WASHINGTON 6, MINNESOTA 5 IN WASHINGTON

Date:  Saturday, August 16.

Batting stars:  Harmon Killebrew was 2-for-3 with a walk.  Graig Nettles was 1-for-2 with a home run, his fifth.  Rich Reese was 1-for-4 with a two-run homer, his fifteenth.

Pitching stars:  Jim Kaat pitched a complete game, allowing six runs on ten hits and two walks and striking out four.

Opposition stars:  Tim Cullen was 2-for-4 with a double.  Ed Brinkman was 2-for-4.  Future Twin Brant Alyea was 2-for-4.  Frank Howard was 1-for-3 with a three-run homer (his thirty-eighth) and a walk.

The game:  The Senators had men on first and second with one out in the second, but did not score.  In the fourth, Ted Uhlaender led off with a double-plus-error and scored on Killebrew's single to put the Twins up 1-0.  Washington led off the fourth with two singles but did not score.  Nettles led off the fifth with a home run, but the Twins wasted Kaat's two-out double.  Still, Minnesota led 2-0.

It didn't last.  With one out in the bottom of the fifth, Del Unser and Brinkman singled and Howard followed with a three-run homer to put the Senators up 3-2.  The Twins tied it in the sixth when Tony Oliva singled, Killebrew walked, and Rick Renick delivered a two-out pinch-hit single to tie it 3-3.

Cesar Tovar hit a two-out double in the seventh and went to third on a wild pitch, but was stranded there.  In the eighth, however, Killebrew singled and Reese hit a two-run homer.  The Twins led 5-3 going to the bottom of the eighth.

With one out in the bottom of the eighth, Alyea and Cullen singled.  Kaat remained in the game to face Ed Stroud, who tripled in both runs to tie the score.  Kaat remained in the game to face Paul Casanova, who hit a sacrifice fly to give Washington a 6-5 lead.  Leo Cardenas led off the ninth with a single, but was erased on a double play and the Twins could not come back.

WP:  Darold Knowles (6-2).  LP:  Kaat  (11-10).  S:  None.

Notes:  Tovar was at second base, with Uhlaender in center and Nettles in left.

Reese was batting .342.  Oliva was batting .321.

In the sixth and seventh, Kaat gave up just one hit, a single, and immediately got a double play so that he faced just six batters in those two innings.  It would seem that was part of the reason he was left in to pitch the entire eighth.  It's easy to second-guess that, but it's hard to put oneself into the mindset of a manager in 1969.  The game was simply played differently.  It probably would not have been an unusual move to bring in a reliever, but it probably was not that unusual to leave the starter in, either.

Frank Howard was a great batter.  He won the Rookie of the Year award in 1960 with the Dodgers, he finished in the top ten of MVP voting four times, and he made the all-star team four times.  He wore the Twins out in 1969, batting .442/.556/.721 against them in fifty-four plate appearances, for an OPS of 1.276.  For his career he batted .305/.388/.514 against the Twins in 464 plate appearances, for an OPS of .901, and hit twenty-two home runs.

Dick Bosman was the starting pitcher for the Senators.  He pitched 5.1 innings, giving up three runs (two earned) on six hits and a walk and striking out three.

Record:  The Twins were 70-48, in first place in the American League West, one game ahead of Oakland.

MINNESOTA 2, WASHINGTON 0 IN WASHINGTON

Date:  Friday, August 15.

Batting stars:  Rich Reese was 3-for-4.  Leo Cardenas was 2-for-4.

Pitching stars:  Jim Perry pitched seven shutout innings, giving up seven hits and two walks and striking out one.  Ron Perranoski struck out two in two shutout innings, giving up two hits.

Opposition stars:  Casey Cox pitched four shutout innings of relief, giving up one hit and one walk and striking out one.  Dennis Higgins pitched two perfect innings, striking out one.  Ed Brinkman was 2-for-4.

The game:  Tovar and Reese each singled to start the game, putting men on first and third.  The Twins only scored once, on Tony Oliva's RBI groundout, but it gave Minnesota a 1-0 lead.

Each team put men on first and second with one out in the second, but did not score.  In the third, Reese led off with a single, Oliva had a one-out single, and Cardenas delivered a two-out single to put the Twins up 2-0.  The Senators had a man on third with one out in the third, but did not score.  The Twins had men on first and third in the fourth and did not score.  Washington got a two-out double from Del Unser in the fifth and had a man on second with none out in the sixth, but still could not dent the plate.  They also had two singles in the seventh, but a double play took them out of the inning.  After that, the Senators got just a two-out single in the ninth.

