Tag Archives: eastern swing

Keeping Track

1970 Rewind: Game Twenty-seven

CLEVELAND 5, MINNESOTA 4 IN CLEVELAND

Date:  Sunday, May 10.

Batting stars:  Harmon Killebrew was 2-for-4 with a double.  Bob Allison was 2-for-4.  Leo Cardenas was 1-for-4 with a home run (his third), a walk, and two runs.

Pitching stars:  Tom Hall struck out two in 1.1 scoreless innings, giving up one hit and two walks.

Opposition stars:  Duke Sims was 2-for-4 with two home runs and three RBIs.  Sam McDowell pitched 8.1 innings, giving up four runs on nine hits and two walks and striking out eight.  He also hit a home run.

The game:  In the bottom of the first, Larry Brown reached on an error and scored on a double by Ted Uhlaender, giving the Indians a 1-0 lead.  McDowell homered leading off the third and Sims homered with one out in the fourth to make it 3-0.  Meanwhile, the Twins had only two singles through five innings and only advanced one man as far as second base.

The changed in the sixth when Cardenas got the Twins on the board with a home run.  The Twins' joy was short-lived, however, as with two out in the sixth Vada Pinson walked and Sims followed with a two-run homer, putting Cleveland up 5-1.

The Twins did try to come back.  In the eighth Cardenas walked, Killebrew singled, and Tony Oliva had an RBI single to cut the lead to 5-2.  In the ninth Allison singled, Rick Renick had a pinch-hit double, and Minnie Mendoza hit a two-run single, cutting the lead to 5-4 and putting the tying run on base with one out.  The Twins could do no more, however, and the game ended with a 5-4 score.

WP:  McDowell (4-3).

LP:  Dave Boswell (0-5).

S:  Rich Hand (2).

Notes:  Allison was at first base in place of Rich Reese.  Frank Quilici was at second in place of Rod Carew.  Mendoza went to second base in the seventh inning as part of a double switch.  Renick pinch-hit for Hall in the ninth.  Carew pinch-hit for Cesar Tovar in the ninth.  Jim Holt pinch-ran for Mendoza in the ninth.

Oliva was 1-for-3 and was batting .345.  Killebrew was batting .330.  Carew was 0-for-1 and was batting .328.  Renick was 1-for-1 and was batting .308.  Brant Alyea was 0-for-4 and was batting .308.  Tovar was 0-for-4 and was batting .300.

Mendoza was 1-for-2 and was batting .154.  Quilici was 0-for-3 and was batting .167.  Mitterwald was 0-for-4 and was batting .186.  Boswell allowed five runs (four earned) in 5.2 innings and had an ERA of 6.17.

This was only Hall's seventh game of the season.  Prior to this game, he had pitched just 1.1 innings since April 24.  I don't know if he was battling an injury, but it doesn't appear that way.  He just was not being used for some reason.

This was the second and last home run of Sam McDowell's career.  The other came in 1967.  He also had seven doubles and two triples.  His lifetime batting numbers are .154/.171/.176.

I find it odd that, with Rod Carew on the bench, Bill Rigney chose to use him in place of Tovar, rather than the light-hitting Mendoza.  Mendoza got a two-run single, so either Rigney knew something I don't or he just got lucky.

The Twins went 6-3 on their nine-game East Division road trip, taking two of three in each series.

Record:  The Twins were 18-9, in first place in the American League West, a half-game ahead of California.

Keeping Track

1970 Rewind: Game Twenty-four

MINNESOTA 9, DETROIT 6 IN DETROIT

Date:  Thursday, May 7.

Batting stars:  Harmon Killebrew was 3-for-4 with a three-run homer, his eighth.  Tony Oliva was 2-for-4 with a two-run homer (his fifth), a walk, a stolen base, and three runs.  Rod Carew was 2-for-4 with two doubles, a walk, a stolen base (his second), and two runs.  Rich Reese was 2-for-4 with a walk.

Pitching stars:  None.

Opposition stars:  Willie Horton was 2-for-4 with a triple and two RBIs.  Dick McAuliffe was 2-for-4 with a walk and two runs.  Bill Freehan was 1-for-4 with a home run, his third.

The game:  Cesar Tovar led off the game with a single and Oliva hit a two-run homer to give the Twins the early lead.  In the second, singles by Jim Holt and Paul Ratliff were followed by an RBI ground out to make it 3-0.  In the fourth Oliva reached on a fielder's choice, went to second on a Killebrew single, and scored on Reese's single to make it 4-0.  In the seventh, walks to Carew and Oliva were followed by Killebrew's three-run homer to increase the lead to 7-0.

Meanwhile, Twins starter Jim Perry had allowed just one hit over six innings.  Why then, you ask, is he not listed as a "pitching star"?  Well, in the seventh, McAuliffe led of with a walk and Dalton Jones singled.  With one out, Norm Cash got the Tigers on the board with an RBI double.  Horton then followed with a two-run triple, cutting the lead to 7-3.  Ron Perranoski then came into the game, but Horton scored on an error, dropping the lead to 7-4.

The Twins bounced back with a two-out rally in the eighth.  Tovar walked and scored on a Carew double.  Oliva singled, moving Carew to third, and the two of them then pulled off a double steal of second and home to make the score 9-4.

Detroit did not quit.  In the bottom of the eighth McAuliffe singled and Al Kaline reached on an error, putting men on first and second with two out.  Mickey Stanley delivered an RBI single to make it 9-5.  Horton singled to load the bases and bring the tying run to the plate, but Jim Northrup grounded out to end the threat.  Freehan hit a home run in the ninth to round out the scoring, but the Tigers did not get the tying run to bat again.

WP:  Perry (5-1).

LP:  Joe Niekro (3-2).

S:  Perranoski (8).

Notes:  Holt was in left in place of Brant Alyea.  Ratliff was behind the plate in place of George Mitterwald.  Mitterwald pinch-hit for Ratliff in the fifth and went behind the plate.  Frank Quilici replaced Killebrew at third base in the seventh.

Carew was batting .362.  Oliva was batting .354.  Killebrew was batting .337.  Tovar was 1-for-3 and was batting .303.  Perry allowed four runs (three earned) in 6.1 innings and had an ERA of 2.50.  Perranoski allowed two runs (one earned) in 2.2 innings and had an ERA of 1.74.

Holt was 1-for-5 and was batting .190.  Mitterwald was 0-for-3 and was batting .194.

Future Twin Niekro lasted just 2.1 innings, allowing four runs (three earned) on seven hits and no walks and striking out four.  He was not the knuckleballing Joe Niekro at this stage of his career, but was more a conventional pitcher.

Perranoski had now pitched nine innings in the last seven games, appearing in five of them.

Carew was back, having missed two weeks and thirteen games.  His batting picked up right where it left off.

I don't know if McAuliffe quite qualifies as a "Twins killer", but in 1970 he batted .295/.415/.455 against them.  That's pretty good, especially when for the season he batted .234/.358/.345.  The only team against who he did better in 1970 was Milwaukee--.297/.422/.486.  For his career he batted ,267/.348/.453 against the Twins with 23 home runs.  I remember McAuliffe as primarily a singles hitter, but my memory is faulty.  He hit double figure home runs in ten consecutive seasons and hit over twenty three times, with a high of twenty-four in 1964.  He finished with 197 home runs.

The Twins had now taken two of three from Baltimore and two of three from Detroit on their eastern trip.  They next travel to Cleveland for the last leg of their journey.

Record:  The Twins were 16-8, in first place in the American League West, a half game ahead of California.