Tag Archives: Minnesota Twins

Keeping Track

1970 Rewind: Game One Hundred Forty-four

CHICAGO 5, MINNESOTA 3 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Saturday, September 12.

Batting stars:  Cesar Tovar was 3-for-4.  Paul Ratliff was 2-for-4 with a double.  Brant Alyea was 1-for-5 with a home run, his sixteenth.

Pitching stars:  Bert Blyleven pitched seven innings, giving up three runs on six hits and two walks and striking out four.  Hal Haydel pitched a scoreless inning despite walking three.

Opposition stars:  Bart Johnson was 2-for-4.  Gail Hopkins was 1-for-3 with a home run, his sixth.  Syd O'Brien was 1-for-3 with a two-run homer (his eighth) and a walk. Johnson also struck out ten in eight innings, giving up three runs (one earned) on ten hits and three walks.

The game:  The Twins had two on with one out in the first, but nothing came of it.  Hopkins homered in the second to put the White Sox on the board.  In the third Johnson singled and O'Brien followed with a home run, making the score 3-0 Chicago.

The Twins drew a pair of walks in the bottom of the third, but a double play took them out of the inning.  The White Sox loaded the bases in the fourth but did not score.  Alyea led off the bottom of the fourth with a home run to cut the lead to 3-1.

Two runs was as close as the Twins would come.  They got a pair of two-out singles in the seventh, but did not score.  In the eighth Bill Melton walked, Ken Berry reached on an error, and Bobby Knoop hit a two-out two-run double to make it 5-1 Chicago.

The Twins did not give up.  Ratliff and Jim Holt led off the ninth with singles, and a passed ball moved them to second and third.  The next two batters went out, but Danny Thompson reached on an error to bring in a run and a wild pitch brought home another.  Harmon Killebrew walked, bringing the winning run to the plate, but Alyea struck out to end the game.

WP:  Johnson  (3-5).

LP:  Blyleven (9-7).

S:  Wilbur Wood (20).

Notes:  Jim Nettles was in right field in place of Tony Oliva.  Ratliff was behind the plate in place of George Mitterwald.  Frank Quilici was at second base in place of Rod Carew.  Holt pinch-hit for Quilici in the seventh inning and went to center field, with Tovar moving to right and Nettles coming out.  Danny Thompson came in to play second base.  Charlie Manuel pinch-hit for Blyleven in the seventh.  Herman Hill pinch-hit for Haydel in the ninth, but then Rick Renick pinch-hit for Hill.  Bob Allison pinch-ran for Killebrew in the ninth.

Alyea was batting .306.  Stan Williams gave up two unearned runs in one inning and had an ERA of 2.05.  Haydel had an ERA of 3.00.

The loss snapped the Twins' four-game winning streak.

As we said before, the Twins had pretty much settled the division race.  However, this loss and an Oakland win kept the magic number where it was.

Record:  The Twins were 87-57, in first place in the American League West, 7.5 games ahead of Oakland.  Their magic number remained at eleven.

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–March 1

*Dickey Pearce (1839)
Paul Hines (1855)
Farmer Vaughn (1864)
*Pepper Martin (1904)
Harry Caray (1914)
Bing Devine (1916)
Othello Renfroe (1923)
*Al Rosen (1924)
Larry Brown (1940)
Vern Fuller (1944)
*Steve Mingori (1944)
Jeff Holly (1953)
Dick Bremer (1956)
Johnny Ray (1957)
Mark Gardner (1962)
Rich Rodriguez (1963)
Tony Castillo (1963)
Omar Daal (1972)
Ramon Castro (1976)
*Terrence Long (1976)
Ken Harvey (1978)
Trevor Cahill (1998)

*Born February 29.

Bing Devine worked in baseball front offices from 1939-1978, spending most of that time in the Cardinals organization.  He was the St. Louis general manager from 1957-1964 and 1968-1978, serving as the general manager of the Mets from 1965-1967.

