MINNESOTA 4, BALTIMORE 3 IN BALTIMORE
Date: Sunday, May 3.
Batting stars: Tony Oliva was 2-for-4. Harmon Killebrew was 1-for-4 with a two-run homer.
Pitching stars: Jim Kaat pitched eight innings, giving up three runs on five hits and three walks and striking out one. Ron Perranoski pitched a perfect inning.
Opposition stars: Merv Rettenmund was 2-for-4 with a home run, a double, two runs, and two RBIs. Paul Blair was 2-for-4 with a stolen base, his eighth. Jim Palmer struck out eleven in a complete game, giving up four runs (two earned) on five hits and a walk.
The game: There wasn't even a baserunner until the bottom of the third, when Dave Johnson walked. The next two men went out, but Rettenmund hit an RBI double and Mark Belanger followed with a run-scoring single, making it 2-0 Orioles.
It stayed 2-0 until the sixth. Frank Quilici led off the inning with a single and Cesar Tovar doubled with one out, putting men on second and third. They were still there with two out. Oliva then hit a ground ball to second. Johnson booted it, then threw it away, making two errors on the same play and allowing both runners to score, tying it at 2-2.
The Orioles put men on second and third in the seventh, but did not score. Rettenmund homered leading off the eighth, putting Baltimore up 3-2. Oliva singled with one out in the ninth, and Killebrew followed with a two-run homer, giving the Twins their first lead of the game at 4-3. Baltimore went down in order in the ninth.
WP: Kaat (4-1).
LP: Palmer (3-2).
S: Perranoski (6).
Notes: Quilici remained at second base in the continuing absence of Rod Carew. Paul Ratliff was behind the plate in place of George Mitterwald. Pitcher Steve Barber pinch-ran for Brant Alyea in the ninth. Mitterwald then went behind the plate as part of a triple switch, with Jim Holt going to left and Perranoski replacing Ratliff in the batting order.
Alyea was 0-for-3 and was batting .349. Oliva was batting .333. Killebrew was batting .324. Tovar was 1-for-4 and was batting .318. Kaat had an ERA of 2.40. Perranoski had an ERA of 1.62.
Rich Reese was 0-for-4 and was batting .182.
Alyea was now 0-for-10 in May, with his average going from .415 to .349.
After getting five days off, Perranoski had now appeared in three out of four games, pitching five innings.
Rettenmund was batting leadoff for the Orioles. I don't think of him as a leadoff-type batter, but he stole 13 bases in 1970. More important to Earl Weaver, I'm sure, is that he batted .322 with an OBP of .394. He was basically a utility outfielder in 1970, playing 44 games in center, 36 in right, and 30 in left.
Having taken two out of three from Baltimore, the Twins would now continue their eastern trip with three in Detroit.
Record: The Twins were 14-7, in first place in the American League West, a half game ahead of California.