WP:  Perry (14-5).  LP:  Jim Shellenback (4-7).  S:  Perranoski (22).

Notes:  With Carew out, Reese moved into the number two slot in the order.  Frank Quilici played second base.  Bob Allison was in left field, and Tom Tischinski was behind the plate.

Reese raised his average to .344.  He was 7-for-8 in his last two games, 16-for-28 in his last seven games, and 24-for-49 in his last sixteen games.

The teams combined for sixteen hits, but just two runs.  All but one of the hits were singles.  The teams combined to go 2-for-17 with men in scoring position, with Washington going 0-for-8.

Shellenback pitched the first three innings, giving up two runs on six hits and a walk and striking out three.  He came out of the game for a pinch-runner after singling to start the bottom of the third.  Presumably he was injured, although he came back to pitch just two days later.  He wasn't much of a batter, though (.135/.159/.154), so you probably wouldn't let him bat if you were planning to take him out.

Casey Cox was a pretty good reliever for the Senators from 1966-1969.  In those seasons, he went 23-17, 3.03 in 365.1 innings (176 games, 13 starts).  Despite how well he pitched, he was sent to AAA Buffalo for most of the 1968 season--it's hard to believe Washington had such a stellar bullpen that they couldn't have found room for him.  The Senators converted him to starting in 1970, which didn't work very well--he went 8-12, 4.45.  He did a little better when returned to the bullpen in 1971, but he was never again what he had been.  The now-Texas Rangers traded him to the Yankees at the end of August of 1972 for ex-Twin Jim Roland.  He did little for the Yankees and was released early in the 1973 season.  He then played in AAA with the Cubs and his playing career was over after the 1973 season.  It's hard to know what happened this many years after the fact, but it kind of looks like the Senators didn't know what they had in Cox, started messing around with him, and ultimately the messing around took its toll.

Record:  The Twins were 70-47, in first place in the American League West, two games ahead of Oakland.

MINNESOTA 5, NEW YORK 2 IN NEW YORK

Date:  Wednesday, August 13.

Batting star:  Rich Reese was 4-for-4 with two home runs (his thirteenth and fourteenth) and three RBIs.

Batting star:  Tom Hall pitched a complete game, giving up two runs on seven hits and three walks and striking out four.

Opposition stars:  Roy White was 3-for-4 with two doubles.  Frank Fernandez was 2-for-4 with a double.  Horace Clarke was 2-for-4 with a double.

The game:  The Yankees got three singles in the first inning, but Hall picked Clarke off base and no runs scored.  Reese led off the second with a home run to put the Twins up 1-0.

There was not much more offense until the fifth.  Leo Cardenas and Johnny Roseboro led off with singles.  A bunt moved them to second and third.  Cesar Tovar hit a sacrifice fly to make it 2-0 and Rod Carew delivered an RBI single to make it 3-0.  The Twins opened the sixth with a walk and a single, but a double play took them out of the inning and it remained 3-0.  New York threatened in the sixth, as Gene Michael led off the inning with a walk and White followed with a double, but Michael was thrown out trying to score on the double and the Yankees remained scoreless.

The Twins added to their lead in the eighth, as Harmon Killebrew hit a two-out double and Reese followed with a two-run homer.  New York got on the board in the bottom of the eighth.  Clarke hit a one-out double and with two down White and Fernandez hit back-to-back RBI doubles, bringing the score to 5-2.  Hall retired Bill Robinson on a liner to left and retired the side in order in the ninth.

WP:  Hall (5-4).  LP:  Mel Stottlemyre (16-9).  S:  None.

Notes:  The double was Killebrew's eighteenth.  He had only two seasons in which he hit more doubles than home runs.  One was 1954, when in thirteen at-bats he hit one double and no homers.  The other was 1973, when in 248 at-bats he hit nine doubles and just five home runs.  For his career he hit nearly twice as many home runs as doubles, 573 to 290.

This was Hall's third complete game of the season.  He would be sent to the bullpen for a couple of appearances after this game, making his next start on August 24.

Carew was 1-for-3 and was batting .352.  Reese raised his average to .338.  Tony Oliva was 0-for-4 and was batting .323.

