MINNESOTA 7, OAKLAND 2 IN MINNESOTA (GAME 2 OF DOUBLEHEADER)
Date: Thursday, September 10.
Batting stars: Brant Alyea was 2-for-3 with two runs and two RBIs. Frank Quilci was 2-for-4. Tony Oliva was 1-for-4 with a home run (his twenty-second) and a walk.
Pitching stars: Jim Kaat pitched seven innings, giving up two runs on seven hits and no walks and striking out five. Stan Williams pitched two shutout innings, giving up one hit and striking out one.
Opposition stars: Joe Rudi was 2-for-4 with two RBIs. Sal Bando was 2-for-4.
The game: Oliva homered with two out in the first to give the Twins an early 1-0 lead. In the second Rich Reese and Paul Ratliff were each hit by a pitch (not the same pitch, of course) and Kaat delivered an RBI single to make it 2-0 Twins. The Athletics got on the board in the third when Blue Moon Odom singled, went to second on a ground out, and scored on Rudi's single.
Oakland had two on with one out in the fourth but did not score. The Twins broke it open in the fifth. Cesar Tovar led off with a walk, was bunted to second, and went to third on a wild pitch. He was still on third with two out, but walks to Harmon Killebrew and Reese loaded the bases. Another wild pitch brought home a run, Alyea delivered a two-run single and went to second on the throw to the plate, and Ratliff added an RBi single, giving the Twins a 6-1 lead.
The Athletics got one run in the seventh on singles by Dick Green, Bert Campaneris, and Rudi. The Twins got the run back in the bottom of the seventh when Tovar tripled and scored on a Cotton Nash ground out. That made the score 7-2, and that's how it ended.
WP: Kaat (12-10).
LP: Odom (8-6).
S: Williams (13).
Notes: Ratliff was behind the plate in place of George Mitterwald. Quilici was at second base in place of Rod Carew. Jim Holt went to center field in the sixth inning, with Tovar moving to left and Alyea coming out of the game. Rick Renick pinch-hit for Holt in the seventh, with Herman Hill going to center field in the eighth. Cotton Nash pinch-hit for Ratliff in the seventh, with Mitterwald going behind the plate in the eighth. Danny Thompson went to third base in the eighth, with Killebrew coming out of the game.
Oliva was 1-for-4 and was batting .318. Alyea was batting .305. Williams had an ERA of 2.05.
Hill was 0-for-1 and was batting .100. Nash was 0-for-1 and was batting .000. It was the first appearance in the majors for Nash in 1970. He had appeared in three games in 1967 and six in 1969.
The Twins swept the series between the first and second place teams. They had won eight of nine and ten of twelve. This series essentially wrapped up the division for the Twins.
Record: The Twins were 86-56, in first place in the American League West, 8.5 games ahead of Oakland. Their magic number was twelve.
