MINNESOTA 11, MILWAUKEE 2 IN MINNESOTA
Date: Thursday, May 28.
Batting stars: Luis Tiant was 3-for-4 with two runs and three RBIs. Harmon Killebrew was 2-for-3 with a double and a walk. Cesar Tovar was 2-for-4 with a three-run homer (his fifth) and a walk. George Mitterwald was 2-for-4 with a double, two runs, and two RBIs. Brant Alyea was 2-for-5 with two runs. Rick Renick was 2-for-5.
Pitching stars: Luis Tiant pitched 7.1 innings, giving up two runs on eight hits and three walks and striking out five. Stan Williams pitched 1.2 scoreless innings, giving up three hits and a walk.
Opposition stars: Russ Snyder was 4-for-5 with a home run, his second. Jerry McNertney was 2-for-4. Danny Walton was 2-for-5. Tommy Harper was 1-for-4 with a home run, his seventh.
The game: The Twins put this one away early. The Brewers got two men on in the first with walks but did not score. Alyea led off the second with a single. With one out, singles by Leo Cardenas, Mitterwald, and Tiant made it 2-0. Tovar walked to load the bases, Carew got an infield single, and a sacrifice fly made it 4-0.
The Twins added some more in the third. Singles by Rick Renick and Tiant put two on with two out and Tovar hit a three-run homer to put the Twins up 7-0. Milwaukee got a pair of singles in the fourth but did not score. In the bottom of the fourth Killebrew and Alyea singled, putting two on with one out. Renick hit an RBI single. With two out Mitterwald doubled home a run and Tiant delivered a two-run single to give the Twins a 11-0 lead.
Snyder hit a solo homer in the fifth and Harper hit one in the seventh to cut the lead to 11-2. The Brewers had two on with two out in the seventh, two on with one out in the eighth, and loaded the bases in the ninth, but the score did not change.
WP: Tiant (6-0).
LP: John Morris (2-1).
S: Williams (2).
Notes: Renick was at third base, with Killebrew at first and Rich Reese on the bench. Reese replaced Killebrew in the eighth. Frank Quilici replaced Cardenas at shortstop in the fifth, presumably due to illness or injury. He would be back in the lineup the next day.
Tiant was batting .435. Carew was 1-for-4 and was batting .398. Tony Oliva was 1-for-4 and was batting .327. Killebrew was batting .326. Tovar was batting .302. Williams had an ERA of 1.55.
Quilici was 0-for-2 and was batting .159.
Tiant was not a particularly good batter through most of his career. In 1965 and 1968 he batted below .100. In 1964 and 1966 he batted .111. He'd only had one year in which his average was higher than that--he batted .254 in 1967. For his career he batted .164/.185/.224. I don't know if there was a reason he batted so well in 1970 or if it was just a small sample size fluke, but it's pretty amazing.
Also, Tiant had four RBIs in 1970. Three of them came in this game.
The Brewers stranded eight men and went 0-for-13 with men in scoring position.
This was one of ten major league starts John Morris made. He appeared in relief 122 times over an eight-year career. He was 11-7, 3.95, 1 career save, 1.35 WHIP.
There was apparently a rainout on Wednesday, as there seems no other reason for an off-day in the middle of the series.
Record: The Twins were 29-12, in first place in the American League West, 2.5 games ahead of California.