This would be Carew's last game until September 1.  I don't recall, and did not have time to research, whether he was injured or had a National Guard commitment.  He was in a slump, though.  His last multi-hit game was July 29.  Since then, he was 7-for-41, an average of .171.  He had no extra-base hits and had drawn just five walks.  His average fell from .375 to .352.

Frank Fernandez had a six-year career as a part-time/backup catcher.  He got a September call-up in 1967, batting .214 in 28 at-bats.  He was the backup to Jake Gibbs in 1968 and shared the position with him in 1969.  Then a guy named Thurman Munson came along, and the Yankees traded him to Oakland.  He shared catching duties with Dave Duncan in 1970, then started moving around.  The Athletics traded him to Washington in May of 1971 in a trade that brought Darold Knowles to Oakland.  The Athletics bought him back in June, then traded him to the Cubs at the trade deadline.  Through all of that, he got just eighty major league at-bats in 1971 and just three more in 1972.  He never hit--1969 was his best offensive season, when he batted .223/.399/.415 in 229 at-bats.  That high OBP carried through his career--his lifetime numbers are .199/.350/.395.  He has the highest number of both hits and walks for a man who drew more walks than hits in his career (164 to 145).  He also hit more home runs (39) than any other player with a lifetime average of under .200.  OBP was presumably not valued as much then, but even today it's hard to stay in the lineup with an average of .199.  If he could've just hit a few more singles, he probably would've had a much longer career.

Record:  The Twins were 69-47, in first place in the American League West, two games ahead of Oakland.

NEW YORK 10, MINNESOTA 3 IN NEW YORK

Date:  Tuesday, August 12.

Batting stars:  Jim Kaat was 2-for-3 with a two-run homer (his second) and a double.  Harmon Killebrew was 2-for-4.  Leo Cardenas was 1-for-3 with a home run (his eighth) and a walk, scoring twice.

Pitching star:  Bill Zepp retired all four batters he faced, striking out one.

Opposition stars:  Horace Clarke was 3-for-4 with a triple and a walk, scoring twice and driving in two.  Len Boehmer was 2-for-4.  Gene Michael was 2-for-5 with a triple and a double, scoring twice.

The game:  The Yankees jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first.  Clarke singled, Michael doubled, Roy White hit a sacrifice fly, and an error brought home the second run.  It stayed 2-0 until the third, when Cardenas walked and Kaat hit a two-run homer to tie it 2-2.

The Yankees had two on with two out in the third and the fourth, but did not score.  The Twins had two on with one out in the fourth, but did not score.  So, we were still 2-2 going to the seventh.

Cardenas broke the tie with two out in the seventh, hitting a home run to put the Twins up 3-2.  Then the roof fell in (if there had been a roof).  With one out, Clarke walked and Michael tripled, tying the score at three.  White was intentionally walked and Al Worthington came in to pitch.  He faced three batters and walked them all, two of them with the bases loaded, giving the Yankees a 5-3 lead.  Ron Perranoski came in.  He struck out Bobby Cox but gave up singles to Boehmer and Bill Robinson and a triple to Clarke.  Zepp came in to get the last out, but it was 10-3 New York by that time and there it stayed.

WP:  Steve Hamilton (3-3).  LP:  Kaat (11-9).  S:  Lindy McDaniel (3).

Notes:  Rod Carew was back to play second base, with Cesar Tovar returning to center field and Ted Uhlaender going to left.

Carew was 0-for-4 and was batting .352.  Rich Reese was 1-for-4 and was batting .329.  Tony Oliva was 0-for-4 and was batting .326.

Perranoski was charged with two runs on three hits in two-thirds of an inning.  His ERA went up to 2.02.

Hamilton faced one man to get the win, striking out Carew with men on first and second and one out in the seventh.  The starters were Kaat and Stan Bahnsen.  Kaat pitched 6.1 innings, allowing five runs (four earned) on seven hits and five walks, striking out one.  Bahnsen pitched 6.2 innings, giving up three runs on six hits and three walks and striking out two.