Othello Renfroe played in the Negro Leagues for several years.  He eventually became a broadcaster, sportswriter, scout, and public address announcer.  He was also the first African-American official scorer in major league baseball.

A lifelong Minnesotan, Dick Bremer has been a Twins broadcaster from 1983 to the present with the exception of 1986.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–March 1 →

Keeping Track

1970 Rewind: Game One Hundred Forty-three

MINNESOTA 6, CHICAGO 0 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Friday, September 11.

Batting stars:  George Mitterwald was 2-for-3 with a home run (his fourteenth), a walk, and two runs.  Brant Alyea was 2-for-4 with a triple and a double.  Cesar Tovar was 2-for-5.  Frank Quilici was 1-for-3 with a three-run homer (his second) and a walk.  Harmon Killebrew was 1-for-4 with a home run, his forty-first.

Pitching star:  Bill Zepp pitched a complete game shutout, giving up five hits and five walks and striking out four.

Opposition stars:  Syd O'Brien was 2-for-4.  Lee Stange pitched two shutout innings, giving up a walk and striking out one.

The game:  With two out in the first Killebrew hit a home run to give the Twins a quick lead.  The next batter, Tony Oliva, was hit by a pitch, and Alyea then delivered an RBI double to make it 2-0 Twins.

It stayed 2-0 through three, with the White Sox not advancing a man past first.  In the fourth Rick Renick singled, Mitterwald walked, and Quilici hit a three-run homer to put the Twins up 5-0.

Chicago had their first threat in the fifth, putting men on second and third with two out, but Bobby Knoop struck out to end the inning.  A single and an error gave them men on first and third with one out in the fifth, but a strikeout and a popup ended that threat.

Mitterwald homered in the eighth to make it 6-0.  The White Sox put two on with two out in the ninth, but Tom McCraw popped up to end the game.

WP:  Zepp (8-4).

LP:  Barry Moore (3-9).

S:  None.

Notes:  Renick was at third base, with Killebrew moving to first and Rich Reese on the bench.  Quilici was at second base in place of Rod Carew.

Reese pinch-hit for Renick in the fifth and stayed in the game at first base, with Killebrew moving to third.  Jim Holt went to center field in the fifth, with Cesar Tovar moving to right and Oliva coming out of the game.  Danny Thompson came in to play third base in the eighth, with Killebrew coming out of the game.  Jim Nettles went to right field in the eighth, with Tovar moving to left and Alyea coming out of the game.

Oliva was 0-for-1 and was batting .317.  Alyea was batting .308.

This was the only shutout of Zepp's career.  It was also the only complete game of Zepp's career.

Barry Moore's given name was Robert Barry Moore.  If your last name is Moore and you're going to give your son the middle name of Barry, it seems like you should also give him the first name of Lionel.  Or at least John.

The Twins had won four in a row, nine of ten, and eleven of thirteen.  The were 6-1 just over half-way through their thirteen game homestand.

Record:  The Twins were 87-56, in first place in the American League West, 8.5 games ahead of Oakland.  Their magic number was eleven.

Keeping Track

1970 Rewind: Game One Hundred Forty-two

MINNESOTA 7, OAKLAND 2 IN MINNESOTA (GAME 2 OF DOUBLEHEADER)

Date:  Thursday, September 10.

Batting stars:  Brant Alyea was 2-for-3 with two runs and two RBIs.  Frank Quilci was 2-for-4.  Tony Oliva was 1-for-4 with a home run (his twenty-second) and a walk.

Pitching stars:  Jim Kaat pitched seven innings, giving up two runs on seven hits and no walks and striking out five.  Stan Williams pitched two shutout innings, giving up one hit and striking out one.

Opposition stars:  Joe Rudi was 2-for-4 with two RBIs.  Sal Bando was 2-for-4.

