Tag Archives: Mike Cuellar

Keeping Track

1970 Rewind: ALCS Game One

BALTIMORE 10, MINNESOTA 6 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Saturday, October 3.

Batting stars:  George Mitterwald was 3-for-4 with two runs and two RBIs.  Tony Oliva was 3-for-4.  Harmon Killebrew was 2-for-5 with a home run and two RBIs.  Cesar Tovar was 2-for-5.

Pitching stars:  Stan Williams pitched three shutout innings, giving up two hits and a walk.  Ron Perranoski struck out two in a scoreless inning.

Opposition stars:  Brooks Robinson was 3-for-3 with a double.  Boog Powell was 2-for-5 with a home run and two RBIs.  Elrod Hendricks was 2-for-5 with two runs.  Mike Cuellar was 1-for-2 with a grand slam.  Don Buford was 1-for-3 with a home run and two walks.  Dick Hall pitched 4.2 scoreless innings, giving up one hit and striking out three.

The game:  The Twins got on the board first.  Tovar led off the first with a single, was bunted to second, and scored on a Killebrew single.  The Orioles took the lead in the second, however.  One-out singles by Hendricks and Robinson put two on, and Dave Johnson was hit by a pitch to load the bases.  Mark Belanger hit a potential double play grounder, but a throwing error by Danny Thompson allowed two runs to score and put Baltimore up 2-1.  The Twins tied it in the second when Mitterwald singled, went to third on Thompson's double, and scored on a squeeze bunt by Jim Perry.

But the roof fell in in the fourth inning.  Frank Robinson and Hendricks led off with singles, and a sacrifice fly by Brooks Robinson put the Orioles ahead again.  Singles by Johnson and Belanger loaded the bases, and Mike Cuellar--Mike Cuellar--hit a grand slam to make it 7-2 Baltimore.  Buford followed with another homer, and with two out Powell homered, making the score 9-2.

The Twins tried to battle back.  In the bottom of the fourth Mitterwald singled, went to second on an infield grounder, and scored on a Tovar single.  Killebrew led off the fifth with a home run, followed by an Oliva doubled.  Brant Alyea walked, a ground out moved them to second and third, and Mitterwald delivered a two-run single to cut the lead to 9-6.

But that was as good as it would get.  The Orioles added a run in the sixth when Hall singled, went to second on a walk to Buford, and scored on Powell's single, making it 10-6.  The Twins got only one hit in the last four innings.

WP:  Hall (1-0).

LP:  Perry (0-1).

S:  None.

Notes:  Thompson was at second base in place of Rod Carew.  Bob Allison pinch-hit for Bill Zepp in the fourth inning.  Frank Quilici went to second in the sixth inning as part of a double switch.  Jim Holt pinch-hit for Williams in the eighth.  Carew pinch-hit for Quilici in the eighth.  Holt stayed in the game in center field, with Tovar moving to second base.

Neither starting pitcher fared well.  Perry pitched 3.1 innings, giving up eight runs (seven earned) on eight hits and a walk and striking out one.  Mike Cuellar pitched 4.1 innings, allowing six runs on ten hits and a walk and striking out two.

These losses to the Orioles were almost as frustrating as the losses to the Yankees would be thirty-some years later.  You lose because Mike Cuellar, of all people, hits a grand slam.  Cuellar hit seven home runs for his career and had a lifetime line of .115/.128/.171.  And he hits a grand slam.  Incredible.  It's really to the Twins credit that they continued to fight and battled back as well as they did.  I mean, I know that's what they're supposed to do and what they get paid to do, but still, giving up that grand slam, and then seeing two more home runs that same inning, had to be really disheartening.

It was a different time, and that plays into it, but I still think you can question using one of the two best relievers, Williams, for three innings in that situation.  Yes, you never want to give up on a playoff game, and back then, they still might bring Williams back in the next game.  But still, burning one of your two best relievers in a game that, let's face it, the odds are against you coming back to win doesn't make much sense.

But, tomorrow's another day, and the Twins would try to get the series back to even.

Record:  The Twins trailed the best-of-five series, 0-1.

Keeping Track

1970 Rewind: Game Ninety-one

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MINNESOTA 8, BALTIMORE 0 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Friday, July 24.

Batting stars:  Frank Quilici was 2-for-3 with a walk.  Rick Renick was 2-for-4 with a home run, his seventh.  Leo Cardenas was 2-for-4 with a triple and a double.  Cesar Tovar was 2-for-5 with a double and two runs.  Rich Reese was 2-for-5.  Harmon Killebrew was 1-for-3 with a home run (his thirtieth), a walk, and two runs.  Tony Oliva was 1-for-4 with a three-run homer (his fourteenth) and two runs.

Pitching stars:  Jim Kaat pitched a complete game shutout, giving up seven hits and a walk and striking out five.

Opposition star:  Andy Etchebarren was 2-for-4.

The game:  Tovar led off the bottom of the first with a double and scored on a Reese single to give the Twins a 1-0 lead.  Renick led off the second with a homer to make it 2-0.

Neither team threatened again until the fifth, when Quilici singled, was bunted to second, and scored on a Tovar single.  Killebrew walked and Oliva followed with a three-run homer to make the score 6-0 Twins.  The Twins added two more in the seventh.  Killebrew led off with a home run.  Oliva reached on an error, Renick singled, and George Mitterwald singled to bring the score to 8-0.

Despite getting seven hits and a walk, the Orioles only once had a man in scoring position.  That was in the eighth, when Don Buford hit a one-out single and Paul Blair followed with a walk.  But the next two batters went out and it remained 8-0.

WP:  Kaat (9-7).

LP:  Mike Cuellar (13-6).

S:  None.

Notes:  Renick was in left field in place of Brant Alyea.  Quilici was at second base in place of Rod Carew.  Jim Holt pinch-ran for Renick in the seventh and stayed in the game in left field.  Danny Thompson replaced Killebrew at third base in the eighth.

Oliva was batting .319.  Tovar was batting .316.  Killebrew was batting .315.

The Twins continued to have success against Cuellar.  He had pitched a complete game victory against them eight days earlier.  Other than that game, though, he had posted game scores of fifty-one and forty-five, and in this game his score was twenty-seven.  For the season against the Twins he was 2-2, 4.88, 1.41 WHIP.  Against the entire league, Cuellar was 24-8, 3.48, 1.15 WHIP.

This was the only shutout for Kaat in 1970.

The Twins scored more runs in this game than they had in their previous three.

Record:  The Twins were 60-31, in first place in the American League West, six games ahead of California.  That's the biggest lead the Twins have had so far--they were also six games up on July 11.