This was the major league debut for Bill Zepp.  He made four appearances with the Twins in 1969; this was the only one in which he did not allow a run.  He had a fine year for them in 1970, however, going 9-4, 3.22 in 151 innings.  In his twenty starts that season, he was 6-4, 3.68, 1.50 WHIP.  In his twenty-six relief appearances, however, he was 3-0, 2 saves, 1.75, 0.92 WHIP.  It was only thirty-six innings, but that still looks like a darn good reliever, and that was his age twenty-three season.  According to wikipedia, however, Zepp refused to sign a contract for 1971 and threatened to retire unless he was traded to Detroit, where he was from.  The Twins ultimately obliged, trading him for Mike Adams and a player to be named later (Arthur Clifford).  It did not go well for him there.  He went 1-1, 5.12, 1.83 WHIP in 16 appearances and finished the season in the minors.  He later said that he had torn a tendon in his pitching arm.  Rather than have what was then a new and risky "Tommy John" surgery, he chose to retire.

I had no idea that there was once a major league player named "Len Boehmer".  He was primarily a first baseman.  He went 0-for-3 for Cincinnati in 1967, but 1969 was the only year in which he got any noticeable playing time as a backup for Joe Pepitone.  He appeared in forty-five games for the Yankees that year, batting .176/.233/.213 in 108 at-bats.  He would get five more at-bats with the Yankees in 1971, going 0-for-5.  After baseball, he went back to his home town of Flint Hill, Missouri and joined his family's plumbing supply business.  He is retired now, but two of his sons still run the business.

Record:  The Twins were 68-47, in first place in the American League West, one game ahead of Oakland.  They had lost five in a row and six of their last seven.

BALTIMORE 2, MINNESOTA 0 IN BALTIMORE

Date:  Sunday, August 10.

Batting stars:  None.  The Twins had just one hit.

Pitching stars:  Jim Perry pitched seven innings, giving up two runs on four hits and a walk and striking out four.  Dick Woodson pitched a perfect inning.

Opposition stars:  Mike Cuellar pitched a complete game shutout, giving up one hit and three walks and striking out eight.  Elrod Hendricks was 3-for-3 with a home run, his eighth.  Boog Powell was 1-for-3 with a home run, his thirty-first.

The game:  Powell hit a one-out home run in the fourth to put the Orioles up 1-0.  Hendricks hit a two-out homer in the seventh to make it 2-0.  And that was pretty much it.

The Orioles never got a man past first base other than on the home runs.  The Twins only once got a man past first--that came in the fourth, when Harmon Killebrew drew a one-out walk and Bob Allison drew a two-out walk.  The Twins lone hit was a Cesar Tovar single leading off the ninth.

WP:  Cuellar (15-9).  LP:  Perry (13-5).  S:  None.

Notes:  Ted Uhlaender was again in center field, with Tovar at second base.  Allison was in left field.  Tom Tischinski was the catcher, with Johnny Roseboro on the bench.

Rich Reese was 0-for-4 and was batting .330.  Tony Oliva was 0-for-4 and was batting .329.  Perry's ERA was now 2.87.

The Twins used a pinch-hitter for Tischinski in the eighth inning.  Nothing unusual about that--he wasn't much of a batter--but knowing that he was going to use Roseboro at catcher in the bottom of the eighth, Billy Martin chose to pinch-hit with Frank Quilici instead.  Looking at the overall numbers, Roseboro was clearly a superior batter.  Against left-handers, however, both were pretty worthless.  Quilici batted .146/.210/.198 against left-handers in 1969.  Roseboro, however, was .167/.219/.167.  Nobody was hitting Cuellar this day, so perhaps it wouldn't have mattered who the pinch-hitter was anyway.

Mike Cuellar took a long time to get started, but he sure made the most of it when his time came.  He made two appearances with Cincinnati in 1959 at age twenty-two.  He did not get back to the majors until 1964 with St. Louis, when he was twenty-seven.  He was in AAA most of that time, and while he was doing okay there he was not blowing people away.  When he got to the Cardinals in 1964 he was nothing special, either--5-5, 4.50 in 72 innings.  They traded him to Houston in 1965, and that's where he established himself as a good pitcher.  His best season as an Astro was 1966, when he posted an ERA of 2.22 and a WHIP of 1.08.  His won-lost record, however, was only 12-10, so he didn't make the all-star team until 1967, when he went 16-11.  He was 8-11 in 1968, although with an ERA of 2.74 and a WHIP of 1.15.  Houston then traded him to Baltimore for Curt Blefary.  Maybe, at age thirty-two, the Astros thought he was headed into decline, but it sure didn't work out that way.  He won at least eighteen games a year over the next six seasons (winning twenty in four of them).  He went 125-63, 2.99 from 1969-1974, winning the Cy Young Award in 1969.  He started to decline in 1975, at age thirty-eight, but he still went 14-12, 3.66.  That was his last good year, though.  He stumbled through 1976 with the Orioles and made two appearances with the Angels in 1977, then was done.  His career totals were 185-130, 3.14, 1.20 WHIP in 2808 innings.  He appeared in 459 games, 379 starts.  He won't make the Hall of Fame because he got started too late, but for six years he was as good as anyone in the game.