The game:  Oliva homered with two out in the first to give the Twins an early 1-0 lead.  In the second Rich Reese and Paul Ratliff were each hit by a pitch (not the same pitch, of course) and Kaat delivered an RBI single to make it 2-0 Twins.  The Athletics got on the board in the third when Blue Moon Odom singled, went to second on a ground out, and scored on Rudi's single.

Oakland had two on with one out in the fourth but did not score.  The Twins broke it open in the fifth.  Cesar Tovar led off with a walk, was bunted to second, and went to third on a wild pitch.  He was still on third with two out, but walks to Harmon Killebrew and Reese loaded the bases.  Another wild pitch brought home a run, Alyea delivered a two-run single and went to second on the throw to the plate, and Ratliff added an RBi single, giving the Twins a 6-1 lead.

The Athletics got one run in the seventh on singles by Dick Green, Bert Campaneris, and Rudi.  The Twins got the run back in the bottom of the seventh when Tovar tripled and scored on a Cotton Nash ground out.  That made the score 7-2, and that's how it ended.

WP:  Kaat (12-10).

LP:  Odom (8-6).

S:  Williams (13).

Notes:  Ratliff was behind the plate in place of George Mitterwald.  Quilici was at second base in place of Rod Carew.  Jim Holt went to center field in the sixth inning, with Tovar moving to left and Alyea coming out of the game.  Rick Renick pinch-hit for Holt in the seventh, with Herman Hill going to center field in the eighth.  Cotton Nash pinch-hit for Ratliff in the seventh, with Mitterwald going behind the plate in the eighth.  Danny Thompson went to third base in the eighth, with Killebrew coming out of the game.

Oliva was 1-for-4 and was batting .318.  Alyea was batting .305.  Williams had an ERA of 2.05.

Hill was 0-for-1 and was batting .100.  Nash was 0-for-1 and was batting .000.  It was the first appearance in the majors for Nash in 1970.  He had appeared in three games in 1967 and six in 1969.

The Twins swept the series between the first and second place teams.  They had won eight of nine and ten of twelve.  This series essentially wrapped up the division for the Twins.

Record:  The Twins were 86-56, in first place in the American League West, 8.5 games ahead of Oakland.  Their magic number was twelve.

Keeping Track

1970 Rewind: Game One Hundred Forty-one

MINNESOTA 6, OAKLAND 1 IN MINNESOTA (GAME 1 OF DOUBLEHEADER)

Date:  Thursday, September 10.

Batting stars:  Cesar Tovar was 3-for-5 with a double, a stolen base (his twenty-ninth), and three runs.  Brant Alyea was 2-for-2 with a walk and a stolen base, his third.  Charlie Manuel was 1-for-1 with two RBIs.

Pitching star:  Tom Hall struck out eleven in a complete game, giving up one run on seven hits and a walk.

Opposition stars:  Joe Rudi was 3-for-4 with a double.  Bob Locker pitched three innings, giving up an unearned run on two hits and two walks and striking out one.

The game:  Each team put two on with one out in the first and did not score.  In the third Tovar led off with a single, stole second, was bunted to third, and scored on a Tony Oliva double.  Harmon Killebrew walked, a force out put men on first and third, Alyea delivered an RBI single, George Mitterwald walked to load the bases, and Manuel delivered a pinch-hit two-run single to give the Twins a 4-0 lead.

The Athletics got one back in the fourth when Sal Bando doubled and scored on a two-out single by Dick Green.  But there the score stayed until the sixth, when Tovar doubled and scored on an error.  The Twins scored one more in the eighth when Tovar singled and scored on a Leo Cardenas double.  Oakland only once got a man as far as second base after the fourth inning.

WP:  Hall (8-6).

LP:  Catfish Hunter (16-13).

S:  None.

Notes:  Frank Quilici started at second base in place of Rod Carew.  Manuel pinch-hit for Quilici in the third inning, with Danny Thompson taking over at second base.  Jim Holt went to center field in the seventh, with Tovar moving to left and Alyea coming out of the game.

