Keeping Track

1970 Rewind: Game One Hundred Twenty-two

WASHINGTON 5, MINNESOTA 4 IN MINNESOTA (10 INNINGS)

Date:  Saturday, August 22.

Batting stars:  Jim Kaat was 2-for-2 with a double.  Danny Thompson was 2-for-5.  Harmon Killebrew was 1-for-3 with a two-run homer (his thirty-eighth) and two walks.  Leo Cardenas was 1-for-3 with a two-run homer (his tenth) and a walk.

Pitching stars:  Tom Hall struck out six in four innings, giving up one run on three hits and no walks.

Opposition stars:  Frank Howard was 2-for-3 with two home runs (his thirty-third and thirty-fourth) and two walks.  Tim Cullen was 2-for-4.  Rick Reichardt was 2-for-5 with a double.  Tom Grieve was 2-for-5 with two RBIs.  George Brunet pitched 2.2 scoreless innings, giving up a hit and a walk.  Darold Knowles pitched two shutout innings, giving up two hits and a walk and striking out one.  Horacio Pina pitched two shutout innings, giving up a hit and a walk and striking out one.

The game:  With one out in the first, Wayne Comer walked, went to second on a pickoff error, and stole third.  Frank Howard then walked, and a force out scored Comer.  Aurelio Rodriguez doubled to put men on second and third, and Grieve delivered a two-run single to make it 3-0 Senators before the Twins came to bat.

The Twins came back.  With one out in the second Jim Holt doubled and Cardenas followed with a two-run homer to cut the lead to 3-2.  With one out in the third Tony Oliva singled and Killebrew followed with a two-run homer to put the Twins in front 4-3.

The Twins loaded the bases with one out in the fourth, but Thompson hit into a double play to end the inning.  It cost them, as Howard homered in the fifth to tie the score 4-4.  Washington went on to put two on with one out, but a pair of ground outs ended the inning.  The Twins had two on with one out in the eighth but another double play, this one hit into by Cardenas, ended the inning.  Cesar Tovar hit a two-out double in the ninth, but nothing came of it.

Howard led off the tenth with his second home run to put the Senators up 5-4.  Killebrew walked with one out in the bottom of the tenth, but a pair of forceouts ended the game.

WP:  Pina (4-1).

LP:  Hall (6-5).

S:  None.

Notes:  Thompson remained at second base in place of Rod Carew.  Holt was in center, with Tovar in left.  Rick Renick pinch-hit for Holt in the eighth and stayed in the game in left field, with Tovar moving to center.  Bob Allison pinch-ran for Killebrew in the tenth.

Oliva was 1-for-5 and was batting .319.  Hall had an ERA of 2.85.

Kaat pitched well after the first inning, but his line was still six innings, four runs. eight hits, and four walks.  He struck out two.

I understand why you would pinch-run for Killebrew in the tenth, but I don't know why you would use Allison.  Allison had some speed when he was younger--Dazzle would've said "he can run a little bit"--but he was thirty-five by this time, and whatever speed he had was basically gone.  Certainly Frank Quilici would've been a better pinch-runner, plus he could've gone to third base if the Twins had tied the score.  In addition, while Allison wasn't the hitter he had once been, he'd have been a better pinch-hitter than Quilici if the game had continued.  I don't understand this one.

Jim Hannan was the Washington starter.  He lasted just 2.2 innings, allowing four runs on six hits, with no walks and no strikeouts.

I've probably pointed this out before, but Aurelio Rodriguez has all the vowels in his first name and all but one in his last name.

Record:  The Twins were 73-49, in first place in the American League West, five games ahead of California.

Keeping Track

1970 Rewind: Game Fifty-six

MINNESOTA 7, WASHINGTON 3 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Tuesday, June 16.

Batting stars:  Leo Cardenas was 4-for-4 with a double and three runs.  Jim Perry was 3-for-4.  George Mitterwald was 1-for-2 with a two-run homer (his fourth) and two walks.  Tony Oliva was 1-for-4 with a two-run homer, his eighth.

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

Opposition star:  Aurelio Rodriguez was 2-for-4 with a home run (his ninth), a double, two runs, and two RBIs.

The game:  The Senators scored first, getting two runs in the second.  Mike Epstein walked and scored from first on Rodriguez' RBI double.  Eddie Brinkman then followed with a run-scoring single, making it 2-0 Washington.  The Twins got the runs back in the fourth on singles by Cardenas and Perry and a two-run triple by Cesar Tovar.

The Twins took the lead with a two-out rally in the fourth, as Cardenas singled and Mitterwald followed with a two-run homer.  The Senators had two on with one out in the sixth, but did not score.  The Twins made them pay for it, as Cardenas hit a two-out double and Perry delivered an RBI single, putting the Twins ahead 5-2.  They added to the lead in the seventh, as Rod Carew walked and Oliva hit a two-run homer to make the score 7-2.

That was pretty much it.  After their threat in the sixth, Washington got only one more hit, a two-out homer by Rodriguez in the ninth to bring the final score to 7-3.

WP:  Perry (9-5).

LP:  Joe Grzenda (2-4).

S:  None.

Notes:  Rick Renick was at third base, with Harmon Killebrew moving to first and Rich Reese going to the bench.  Reese came in at first base in the seventh, with Killebrew moving to third.  Apparently, Bill Rigney considered Renick to be worse at third than Killebrew.  Jim Holt replaced Brant Alyea in left field, also in the seventh.  Frank Quilici replaced Killebrew at third in the ninth.

Carew was 1-for-4 and was batting .367.  Perry was batting .361.  Oliva was batting .335.  Killebrew was batting .319.  Perry had an ERA of 2.83.

This was the third and last start Grzenda made in 1970, as he went back to the bullpen after this game.  In fact, it was the last start of his career, as he pitched exclusively in relief after this.  He pitched four innings, allowing four runs on six hits and two walks and striking out one.

Lots of Twins connections with Senators players in this game.  Bernie Allen was at second base and was 1-for-4.  Grzenda is detailed above.  Jim Shellenback replaced Grzenda on the mound and gave up a run in two innings.  Johnny Roseboro pich-hit for Shellenback and was 0-for-1.  Dick Such pitched the last two innings, giving up two runs.

Perry had nine wins in the middle of June.  The Twins' team leader for all of 2021 had nine wins (Michael Pineda).

Rodriguez hit nineteen home runs in 1970.  That would be his career high.  He hit 124 in his career.

Record:  The Twins were starting to put some space between them and second place California.  They were 38-18, in first place in the American League West, 5.5 games ahead of the Angels.