MINNESOTA 7, OAKLAND 4 IN OAKLAND
Date: Wednesday, September 23.
Batting stars: Tony Oliva was 3-for-4 with three runs. George Mitterwald was 2-for-4 with a three-run homer, his fifteenth. Jim Holt was 2-for-4 with a double and two RBIs. Jim Nettles was 2-for-5.
Pitching star: Bill Zepp retired all four men he faced.
Opposition stars: Bert Campaneris was 1-for-5 with a home run, his twenty-second. Dave Duncan was 1-for-3 with a three-run homer (his tenth) and a walk. Marcel Lachemann struck out two in two perfect innings.
The game: Nettles led off the game with a single. With one out, Oliva singled and Harmon Killebrew walked, loading the bases. With two out, Holt delivered a two-run double, putting the Twins in front 2-0. In the third, Oliva and Holt singled and Mitterwald hit a two-out three-run homer, making it 5-0 Twins. It went to 7-0 in the seventh. With one out, Leo Cardenas doubled, Oliva singled, and Killebrew walked, loading the bases, and Rich Reese came through with a two-run single.
Over the first six innings the Athletics drew seven walks, but did not score because they had no hits. That changed in the seventh when Campaneris homered. In the eighth Don Mincher and Sal Bando walked and Duncan hit a three-run homer, cutting the lead to 7-4. But that was as good as it got for them, and the Twins had another victory.
WP: Hall (10-6).
LP: Catfish Hunter (17-14).
S: Zepp (2).
Notes: Nettles was in left field in place of Brant Alyea. Holt was in center field in place of Cesar Tovar. Danny Thompson was at second base in place of Rod Carew. Tovar pinch-ran for Killebrew in the seventh, with Frank Quilici going to third base. Herman Hill replaced Tony Oliva in right field in the seventh.
Nettles was batting .333. Oliva was batting .324. Hall had an ERA of 2.69. Hill was 0-for-1 and was batting .095.
Oddly, for the day after a clincher, the Twins used pretty much their regular lineup. The only major change was Nettles in the outfield rather than Tovar.
Hall pitched 7.2 innings. He gave up only two hits, both home runs. He struck out nine, but he also walked nine.
Hunter pitched 6.1 innings for Oakland. He allowed seven runs on eleven hits and a walk and struck out six.
The Twins would finish up their road trip with three games in Kansas City. They would then come home for a season-ending four-game series, also with Kansas City, meaning they would end the season with seven games against the Royals. That seems like really odd scheduling to me.
Record: The Twins were 94-61, in first place in the American League West, 9.5 games ahead of Oakland.