Oliva was 1-for-3 and was batting .318.  Alyea raised his average to .300 for the first time since May 17.  Hall had an ERA of 2.53.

This has been referenced, but I just want to point out the move of Bill Rigney in the third inning.  With the Twins lead 2-0 and the bases loaded, Manuel was sent up to pinch-hit for Quilici.  You  would not expect a pinch-hitter for the eighth-place batter that early in the game.  I suspect Rigney sensed a chance to put the game away early and decided to go for it.  It worked, as Manuel delivered a two-run single to put the Twins up 4-0.

This was Hall's only complete game in eleven starts in 1970.  He'd had five in 1969.  He would have only one more in his career, with Cincinnati in 1972.  But then, he would make only thirty-four more starts after 1970, and never more than eleven in a season.  He spent most of the rest of his career in the bullpen.

The Twins had won seven of eight and nine of eleven.

Hunter lasted just 2.2 innings, allowing four runs on four hits and four walks and striking out two.

In the matchup between the first and second place teams, and in a series Oakland desperately needed to win to stay in the race, the Twins had taken the first two games.  The Athletics would try to salvage at least one game of the series in game two of the doubleheader.

Record:  The Twins were 85-56, in first place in the American League West, 7.5 games ahead of Oakland.

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–February 26

Grover Alexander (1887)
Rip Collins (1896)
Preacher Roe (1916)
Johnny Blanchard (1933)
Don Lee (1934)
Hiromitsu Kadota (1948)
Jack Brohamer (1950)
Rick Wieters (1955)
Kelly Gruber (1962)
Scott Service (1967)
J. T. Snow (1968)
Mark DeRosa (1975)
Trevor Larnach (1997)

Hiromitsu Kadota is third on the Japanese professional baseball home run list with 567.

The father of Matt Wieters, Rick Wieters pitched in the minor leagues for five years, reaching AA.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–February 26 →

Keeping Track

1970 Rewind: Game One Hundred Forty

MINNESOTA 3, OAKLAND 1 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Thursday, September 9.

Batting stars:  Harmon Killebrew was 2-for-3 with a double and a walk.  Brant Alyea was 2-for-3 with a double.

Pitching stars:  Jim Perry pitched eight innings, giving up one run on five hits and four walks and striking out five.  Stan Williams struck out two in a scoreless inning, giving up one hit.

Opposition stars:  Don Mincher was 2-for-3 with a home run, his twenty-sixth.  Chuck Dobson pitched 7.1 innings, giving up three runs on seven hits and three walks and striking out four.

The game:  Mincher homered with two out in the fourth to open the scoring.  It stayed 1-0 through six innings, with the Twins getting just three singles in those first six innings.

The Twins finally got it going in the seventh.  Killebrew led off with a double and scored when Alyea hit a one-out double.  George Mitterwald walked, a force out put men on first and third, and Perry delivered an RBI single to put the Twins ahead 2-1.

The Athletics had men on second and third with one out in the eighth, but a strikeout and a fly out ended the inning.  The Twins got an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth when Oliva doubled and scored on a Rich Reese single.

Sal Bando doubled with one out in the ninth, bringing the tying run to the plate.  But Reggie Jackson and Gene Tenace each struck out to end the game.

WP:  Perry (22-10).

LP:  Dobson (15-13).

S:  Williams (12).

Notes:  Frank Quilici was at second base in place of Rod Carew.  Charlie Manuel pinch-hit for Quilici in the seventh.  Danny Thompson then pinch-ran for Manuel and stayed in the game at second base.  Jim Holt pinch-ran for Alyea in the seventh and stayed in the game at center field, with Cesar Tovar moving to left.  Rick Renick pinch-hit for Holt in the eighth.  Herman Hill then pinch-ran for Renick and stayed in the game in center field.

