Tag Archives: grand slams

Keeping Track

1970 Rewind: ALCS Game One

BALTIMORE 10, MINNESOTA 6 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Saturday, October 3.

Batting stars:  George Mitterwald was 3-for-4 with two runs and two RBIs.  Tony Oliva was 3-for-4.  Harmon Killebrew was 2-for-5 with a home run and two RBIs.  Cesar Tovar was 2-for-5.

Pitching stars:  Stan Williams pitched three shutout innings, giving up two hits and a walk.  Ron Perranoski struck out two in a scoreless inning.

Opposition stars:  Brooks Robinson was 3-for-3 with a double.  Boog Powell was 2-for-5 with a home run and two RBIs.  Elrod Hendricks was 2-for-5 with two runs.  Mike Cuellar was 1-for-2 with a grand slam.  Don Buford was 1-for-3 with a home run and two walks.  Dick Hall pitched 4.2 scoreless innings, giving up one hit and striking out three.

The game:  The Twins got on the board first.  Tovar led off the first with a single, was bunted to second, and scored on a Killebrew single.  The Orioles took the lead in the second, however.  One-out singles by Hendricks and Robinson put two on, and Dave Johnson was hit by a pitch to load the bases.  Mark Belanger hit a potential double play grounder, but a throwing error by Danny Thompson allowed two runs to score and put Baltimore up 2-1.  The Twins tied it in the second when Mitterwald singled, went to third on Thompson's double, and scored on a squeeze bunt by Jim Perry.

But the roof fell in in the fourth inning.  Frank Robinson and Hendricks led off with singles, and a sacrifice fly by Brooks Robinson put the Orioles ahead again.  Singles by Johnson and Belanger loaded the bases, and Mike Cuellar--Mike Cuellar--hit a grand slam to make it 7-2 Baltimore.  Buford followed with another homer, and with two out Powell homered, making the score 9-2.

The Twins tried to battle back.  In the bottom of the fourth Mitterwald singled, went to second on an infield grounder, and scored on a Tovar single.  Killebrew led off the fifth with a home run, followed by an Oliva doubled.  Brant Alyea walked, a ground out moved them to second and third, and Mitterwald delivered a two-run single to cut the lead to 9-6.

But that was as good as it would get.  The Orioles added a run in the sixth when Hall singled, went to second on a walk to Buford, and scored on Powell's single, making it 10-6.  The Twins got only one hit in the last four innings.

WP:  Hall (1-0).

LP:  Perry (0-1).

S:  None.

Notes:  Thompson was at second base in place of Rod Carew.  Bob Allison pinch-hit for Bill Zepp in the fourth inning.  Frank Quilici went to second in the sixth inning as part of a double switch.  Jim Holt pinch-hit for Williams in the eighth.  Carew pinch-hit for Quilici in the eighth.  Holt stayed in the game in center field, with Tovar moving to second base.

Neither starting pitcher fared well.  Perry pitched 3.1 innings, giving up eight runs (seven earned) on eight hits and a walk and striking out one.  Mike Cuellar pitched 4.1 innings, allowing six runs on ten hits and a walk and striking out two.

These losses to the Orioles were almost as frustrating as the losses to the Yankees would be thirty-some years later.  You lose because Mike Cuellar, of all people, hits a grand slam.  Cuellar hit seven home runs for his career and had a lifetime line of .115/.128/.171.  And he hits a grand slam.  Incredible.  It's really to the Twins credit that they continued to fight and battled back as well as they did.  I mean, I know that's what they're supposed to do and what they get paid to do, but still, giving up that grand slam, and then seeing two more home runs that same inning, had to be really disheartening.

It was a different time, and that plays into it, but I still think you can question using one of the two best relievers, Williams, for three innings in that situation.  Yes, you never want to give up on a playoff game, and back then, they still might bring Williams back in the next game.  But still, burning one of your two best relievers in a game that, let's face it, the odds are against you coming back to win doesn't make much sense.

But, tomorrow's another day, and the Twins would try to get the series back to even.

Record:  The Twins trailed the best-of-five series, 0-1.

2015 Twins Game Recaps

Game 26: Oakland 7, Minnesota 8

8 Comments

I was running errands last night and turned this on to a 4-0 Athletics lead. Thought to myself, "Wowsers, Hughes must have had a rough couple of innings." Then the hometown club comes to bat and I'm wondering how they fared the first time through the order, seeing as how Dozier's up. He leads off the home half with a double and I'm like, "Awesome. One run at a time is how you get back into a game." Only to hear Provus indicate that this was, in fact, the first at-bat for the Twins. Nothing like an opposition grand slam in the first inning to deflate the feelings of optimism built up by taking it to the woeful White Sox.
I continued to listen as I was still in the car, between purchasing dog food, furnace filters, softener salt and weed & pest control (side note: don't like to use chemicals, but I don't have time to pull weeds for weeks and I don't find groundhog/gopher/mole traps to be all that efficient) and low and behold, the hometown nine managed to get the game back under control, scoring four runs to tie it up after two innings!

I then tuned out for a while (set up wasp/hornet trap, smoke bombed those damn rodent tunnels, filled water softener with salt & changed out furnace filter) and turned the game back on with Jordan Schafer up to bat in the bottom of the 8th and the boys up 8-6. Awesome! Schafer takes a walk which puts runners on 1st & 2nd with nobody out and Danny Santana up to bat. This was great - he shows bunt three times and Bassitt won't/can't accommodate the guy; throws four straight balls for Santana's first walk of the year to load the bases. I'm thinking, "Insurance runs would be sweet. I'll take 'em, but I don't think Perk will need 'em." Dozier then has a good at-bat but ends up striking out, and ii follows it with a double play ball to end the threat. I asked the guys if they thought he could've been safe if he'd run hard because the throw from 2nd was bounced to first, bobbled, dropped and picked up by Davis, all before ii even entered the frame. Beau's response,

"That may have been his top speed."

This was confirmed in the top of the 9th as he "hustled" to catch a Billy Butler fly ball to short right field.

He almost didn't get that. In his youth, he could've run there from center.

-spookymilk

Perkins then gave up a double high off the wall in center to Stephen Vogt (he of the first inning Grand Slam) which was only about 10 ft shy of tying the game. With the tying run at 2nd (Sam Fuld pinch-running), Perkins had a pretty good battle with Craig Gentry before striking him out on a nasty back-foot slider.

Everyone was fawning over ii because, admittedly, he hit the three run homer in the 6th to give the Twins the lead. However, I'll contend that Schafer was the player of the game. He had a great night: 3-3, 2 RBI, 1 BB, 2 runs scored and a diving catch to end an Oakland threat in the top of the 8th.

Also, after the rough start, Phil Hughes managed to get his first win of the season (1-4) by completing 6 innings, giving up 5 ER on 9 hits and 2 BB. Fear not, he didn't have a great start to last year either, and look how that turned out.

Heard last night that the boys have not won four games in a row to start May in 13 years. Let's hope they keep it up.