Record:  The Twins were 68-46, in first place in the American League West, 1.5 games ahead of Oakland.  They had lost four games in a row and five of their last six.

BALTIMORE 5, MINNESOTA 1 IN BALTIMORE

Date:  Saturday, August 9.

Batting star:  Rich Reese was 2-for-4 with a double.

Pitching star:  Dick Woodson pitched two shutout innings, givint up two hits.

Opposition stars:  Elrod Hendricks was 3-for-4 with two RBIs.  Paul Blair was 2-for-4 with a home run, his twenty-fourth.  Jim Palmer pitched six innings, giving up one run on four hits and five walks and striking out four.  Pete Richert struck out four in three shutout innings, giving up one hit.  Brooks Robinson was 2-for-4.  Dave Johnson was 2-for-4.

The game:  With two out in the first, Tony Oliva doubled, Harmon Killebrew walked, and Reese delivered an RBI single to give the Twins a 1-0 lead.  Dean Chance came out and struck out the side in the bottom of the first.  At that point, things were looking good for the Twins.

That was the last time it looked good for them.  With one out in the second, consecutive singles by Brooks Robinson, Johnson, and Hendricks tied the score at one.  With one out in the third, Blair homered to make it 2-1.  With two out, Boog Powell doubled and Brooks Robinson singled him home to give the Orioles a 3-1 lead.

There were no more threats until the fifth, and then they started coming every half-inning.  Baltimore opened the fifth with singles by Don Buford and Blair, but a double play took them out of the inning.  Singles by Graig Nettles and Leo Cardenas put men on first and second with two out in the sixth, but the Twins did not score.  The Orioles got two-out singles from Hendricks and Mark Belanger in the bottom of the sixth, but did not score.  The tally remained 3-1.

Baltimore scored again in the seventh when Buford walked, went to third on a stolen base-plus-error, and scored on Frank Robinson's ground out.  Reese hit a one-out double in the eighth but did not score.  The Orioles added one more run in the bottom of the eighth when Johnson doubled and Hendricks single him home, bringing the score to 5-1.

WP:  Palmer (10-2).  LP:  Chance (3-2).  S:  Richert (10).

Notes:  Ted Uhlaender was again in center field, with Cesar Tovar at second base and Nettles in left field.

Reese raised his average to .335.  Oliva was 1-for-4 and was batting .332.

Chance struck out four in three innings, but allowed three runs on six hits and no walks.  Bob Allison pinch-hit for him in the fourth with a man on first and one out.  He had given up all three runs and six hits in the prior two innings, including a home run and a double in the third, so he was somewhat wobbly.  Still, it's a pretty quick hook by Billy Martin standards.  I'm not saying that it was a bad move, just a somewhat questionable one.  Chance's ERA was 2.93.

Record:  The Twins were 68-45, in first place in the American League West, 1.5 games ahead of Oakland.  The Twins had lost three in a row and four out of five.

BALTIMORE 6, MINNESOTA 5 IN BALTIMORE

Date:  Friday, August 8.

Batting stars:  Tony Oliva was 2-for-4 with a home run (his fifteenth), a walk, and two RBIs.  Ted Uhlaender was 2-for-4 with a walk and two runs.  Harmon Killebrew was 2-for-4.  Rich Reese was 2-for-4.  Graig Nettles was 2-for-4.

Pitching star:  Tom Hall pitched 4.1 scoreless innings of relief, giving up three hits and a walk and striking out one.

Opposition stars:  Paul Blair was 3-for-4 with a home run (his twenty-third), a stolen base (his fifteenth), and a walk, scoring twice.  Dave Johnson was 3-for-4 with a double.  Frank Robinson was 1-for-3 with two walks and two RBIs.  Brooks Robinson was 1-for-4 with a home run (his nineteenth) and a walk.