Tony Oliva was 1-for-3 and was batting .318.  Perry had an ERA of 2.93.  Williams had an ERA of 2.11.

Oakland started the series five and a half games behind.  Realistically, they had to sweep the series to have much chance.  Obviously, they failed to do that, and could only hope to win two out of three now.

The Twins had won six out of seven and eight out of ten.

Record:  The Twins were 84-56, in first place in the American League West, 6.5 games ahead of Oakland.

Keeping Track

1970 Rewind: Game One Hundred Thirty-nine

MILWAUKEE 3, MINNESOTA 2 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Tuesday, September 8.

Batting stars:  Tony Oliva was 3-for-4 with a home run (his twenty-first) and a double.  Harmon Killebrew was 1-for-2 with two walks.

Pitching star:  Bert Blyleven pitched 8.1 innings, giving up two runs on seven hits and four walks and striking out eight.

Opposition stars:  Phil Roof was 2-for-4 with a two-run homer, his eleventh.  Bob Burda was 2-for-4.  Marty Pattin pitched a complete game, giving up two runs on six hits and two walks and striking out seven.

The game:  The Brewers had men on first and third with two out, but Dave May was thrown out on the back end of a double steal of second and home to end the inning.  They had men on first and third in the second, but Roberto Pena was picked off third to take them out of the inning.  They had men on first and third with none out in the fourth and did score, but got only one run on a double play.  Milwaukee again had men on first and second with out in the sixth and failed to score.

Meanwhile, the Twins had only one hit through the first five innings.  That changed in the sixth, when Rich Reese singled, went to third on an Oliva double, and scored on a ground out, tying it 1-1.  Oliva homered with two out in the eighth, putting the Twins up 2-1.

The lead didn't last long.  Mike Hegan singled with one out in the ninth, leading Bill Rigney to bring in Ron Perranoski.  A logical move, but it didn't work.  Bernie Smith struck out, but Roof hit a two-run homer to give the Brewers a 3-2 lead.  The Twins got a one-out single by George Mitterwald, but he did not get past first and the game was over.

WP:  Pattin (12-11).

LP:  Perranoski (7-7).

S:  None.

Notes:  Danny Thompson remained at second base in place of Rod Carew.  Jim Holt went to center field in the seventh, with Cesar Tovar moving to left and Brant Alyea coming out of the game.  Jim Nettles pinch-hit for Thompson in the eighth, with Frank Quilici coming in to play second base.  Herman Hill pinch-ran for Mitterwald in the ninth.  Charlie Manuel pinch-hit for Quilici in the ninth.  Rick Renick pinch-hit for Perranoski in the ninth.

Oliva raised his average to .318.  Perranoski gave up one run in two-thirds of an inning and had an ERA of 2.13.

This was the first appearance by Hill since July 12.

Nettles had made his major league debut the day before, but this was where he got his first major league at-bat.  He struck out.

This was the tenth blown save for Perranoski.

Pattin had eleven complete games in 1970.  His career high was thirteen in 1972.  He had sixty-four complete games in his career, fourteen of them shutouts.  This was the first of four consecutive seasons in which he would pitch over two hundred innings.  He pitched 970.1 innings in those four years.

The loss broke the Twins' five-game winning streak.  They would next host second-place Oakland for three games.

Record:  The Twins were 83-56, in first place in the American League West, 5.5 games ahead of Oakland.

Keeping Track

1970 Rewind: Game One Hundred Thirty-eight

MINNESOTA 8, MILWAUKEE 3 IN MINNESOTA (GAME 2 OF DOUBLEHEADER)

Date:  Monday, September 7.

Batting stars:  Hal Haydel was 2-for-3 with a home run, a double, and two runs.  Harmon Killebrew was 2-for-3 with a double, a walk, and two runs.  Cesar Tovar was 2-for-5.

Pitching stars:  Haydel pitched five innings of relief, giving up two runs on four hits and no walks and striking out two.  Ron Perranoski pitched three shutout innings, giving up one hit and striking out two.

