MINNESOTA 5, CALIFORNIA 4 IN MINNESOTA
Date: Saturday, May 23.
Batting stars: Leo Cardenas was 3-for-4. Jim Holt was 2-for-4 with two doubles. Tony Oliva was 2-for-4.
Pitching stars: Bill Zepp retired all seven batters he faced. Stan Williams struck out two in two shutout innings, giving up one hit. Ron Perranoski pitched a perfect inning.
Opposition stars: Ken McMullen was 2-for-4 with a triple. Andy Messersmith pitched seven innings, giving up four runs (one earned) on eight hits and one walk and striking out five.
The game: Each team scored two in the second. For the Angels, Alex Johnson doubled and scored on McMullen's single. Two walks loaded the bases with one out and a ground out made it 2-0. For the Twins, Harmon Killebrew walked. With two out, Cardenas hit a single-plus-error to score a run and Paul Ratliff followed with an RBI double, tying it 2-2.
California went right back into the lead in the third. An error and a Jim Fregosi single put men on first and third with none out. A sacrifice fly put the Angels ahead and McMullen followed with an RBI triple to make it 4-2 California.
The Twins had men on second and third with one out in the third, and the Angels had men on first and third with two out in the fourth, but it remained 4-2 until the fifth. Zepp reached on an error and was bunted to second. A ground out moved him to third and Oliva's infield single brought him home. Killebrew then doubled, with Oliva scoring from first to tie the score 4-4.
The Twins had men on first and third with none out in the sixth but did not score. With two out in the eighth, Holt doubled and Cardenas followed with an RBI single to give the Twins their first lead at 5-4. Jim Spencer led off the California ninth with a single, but he was erased on a double play and a line out ended the game.
WP: Williams (4-0).
LP: Ken Tatum (2-1).
S: Perranoski (11).
Notes: Holt was in left in place of Brant Alyea. Ratliff was behind the plate in place of George Mitterwald.
Charlie Manuel pinch-hit for Zepp in the sixth. Mitterwald went behind the plate in the ninth and Frank Quilici went to third in place of Killebrew.
Rod Carew was 0-for-4 and was batting .402. Oliva was batting .329. Killebrew was 1-for-3 and was batting .315. Tovar was 1-for-2 and was batting .301. Zepp had an ERA of 1.69. Williams had an ERA of 1.50. Perranoski had an ERA of 1.42.
Jim Kaat started and pitched 3.2 innings, giving up four runs (one earned) on six hits and two walks and striking out two.
Carew was on an 0-for-8 streak.
The Twins had three relievers with ERAs below two.
Six of the game's nine runs were unearned.
The plate umpire was Jake O'Donnell. That's the same Jake O'Donnell who was an NBA referee from 1967-1995. He umpired in the American League from 1968-1971. He's the only person to officiate a major league baseball all-star game and an NBA all-star game. He also umpired the 1971 ALCS. The seasons didn't overlap as much back then, but it's still pretty remarkable that he was able to do both.
Record: The Twins were 26-11, in first place in the American League West, 1.5 games ahead of California.