MINNESOTA 6, BALTIMORE 3 IN BALTIMORE
Date: Saturday, July 18.
Batting stars: Tony Oliva was 3-for-4 with a home run (his thirteenth) and three runs. Rich Reese was 2-for-4. Harmon Killebrew was 1-for-4 with a two-run homer, his twenty-ninth. Frank Quilici was 1-for-4 with a two-run homer.
Pitching stars: Jim Perry pitched 6.2 innings, giving up three runs on ten hits and a walk and striking out four. Ron Perranoski pitched 2.1 innings, giving up three hits and a walk and striking out two.
Opposition stars: Frank Robinson was 4-for-5. Don Buford was 3-for-5 with a home run (his eleventh), a double, and two runs. Paul Blair was 2-for-5.
The game: Oliva led off the second with a single and went to third on a Brant Alyea double. He was then picked off third base, but a throwing error allowed him to score and give the Twins a 1-0 lead. The Orioles got the run back in the bottom of the second when Brooks Robinson singled, went to second on Dave Johnson's walk, and scored on a Mark Belanger single. Baltimore took a 2-1 lead in the third on Buford's leadoff home run.
It stayed 2-1 until the sixth. Reese led of the inning with a single and Killebrew hit a two-run homer to put the Twins up 3-2. Oliva followed with a single. The next two batters went out, but Quilici hit a two-run homer to give the Twins a 5-2 lead.
The Orioles scored in the seventh when Buford doubled and scored on Frank Robinson's single. Oliva got the run back for the Twins in the eighth when he led off the inning with a home run, making it 6-3.
Baltimore did not quit. Buford led off with a bunt single, but was erased on a double play. Still, Boog Powell and Frank Robinson singled, bringing Brooks Robinson up to bat as the tying run. He flied out to right field, however, and the game went to the Twins.
WP: Perry (14-7).
LP: Dave McNally (12-7).
S: Perranoski (22).
Notes: Quilici was at second base in place of Rod Carew. Tom Tischinski was at catcher in place of George Mitterwald. Brant Alyea was back in the lineup, his first start since July 4. Jim Holt replaced Alyea in left in the sixth inning. Danny Thompson replaced Killebrew at third in the seventh.
Tischinski was 1-for-4 and was batting .333. Killebrew was batting .325. Oliva was batting .324. Cesar Tovar was 0-for-5 and was batting .309. Perry was 1-for-3 and was batting .309. Perranoski had an ERA of 1.50.
Quilici was batting .191. This game featured the fourth of his five career home runs. His season high was two.
Killebrew had hit a home run in five consecutive games.
Perranoski had pitched three innings in the previous game and pitched 2.1 innings in this game. When men were men.
Record: The Twins were 56-29, in first place in the American League West, five games ahead of California. They still had the best record in the American League, but were still well behind the Big Red Machine (64-27).