Opposition stars:  Dave May was 3-for-3 with a stolen base, his fourth.  Tommy Harper was 2-for-4 with a home run (his twenty-seventh), a triple, and two runs.

The game:  Harper led off the game with a triple and scored on a sacrifice fly to give the Brewers a quick 1-0 lead.  The Twins tied it in the bottom of the first when Killebrew doubled, went to third on a wild pitch, and scored on a Brant Alyea single.  The Twins took the lead 2-1 in the second when Haydel doubled and scored on a Tovar single.  Harper homered in the third to tie it 2-2, but in the bottom of the third Alyea walked and scored on a two-out triple by Leo Cardenas to put the Twins up 3-2.  Haydel homered in the fourth to make it 4-2.

Milwaukee edged closer in the sixth.  Russ Snyder and May led off with singles, a bunt moved them to second and third, and a sacrifice fly made it 4-3.  But the Twins put it away in the seventh.  Tovar singled, Danny Thompson reached on an error, and Killebrew had an RBI single.  A wild pitch put men on second and third and a sacrifice fly scored a second run.  Cardenas walked, followed by run-scoring singles by Steve Brye and George Mitterwald brought the score to 8-3.  The Brewers got only one hit in the last three innings.

WP:  Haydel (1-0).

LP:  Al Downing (4-12).

S:  Perranoski (29).

Notes:  Thompson was once again on second base in place of Rod Carew.  Rick Renick was at third, with Killebrew moving to first and Rich Reese on the bench.  Brye was in right field in place of Tony Oliva.

The Twins made a number of defensive substitutions in the eighth.  Reese came in to play first in place of Killebrew.  Quilici came in and went to second, with Thompson moving to third and Renick coming out.  Jim Holt came in and went to center, with Tovar moving to left and Alyea coming out.  In the ninth, Jim Nettles came in to play right field, with Brye moving to left and Tovar coming out.

Haydel was batting .667.  Perranoski had an ERA of 2.05.

Luis Tiant started but could go only one inning, coming out of the game due to injury.  He would make only one more appearance in 1970, nearly three weeks later.

Haydel made his major league debut, and it was a really good one.  He came in after Tiant was pulled, pitched five innings, got the win, went 2-for-3 at the plate, and also hit a home run.  It was the only home run of his major league career, and the double he hit was the only double, but then he only batted six times.  His career batting numbers are .500/.500/1.167.  His career pitching numbers are 6-2, 4.04, 1.31 WHIP.  He had a  terrible year in AAA in 1972 and then was out of baseball.  One wonders if he might have been injured--he had done decently in the minors, and not badly in the majors, prior to 1972.

I don't think of Tommy Harper as a home run hitter, but he hit thirty-one in 1970.  That was easily his best power year--his next highest was eighteen in 1965 with California.  He had an OPS of .899 in 1970--his next highest was .774 in 1983.  He hit 146 home runs in his career, which isn't too shabby.  He also stole 408 bases, which is what I remember him for.  He led the league in steals twice--73 in 1969 with Seattle, and 54 in 1973 with Boston.

The Twins had won five consecutive games and would go for the series sweep in the next game.

Record:  The Twins were 83-55, in first place in the American League West, six games ahead of Oakland.

Keeping Track

1970 Rewind: Game One Hundred Thirty-seven

MINNESOTA 7, MILWAUKEE 6 IN MINNESOTA (GAME 1 OF DOUBLEHEADER)

Date:  Monday, September 7.

Batting stars:  Brant Alyea was 3-for-4 with two home runs (his fourteenth and fifteenth) and seven RBIs.  Cesar Tovar was 3-for-5.

Pitching star:  Ron Perranoski pitched 1.2 scoreless innings, giving up one hit.

