MINNESOTA 7, CLEVELAND 6 IN CLEVELAND
Date: Friday, May 8.
Batting stars: Leo Cardenas was 2-for-4 with a double. Cesar Tovar was 2-for-4 with a stolen base (his eighth) and two runs. Rod Carew was 2-for-5. Harmon Killebrew was 1-for-3 with a two-run homer (his ninth) and two walks. George Mitterwald was 1-for-4 with a two-run homer, his second.
Pitching star: Stan Williams pitched 3.2 innings, giving up one run on one hit and striking out one.
Opposition stars: Vada Pinson was 2-for-4 with a triple and a double. Larry Brown was 2-for-4. Roy Foster was 1-for-4 with a three-run homer, his second.
The game: In the first Brown singled and Pinson tripled, putting the Indians up 1-0. In the third, Jim Kaat and Tovar singled and Carew hit a two-run single-plus-error, putting the Twins up 2-1. The Twins then got two walks, loading the bases with two out, but did not score again in the inning.
In the bottom of the third Cleveland started the inning with three singles, loading the bases, but could only score on a sacrifice fly, tying the score 2-2. The Twins took the lead back in the fifth when Carew singled and Killebrew followed with a two-run homer. The Twins put men on second and third with one out in the sixth, but failed to add to their lead.
It cost them, as the Indians went back in front in the sixth. Pinson doubled and Tony Horton hit an RBI single, making it 4-3. Ray Fosse singled, and with one out Foster hit a three-run homer, giving Cleveland a 6-4 advantage.
But in the eighth, Bob Allison led off with a single and Mitterwald hit a two-run homer, tying it 6-6. With one out Tovar singled, stole second, went to third on a ground out, and scored on a Tony Oliva single to put the Twins ahead to stay. Cleveland did not get a baserunner after the Foster homer.
WP: Williams (3-0).
LP: Barry Moore (3-2).
S: None.
Notes: Allison was at first base in place of Rich Reese. Reese replaced him at first in the eighth inning. Jim Holt replaced Brant Alyea in right field in the ninth inning.
Carew was batting .365. Oliva was 1-for-5 and was batting .346. Killebrew was batting .327. Alyea was 1-for-4 and was batting .324. Tovar was batting .311. Williams had an ERA of 1.10. Kaat gave up five runs (four earned) in 5.1 innings and had an ERA of 2.86.
Allison was 1-for-3 and was batting .154. Mitterwald was batting .197.
The first five men in the Twins' batting order were all over .300. Two of the next three were below .200.
Cardenas was 7-for-16 and 14-for-37, raising his average from .191 to .263.
Cleveland's starter, Moore, pitched 7.2 innings, allowing seven runs on eleven hits and six walks and striking out seven.
This was Foster's rookie year. He batted .268/.357/.468 with twenty-three home runs and finished second in Rookie of the Year voting to Thurman Munson. Foster actually had the better offensive year--Munson batted .302, but had just six homers and had an OPS of .801 to Foster's .824. That was as good as it would get for Foster, though. In 1971 he batted just .245/.314/.439 with eighteen homers. In 1972 he lost his starting job to Alex Johnson and Buddy Bell, and he never got back to the majors after that.
Record: The Twins were 17-8, in first place in the American League West, a half game ahead of California.