CALIFORNIA 6, MINNESOTA 5 IN MINNESOTA
Date: Sunday, May 24.
Batting stars: George MItterwald was 3-for-4 with a home run (his third), a triple, a double, and two RBIs. Harmon Killebrew was 3-for-4 with a double and a walk. Leo Cardenas was 2-for-5 with two runs. Tony Oliva was 2-for-5.
Pitching stars: Tom Hall pitched 3.1 scoreless innings, giving up two hits and a walk and striking out two. Steve Barber pitched a scoreless inning, giving up one hit. Stan Williams pitched two shutout innings, giving up three hits and striking out one.
Opposition stars: Joe Azcue was 3-for-4. Sandy Alomar was 3-for-5 with a stolen base (his fourteenth), two runs, and two RBIs. Alex Johnson was 2-for-3 with a walk. Jim Fregosi was 2-for-5 with a double and two RBIs. Roger Repoz was 1-for-5 with a two-run homer, his seventh.
The game: Alomar led off with a single and Repoz hit a two-run homer, giving the Angels a quick 2-0 lead. The Twins got one back in the bottom of the first when Cesar Tovar doubled, went to third on a ground out, and scored on Killebrew's infield single. But California scored three more in the second. Singles by Bill Voss, Azcue, and Alomar produced the first run and put men on first and third. Alomar stole second and Fregosi followed with a two-run double, putting the Angels up 5-1.
The Twins put two on with one out in the fourth, but did not score again until the fifth when Mitterwald hit a home run. They again put two more men on base, but the score remained 5-2. They got another run in the sixth when Cardenas singled with two out, Mitterwald doubled, and a passed ball scored a run. They again got a two-out run in the seventh when Killebrew doubled and scored on an Oliva single. With one out in the eighth, Cardenas singled and scored on a Mitterwald triple, tying the score 5-5. They missed and chance to take the lead, however, as a pair of ground outs followed.
It cost them, as California took the lead back in the ninth. Azcue singled, was bunted to second, and scored on an Alomar single. The Twins got two on with two out in the ninth on a pair of walks, but Steve Kealey came in and struck out Cardenas to end the game.
WP: Paul Doyle (2-0).
LP: Ron Perranoski (3-2).
S: Kealey (1).
Notes: Rick Renick was at third, with Killebrew moving to first. The Twins pretty much emptied their bench. Minnie Mendoza pinch-hit for Hall in the fifth. Rich Reese pinch-hit for Barber in the sixth and stayed in the game at first base, with Killebrew moving to third. Jim Holt pinch-hit for Williams in the eighth. Holt stayed in the game and went to left field, with Brant Alyea coming out. Frank Quilici pinch-ran for Killebrew in the ninth. Bob Allison pinch-hit for Perranoski in the ninth. Paul Ratliff pinch-ran for Holt in the ninth.
Rod Carew was 1-for-5 and was batting .393. Oliva was batting .331. Killebrew was batting .328. Tovar was 1-for-4 and was batting .300. Hall had an ERA of 2.66. Williams had an ERA of 1.35. Perranoski gave up a run in one inning and had an ERA of 1.65.
Mendoza was 0-for-1 and was batting .188. Dave Boswell started and allowed five runs in 1.2 innings and had an ERA of 7.23.
This was the first triple of Mitterwald's career. He ended with seven. His season high was three in 1975.
Unless Holt was injured and couldn't run, I don't understand pinch-running Ratliff for him. Ratliff ended his career with zero stolen bases. In the minors he stole twelve in nine seasons. I don't think Holt was exactly a speedster, but he moved well enough that the Twins routinely used him as a defensive replacement in the outfield. It didn't matter, in the end, because the next batter struck out to end the game, but it seems like a really odd move.
The Angels used five relief pitchers. That's routine today, but not very common in 1970. Three of them were guys you probably never heard of: Paul Doyle, Greg Garrett, and Kealey. Doyle appeared in 87 major league games, 47 of them in 1970. This was one of his five career wins. Garrett appeared in 32 games, 30 of them in 1970. Kealey had a longer career--he appeared in parts of six seasons, playing in 139 games. This was his first career save--he ended with eleven.
California took two out of three from the Twins in Minnesota in this matchup of first and second place teams.
Record: The Twins were 26-12, in first place in the American League West, a half game ahead of California.