The game:  Blair hit an inside-the-park home run in the first to give the Orioles a 1-0 lead.  They had a chance to increase the lead in the second, as a pair of singles put men on first and third with two out, but could not cash it in.  The Twins tied it in the third when Uhlaender singled, went to second on a ground out, and scored on Oliva's single.

Some missed chances followed.  Baltimore put men on first and second with one out in the third and did not score.  The Twins had men on first and second with none out in the fourth and did not score.  Johnson hit a leadoff double for the Orioles in the fourth and did not score.

The Twins took the lead in the sixth.  Cesar Tovar walked and went to third on Killebrew's one-out single.  Reese followed with an RBI single to put the Twins up 2-1.  Nettles later delivered a two-out single to make it 3-1.  The Twins added another run in the eighth on Oliva's home run to take a 4-1 lead.

Brooks Robinson homered in the eighth to cut the Twins' lead to 4-2, but the Twins got the run back in the ninth when Uhlaender drew a two-out walk and scored on Tovar's double.  It looked good for the Twins, as they led 5-2 going to the bottom of the ninth.

Al Worthington had come in with two out in the eighth and had retired everyone he faced other than giving up the Robinson homer.  In the ninth, however, Andy Etchebarren led off with a single.  Elrod Hendricks flied out, but Don Buford singled and Paul Blair walked, loading the bases.  Ron Perranoski came in and gave up singles to Frank Robinson and Boog Powell, tying the score and putting men on first and third.  Powell took second, which led to an intentional walk Brooks Robinson.  Johnson then hit a sacrifice fly to win the game for Baltimore.

WP:  Marcelino Lopez (4-2).  LP:  Perranoski (7-6).  S:  None.

Notes:  We mentioned yesterday that Rod Carew had left the game in the sixth inning.  It may have been due to a military commitment, but it seems more likely to have been an injury of some sort.  He would not play again until August 12.  He would play again on the 13th, but then was out until September 1.

With Carew on the shelf, Tovar moved to second base, with Uhlaender going to center and Nettles making his first start since July 18 in left field.  Reese was at first and Killebrew at third.  Frank Quilici pinch-ran for Killebrew in the eighth and stayed in the game at third base.  Bob Allison was inserted as a defensive replacement for Reese in the eighth.  It would come as a surprise to me to learn that Allison was a better first baseman than Reese, but it's certainly possible.

Bob Miller started for the Twins, but pitched only 2.1 innings.  He gave up one run on four hits and a walk and struck out two.  He presumably came out due to injury, as he would not pitch again until September 6.

Hall, who went from July 27 through August 6 without pitching, pitched 4.1 innings in this game after pitching three innings the day before.

Today, of course, Perranoski would've been brought in to start the inning, rather than with the bases loaded and one out.  That's not intended as a criticism of Billy Martin.  Games were simply managed differently back then.

Tom Phoebus started for Baltimore.  He pitched 5.2 innings, giving up three runs on eight hits and two walks and striking out one.

In the ninth, with the score tied 5-5, the Orioles had Frank Robinson on third and Boog Powell on first with one out.  Powell went to second, leading to the intentional walk to Brooks Robinson.  It would seem like Powell's advance was defensive indifference, but he was credited with a stolen base, his first of the season.  In fact, it was his only of the season.  Powell stole twenty bases in his career, going 20-for-41.  He was 7-for-8 in 1968 and 4-for-4 in 1972.  Of course, that means he was 9-for-29 the rest of his career.

Record:  The Twins were 68-44, in first place in the American League West, 1.5 games ahead of Oakland.

DETROIT 6, MINNESOTA 4 IN DETROIT

Date:  Thursday, August 7.

Batting stars:  Rich Reese was 4-for-4 with a three-run homer (his twelfth) and two runs.  Johnny Roseboro was 3-for-3 with a walk.

Pitching stars:  Tom Hall struck out three in three shutout innings, giving up a hit and a walk.  Al Worthington pitched a scoreless inning, giving up a hit and striking out one.

Opposition stars:  Bill Freehan was 3-for-4.  Al Kaline was 2-for-3 with a home run (his thirteenth) and a walk.  Don Wert was 2-for-4 with a double.  Willie Horton was 2-for-4.  Ike Brown was 1-for-3 with a home run, his second.  Tom Timmermann pitched 4.2 innings of relief, giving up one run on five hits and striking out two.

