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Keeping Track

1970 Rewind: Game Ninety

MINNESOTA 2, DETROIT 1 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Thursday, July 23.

Batting stars:  George Mitterwald was 3-for-3 with a home run, his eighth.  Rich Reese was 3-for-4.

Pitching star:  Bert Blyleven pitched a complete game, giving up one run on four hits and three walks and striking out eight.

Opposition stars:  Jim Northrup was 1-for-4 with a home run, his eighteenth.  Joe Niekro pitched six innings, giving up two runs (one earned) on six hits and no walks and striking out one.

The game:  In the second the Tigers got a pair of one-out walks and a two-out single, loading the bases, but did not score.  The Twins got a pair of one-out singles in the fifth but did not score.  So, it was 0-0 until the sixth, when Northrup homered with one out.  The Twins got the run back in the bottom of the sixth.  With one out Reese reached third on a single-plus-error and scored on a grounder to first.

Detroit again loaded the bases in the seventh but did not score.  Mitterwald led off the bottom of the eighth in a home run to put the Twins up 2-1.  The Tigers did not get a baserunner in the eighth or ninth, and the Twins' lead held up.

WP:  Blyleven (4-3).

LP:  Niekro (10-8).

S:  None.

Notes:  Jim Holt was in left in place of Brant Alyea.  Frank Quilici was at second in place of Rod Carew.  Paul Ratliff pinch-hit for Quilici in the seventh, with Danny Thompson going to second base.

Tony Oliva was 1-for-4 and was batting .319.  Harmon Killebrew was 0-for-4 and was batting .315.  Cesar Tovar was 0-for-4 and was batting .314.  Blyleven had an ERA of 2.44.

Quilici was 0-for-1 and was batting .195.

The Twins once again did not score much for Blyleven, but he managed to make two runs be enough.  The Tigers stranded eight men, six of them in two innings when they left the bases full.

Niekro had not yet become a knuckleball pitcher in 1970, relying mostly on fastballs and sliders at this point in his career.

The Twins had scored exactly two runs in each of their last three games, winning two of them 2-1.  They were now 3-2 on their nine-game homestand, with four against Baltimore coming up.

Record:  The Twins were 59-31, in first place in the American League West, five games ahead of California.

Keeping Track

1970 Rewind: Game Eighty-six

CLEVELAND 3, MINNESOTA 1 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Sunday, July 19.

Batting stars:  None.

Pitching stars:  Bert Blyleven pitched six innings, giving up three runs on seven hits and a walk and striking out two.  Steve Barber pitched 2.1 scoreless innings, giving up two hits and a walk.

Opposition stars:  Sam McDowell struck out fourteen in a complete game, giving up one run on three hits and no walks.  Roy Foster was 2-for-4 with two doubles.  Vada Pinson was 2-for-4 with a hit-by-pitch.  Graig Nettles was 2-for-5 with a two-run homer, his fourteenth.

The game:  The Twins got on the board in the first inning, as Cesar Tovar doubled and scored on a two-out single by Tony Oliva.  That was the first Twins run of the game, but it was also the last, and it was not enough.

The Indians took the lead in the third when Jack Heidemann walked and Nettles hit a two-out two-run homer.  In the fourth Ray Fosse led off with a single, went to third on Eddie Leon's single, and scored on a balk to make it 3-1 Cleveland.

The Twins never threatened after the first inning.  In fact, they had only one more hit after the first inning, and that came with two out in the ninth when Rich Reese singled.  It brought the tying run to the plate in Harmon Killebrew, but he struck out to end the game.

WP:  McDowell (14-4).

LP:  Blyleven (3-3).

S:  None.

Notes:  Rick Renick was in left in place of Brant Alyea.  Frank Quilici was at second base in place of Rod Carew.  Tom Tischinski caught in place of George Mitterwald.  Alyea and Bob Allison were used as pinch-hitters for pitchers.

Oliva was 1-for-4 and was batting .325.  Killebrew was 0-for-4 and was batting ,.321.  Tovar was 1-for-4 and was batting .309.  Blyleven had an ERA of 2.67.  Stan Williams retired both men he faced and had an ERA of 1.63.

Quilici was 0-for-3 and was batting .183.

In Blyleven's three losses, the Twins scored a grand total of three runs.

Oddly, the Twins started a new series on a Sunday, having played in Baltimore the day before.  I assume this was a consequence of the all-star break, although the more common thing was to play a four-game series Thursday through Sunday after the break.  This would be the start of a nine-game homestand:  two with Cleveland, three with Detroit, and four with Baltimore.

Record:  The Twins were 56-30, in first place in the American League West, 3.5 games ahead of California.

Keeping Track

1970 Rewind: Game Seventy-one

MINNESOTA 2, KANSAS CITY 1 IN MINNESOTA (10 INNINGS)

Date:  Wednesday, July 1.

Batting stars:  Cesar Tovar was 2-for-4 with a walk.  Rick Renick was 1-for-4 with a home run, his sixth.

Pitching stars:  Bert Blyleven struck out nine in seven innings, giving up an unearned run on five hits and one walk.  Ron Perranoski pitched three shutout innings, giving up three hits and two walks and striking out two.

Opposition stars:  Jim Rooker pitched nine innings, giving up two runs (one earned) on six hits and five walks and striking out five.  Amos Otis was 2-for-4.  Paul Schaal was 1-for-2 with two walks.

The game:  The Royals had men on first and second with one out in the first but did not score.  Instead, Renick homered leading off the second to give the Twins a 1-0 lead.  Neither team really threatened after that until the sixth, when the Twins failed to capitalize on a Danny Thompson leadoff double.  In the seventh, Kansas City tied it.  Ed Kirkpatrick reached on a two-base error and scored on a two-out single by Tommy Matchick.

The Twins threatened in the bottom of the seventh.  Herman Hill, pinch-running for Brant Alyea, was on second with two out.  Tovar singled, but Hill was thrown out at the plate.  The Royals threatened in the ninth, loading the bases with one out, but Cookie Rojas grounded into a double play.  Kansas City threatened again the tenth, putting two on with two out, but Lou Piniella flied out to end the inning.

In the tenth, leadoff batter George Mitterwald reached on an error.  Jim Kaat pinch-ran for him.  Pinch-hitter Frank Quilici bunted and reached on another error, putting men on first and third.  Tovar was intentionally walked, loading the bases with none out.  Pinch-hitter Rich Reese hit a sacrifice fly to win the game.

WP:  Perranoski (5-2).

LP:  Rooker (4-7).

S:  None.

Notes:  Thompson was at second base in place of Rod Carew.  Renick was at third, with Harmon Killebrew moving to first and Reese going to the bench.  Hill pinch-ran for Alyea in the seventh and stayed in the game in center field, with Tovar moving to left.  Bob Allison and Quilici pinch-hit for pitchers.  Kaat pinch-ran for Mitterwald.  Reese pinch-hit for Thompson.

Tony Oliva was 1-for-4 and was batting .326.  Killebrew was 0-for-4 and was batting .307.  Tovar was batting .306.  Blyleven had an ERA of 2.38.  Perranoski had an ERA of 1.65.

Hill was 0-for-1 and was batting .133.

This was Blyleven's seventh major league start.  The Twins scored three or fewer runs in five of them.

The only ex-Twin to play for the Royals in this game was Jackie Hernandez, who went 1-for-4.

This was the third time Perranoski had pitched as many as three innings in a game in 1970.

Record:  The Twins were 46-25, in first place in the American League West, four games ahead of California.