Opposition stars:  Dave May was 3-for-4 with a triple.  Bob Burda was 2-for-3 with two RBIs.  Mike Hegan was 2-for-4.  John Gelnar struck out five in two shutout innings, giving up one hit.  Ken Sanders struck out two in two perfect innings.

The game:  The Twins jumped on Brewers starter Lew Krausse for four runs in the first inning.  Cesar Tovar and Rich Reese opened the game with singles.  A ground out put men on second and third.  Harmon Killebrew was intentionally walked to load the bases, which makes perfect sense, but Alyea hit a grand slam to make it 4-0 Twins.

The Brewers tried to come back in the second.  Bob Burda, Mike Hegan, and Roberto Pena all singled, loading the bases with one out.  But Milwaukee could only score once, on a ground out, making the score 4-1.  And in the third, Alyea struck again.  Tony Oliva was hit by a pitch, Killebrew singled, and Alyea hit a three-run homer, making it 7-1 Twins.

From there it was a matter of hanging on.  In the fifth, singles by Pete Koegel and Ted Kubiak put men on first and third with two out.  Then came consecutive singles by May, Burda, and Hegan, resulting in three runs and cutting the lead to 7-4.  In the seventh, Tommy Harper reached on an error, went to third on May's single, and scored on a sacrifice fly, cutting the lead to 7-5.  In the eighth Phil Roof doubled and scored on Kubiak's single to cut the lead to 7-6.

But the Twins held on.  Bernie Smith singled with one out in the ninth, but did not get farther and the Twins prevailed.

WP:  Stan Williams (9-0).

LP:  Krausse (12-16).

S:  Ron Perranoski (28).

Notes:  Paul Ratliff was behind the plate in place of George Mitterwald.  Danny Thompson remained at second base in place of Rod Carew.  Jim Holt pinch-ran for Alyea in the seventh and stayed in the game in center field, with Tovar moving to left.  Mitterwald replaced Ratliff behind the plate in the eighth.  Frank Quilici came in to play second in the ninth, with Thompson moving to third and Killebrew coming out of the game.

Oliva was 0-for-3 and was batting .315.  Williams gave up two runs (one earned) in 2.2 innings and had an ERA of 2.13.  Perranoski had an ERA of 2.11.

Neither starter did very well.  Bill Zepp started for the Twins and lasted 4.2 innings, giving up four runs on nine hits and no walks and striking out two.  Krausse lasted just two innings, allowing seven runs on six hits and one walk and striking out three.

As noted above, the strategy of walking Killebrew to pitch to Alyea seems perfectly logical.  It just didn't work.  Alyea was the starting left fielder at the beginning of the year and at the end of the year, but there was a large stretch in the middle where Bill Rigney preferred using Jim Holt.  And when Alyea did start, he was almost always removed for defense midway through the game.  Apparently, Rigney considered Alyea to be absolutely awful on defense.

Wayne Twitchell made his major league debut in this game.  Maybe you say "big deal", and understandably so, but Twitchell played for ten seasons and pitched in 282 games (133 starts).  He career numbers are 48-65, 3.98, 2 saves, 1.43 WHIP.  His best year was 1973, when he went 13-9, 2.50, 1.21 WHIP with five shutouts and ten complete games.  He made his lone all-star appearance that year.  He was traded to Philadelphia after the 1970 season, which is where he spent the bulk of his career.  He also pitched for Montreal, the Mets, and Seattle.  He's not all time great or even an all time very good, but you have to have something on the ball to be able to pitch ten seasons in the big leagues.

Pete Koegel got his first major league hit in this game.  A catcher/first baseman, he played in three major league seasons and got eighty-six at-bats.  His numbers are .174/.268/.244, hitting one home run (off Tommy John).  He was very tall, especially for his time, standing 6'6".

There were nine doubleheaders played on this Labor Day.

The Twins had a four-game winning streak.

Record:  The Twins were 82-55, in first place in the American League West, six games ahead of Oakland.  California fell to third place, seven games back.