The game:  In the bottom of the first, the Tigers got consecutive two-out singles from Kaline, Horton, and Freehan to take a 1-0 lead.  The Twins put runners on first and third with none out in the second but did not score.  Brown homered in the bottom of the second to make it 2-0.  In the third, Kaline homered to make it 3-0.  That was followed by singles by Horton and Freehan and a passed ball, putting men on second and third with one out.  Norm Cash singled in a run, but Freehan was thrown out at the plate to keep the score 4-0.  Starter Jim Perry was then replaced by Jerry Crider, who gave up a double to Wert to make the score 5-0.

The Twins got back into the game in the fourth.  Tony Oliva led off with a single, Harmon Killebrew walked, and Reese hit a three-run homer to cut the margin to 5-3.  The Twins got a pair of infield singles with one out in the sixth but did not score.  With two out in the eighth, Reese, Roseboro, and Cesar Tovar all singled, cutting the margin to 5-4.  A walk to Leo Cardenas loaded the bases, but pinch-hitter Charlie Manuel struck out to end the inning.

Detroit got the run back in the bottom of the eighth, as Wert singled, was bunted to second, and scored on Mickey Stanley's single.  The Twins went down in order in the ninth.

WP:  Timmermann (1-1).  LP:  Jim Kaat (11-8).  S:  Don McMahon (11).

Notes:  Ted Uhlaender was in left field and Reese was at first base.  Rod Carew started, but was replaced by Frank Quilici in the sixth for no obvious reason.

Carew was 0-for-3 and was batting .356.  Tony Oliva was 1-for-5 and was batting .331.  Reese raised his average to .330.

The Twins' five and six batters, Reese and Roseboro, were 7-for-7 with a home run and a walk.  The rest of the team was 3-for-28 with no extra-base hits.

Kaat lasted just 2.2 innings, allowing five runs on eight hits and no walks and striking out two.  Tigers starter Earl Wilson pitched three innings, allowing three runs on five hits and two walks.

This was Hall's first appearance since July 27, when he pitched 3.1 scoreless innings.  Before that, he had not pitched since July 16.

Ron Perranoski came in to start the eighth and gave up a run on two hits.  His ERA went up to 1.73.

This was the first major league win of Tom Timmermann's career.  He was twenty-nine years old, but had come up in mid-June after dominating the International League in eleven starts.  He was in the Tigers' bullpen through 1971 and was okay, not great, not awful.  They made him a starter in 1972 and he did quite well, going 8-10, 3.00, 1.09 WHIP in 25 starts.  He went back to the bullpen in 1973 and was doing fairly well there, too, but was traded to Cleveland in mid-June.  His career fell apart at that point.  The Indians put him in the bullpen, where he didn't do very well, and then moved him to the rotation, where he was no better.  He made four appearances with Cleveland in 1974, was in the minors the rest of the year, then was done.  He started late, but he still played in 228 games (44 starts) and pitched 548 major league innings.  He was 35-35, 3.78, 1.31 WHIP.  He's the father-in-law of Phil Leftwich, who made 34 starts for the Angels from 1993-1996.

Record:  The Twins were 68-43, in first place in the American League West, two games ahead of Oakland.

MINNESOTA 3, DETROIT 1 IN DETROIT

Date:  Wednesday, August 6.

Batting stars:  Leo Cardenas was 2-for-4 with a double.  Cesar Tovar was 1-for-3 with two walks and three stolen bases ( his twenty-seventh, twenty-eighth, and twenty-ninth), scoring twice.

Pitching star:  Jim Perry pitched a complete game, giving up one run on three hits and a walk and striking out two.

Opposition star:  Mickey Lolich pitched eight innings, giving up three runs on six hits and seven walks and striking out four.

The game:  In the first, Tovar singled, stole second, and scored on a Tony Oliva double to give the Twins a 1-0 lead.  In the second the Twins loaded the bases with none out, as Cardenas singled, Rick Renick was hit by a pitch, and Tom Tischinski walked, but only scored once as Perry hit into a double play.  Still, the Twins led 2-0.

The lead was cut in half in the bottom of the second.  Willie Horton doubled and Tom Matchick singled, making the score 2-1.  But the Tigers got only one more baserunner the rest of the game, a one-out single by Tom Tresh in the sixth, and he did not advance beyond first.

The Twins had a man on second with one out in the fourth and with none out in the sixth, but did not score either time.  They did get an insurance run in the seventh.  Tovar walked, was bunted to second, stole third, and scored on Oliva's sacrifice fly.

