MINNESOTA 6, OAKLAND 3 IN OAKLAND
Date: Sunday, April 19.
Batting stars: Cesar Tovar was 3-for-3 with a stolen base (his third) and two walks. Brant Alyea was 2-for-4 with a home run (his fourth), a double, and four RBIs. Rich Reese was 2-for-4 with a double and two runs.
Pitching stars: Jim Perry pitched seven innings, giving up three runs (two earned) on six hits and two walks and striking out four. Ron Perranoski struck out two in two perfect innings.
Opposition stars: Rick Monday was 2-for-4 with a double. Dick Green was 2-for-4. Reggie Jackson was 1-for-4 with a home run, his second. Mudcat Grant pitched two shutout innings, giving up one hit and striking out one.
The game: The Twins started the scoring in the third inning, when Perry singled, Tovar walked, and Rod Carew hit an RBI single. A sacrifice fly made it 2-0 Twins. In the fourth, Reese led off with a single and Alyea hit a two-run homer to increase the Twins' lead to 4-0.
The Athletics got on the board in the bottom of the fourth when Monday doubled, went to third on a passed ball, and scored on a ground out. In the sixth, however, Harmon Killebrew singled, Reese doubled, and Alyea delivered a two-run double to make it 6-1.
Oakland loaded the bases in the sixth but did not score. In the seventh, Green singled and Jackson followed with a two-run homer to cut the lead to 6-3. But the Athletics had just one single after that, and the Twins went on to victory.
WP: Perry (3-0).
LP: Chuck Dobson (0-3).
S: Perranoski (2).
Notes: Jim Holt pinch-ran for Alyea in the sixth and stayed in the game in left field. Frank Quilici replaced Killebrew at third base in the seventh.
Alyea raised his average to .458. Tony Oliva was 0-for-3 and was batting .400. Holt was 0-for-1 and was batting .375. Carew was 1-for-5 and was batting .371. Tovar was batting .324.
Reese got his average into triple digits at .160.
Perry had an ERA of 1.44. Perranoski had an ERA of 2.25.
I mentioned yesterday the rarity of the four-inning save. I has to be rarer still to get a four-inning save and then get a two-inning save the very next day. I don't have time to research that, but it would be cool if someone did.
It's also probably rare for a team to use two pitchers, and have each pitcher have the same first four letters of their last name.
Dobson pitched five innings, allowing six runs on ten hits and a walk and striking out five. His ERA for the young season was 9.22. He would get straightened out--he would go 16-15, 3.74, and lead the league is starts (40) and shutouts (5). Those were the only times he ever led the league in anything, but he was a fine pitcher until an elbow injury derailed his career after the 1971 season.
Oakland used three ex-Twins: Don Mincher, Grant, and Jim Roland.
Record: The Twins were 6-2, in first place in the American League West, a half game ahead of California.