WP:  Perry (13-4).  LP:  Lolich (14-5).  S:  None.

Notes:  Bob Allison was back in left field and Renick was at third base.  Tischinski was behind the plate.  The Twins made two defensive replacements in the eighth, with Ted Uhlaender going to left and Frank Quilici to third.  They made one more in the ninth, with Rich Reese playing first in place of Harmon Killebrew.

Rod Carew was 0-for-4 and was batting .359.  Oliva was 1-for-4 with two RBIs and was batting .333.

Gates Brown was again in left for the Tigers.  Of his fourteen starts in the field, at least three of them came against the Twins.

Game scores say this was tied for Perry's best start of the season so far, even with his complete game shutout against Kansas City in April.

Record:  The Twins were 68-42, in first place in the American League West, three games ahead of Oakland.

MINNESOTA 7, DETROIT 1 IN DETROIT

Date:  Monday, August 4.

Batting star:  Tony Oliva was 3-for-4 with two RBIs.

Pitching stars:  Bob Miller pitched 7.1 innings, giving up one run on four hits and a walk and striking out two.  Ron Perranoski pitched 1.2 scoreless innings, giving up a walk.

Opposition stars:  Don Wert was 2-for-3.  Daryl Patterson struck out two in a perfect inning.

The game:  The Twins scored five in the first inning and the game was pretty much over right there.  Cesar Tovar walked, Rod Carew singled, and Harmon Killebrew walked, loading the bases.  Oliva hit an RBI ground out and Bob Allison struck out, so it looked like Tigers starter Mike Kilkenny might get out of the inning.  Leo Cardenas walked, re-loading the bases.  Rick Renick then followed with a two-run double and Tom Tischinski came through with a two-run single, making the score 5-0.

The Tigers threatened in the bottom of the first, as Tom Tresh hit a one-out double and Al Kaline walked, but Norm Cash hit into a double play.  They did got on the board in the third when Wert singled, went to second on a ground out, and scored on a Mickey Stanley double, making the score 5-1.  The Twins got the run back in the fifth when Carew walked, went to second on a wild pitch, and scored on Killebrew's single, so the score was 6-1.

The Twins added one last run in the seventh when Tovar singled, stole second, and scored on Oliva's single.  Detroit had only one hit after the third inning.

WP:  Miller (4-4).  LP:  Kilkenny (1-2).  S:  Perranoski (21).

Notes:  Tischinski was again behind the plate--one assumes Johnny Roseboro had a minor injury.  Renick was again at third, with Killebrew at first and Rich Reese on the bench.

Miller would make one more start, then miss a month due to injury.  He was in the bullpen when he came back, although he did make two starts at the end of the season.

Carew was 1-for-4 with a walk and was batting .366.  Oliva raised his average to .332.  Reese came into the game to pinch-hit for Allison in the fifth and went 0-for-2, making his average .318.  Reese first went to left, then moved to first when Ted Uhlaender came in for defense in the seventh, with Killebrew coming out of the game.

I had completely forgotten that Tom Tresh played for the Tigers.  He didn't play for them terribly long--he was traded there in mid-June of 1969 and stayed through the end of the season, which turned out to be his last.  The rest of his career, of course, was with the Yankees.  He made his major league debut as a September call-up in 1961 and stayed until his trade to Detroit.  He came up as a shortstop and played there in 1962, but then Tony Kubek got came back from the military and he moved to the outfield.  He played mostly left, but also played a good deal of center whenever Mickey Mantle missed time with injuries.  He was a very good batter through 1966, three times posting an OPS of .800 or better and around. 750 the other two times.  As we often say, those numbers are even better than they sound when you adjust for the low offense of the 1960s.  He was Rookie of the Year in 1962, made the all-star team in both 1962 and 1963, and won a Gold Glove in 1965.  After that, even though he was only twenty-eight in 1967, he pretty much fell off a cliff.  His OPS was .678 in 1967 and .612 in 1968.  It was .534 in 1969 at the time of his trade to the Tigers.  Detroit moved him back to shortstop and he bounced back some the rest of the season, but it wasn't enough.  He was released before the 1970 season, ending his playing career.  Tom Tresh passed away from a heart attack on October 14, 2008.

Record:  The Twins were 67-41, in first place in the American League West, 3.5 games ahead of Oakland.