Tag Archives: oh those bases on balls

Keeping Track

1970 Rewind: Game One Hundred Fifty-five

MINNESOTA 7, OAKLAND 4 IN OAKLAND

Date:  Wednesday, September 23.

Batting stars:  Tony Oliva was 3-for-4 with three runs.  George Mitterwald was 2-for-4 with a three-run homer, his fifteenth.  Jim Holt was 2-for-4 with a double and two RBIs.  Jim Nettles was 2-for-5.

Pitching star:  Bill Zepp retired all four men he faced.

Opposition stars:  Bert Campaneris was 1-for-5 with a home run, his twenty-second.  Dave Duncan was 1-for-3 with a three-run homer (his tenth) and a walk.  Marcel Lachemann struck out two in two perfect innings.

The game:  Nettles led off the game with a single.  With one out, Oliva singled and Harmon Killebrew walked, loading the bases.  With two out, Holt delivered a two-run double, putting the Twins in front 2-0.  In the third, Oliva and Holt singled and Mitterwald hit a two-out three-run homer, making it 5-0 Twins.  It went to 7-0 in the seventh.  With one out, Leo Cardenas doubled, Oliva singled, and Killebrew walked, loading the bases, and Rich Reese came through with a two-run single.

Over the first six innings the Athletics drew seven walks, but did not score because they had no hits.  That changed in the seventh when Campaneris homered.  In the eighth Don Mincher and Sal Bando walked and Duncan hit a three-run homer, cutting the lead to 7-4.  But that was as good as it got for them, and the Twins had another victory.

WP:  Hall (10-6).

LP:  Catfish Hunter (17-14).

S:  Zepp (2).

Notes:  Nettles was in left field in place of Brant Alyea.  Holt was in center field in place of Cesar Tovar.  Danny Thompson was at second base in place of Rod Carew.  Tovar pinch-ran for Killebrew in the seventh, with Frank Quilici going to third base.  Herman Hill replaced Tony Oliva in right field in the seventh.

Nettles was batting .333.  Oliva was batting .324.  Hall had an ERA of 2.69.  Hill was 0-for-1 and was batting .095.

Oddly, for the day after a clincher, the Twins used pretty much their regular lineup.  The only major change was Nettles in the outfield rather than Tovar.

Hall pitched 7.2 innings.  He gave up only two hits, both home runs.  He struck out nine, but he also walked nine.

Hunter pitched 6.1 innings for Oakland.  He allowed seven runs on eleven hits and a walk and struck out six.

The Twins would finish up their road trip with three games in Kansas City.  They would then come home for a season-ending four-game series, also with Kansas City, meaning they would end the season with seven games against the Royals.  That seems like really odd scheduling to me.

Record:  The Twins were 94-61, in first place in the American League West, 9.5 games ahead of Oakland.

Keeping Track

1970 Rewind: Game Ninety-nine

MINNESOTA 12, DETROIT 4 IN DETROIT (10 INNINGS)

Date:  Saturday, August 1.

Batting stars:  Danny Thompson was 4-for-6 with a double, a walk, and two RBIs.  Cesar Tovar was 3-for-5 with five RBIs.

Pitching stars:  Jim Kaat pitched 6.1 innings, giving up three runs on seven hits and two walks and striking out two.  Dick Woodson pitched a scoreless inning, giving up a hit and two walks and striking out one.

Opposition stars:  Don Wert was 2-for-4 with a home run (his fifth) and a walk.  Al Kaline was 2-for-4 with a home run (his thirteenth) and a walk.  Ike Brown was 2-for-4 with a home run, his third.  Mickey Lolich pitched seven innings, giving up three runs on eight hits and four walks and striking out five.

The game:  The Twins got a pair of one-out singles in the first but did not score.  Brown homered in the bottom of the first to put the Tigers on the board, but they also could not take advantage of a pair of one-out singles.  The Twins tied it in the second.  Rich Reese led off with a walk and one-out singles by Tom Tischinski and Kaat loaded the bases.  All the Twins could get, though, was a sacrifice fly, as they again stranded two men.

Detroit put two on in the third and again could not score.  In the fourth, Kaat drew a two-out walk, went to second on a wild pitch, and scored on a Tovar single to put the Twins up 2-1.  The Twins added a run in the fifth when Brant Alyea hit a two-out double and scored on a Reese single.  The Twins again missed a chance for more, as they loaded the bases with two out, but the score stayed 3-1.

The Tigers tied it in the seventh.  Wert led off the inning with a home run.  With one out Jim Price walked, Cesar Gutierrez singled him to third, and a ground out brought home the tying run.  The Twins went back in front in the eighth when Tischinski reached on an error, went to third on a Charlie Manuel single, and scored on a sacrifice fly.  Once again, however, the Twins loaded the bases with two out and could not make it pay.  It cost them, as Kaline homered in the bottom of the eighth to tie it 4-4.

The Twins finally broke through in the tenth.  With one out, Tovar singled and scored on a Thompson double.  Harmon Killebrew was intentionally walked, but Tony Oliva delivered an RBI double and Rick Renick hit a two-run double, making the score 8-4.  Reese was intentionally walked, a ground out put men on second and third, and Paul Ratliff was intentionally walked, loading the bases.  Bob Allison walked to force in a run, Tovar singled in two, and Thompson finished the scoring with an RBI single.  An eight-run tenth gave the Twins a 12-4 lead.  Detroit tried to rally in the bottom of the inning, loading the bases, but Norm Cash flied out to end the game.

WP:  Ron Perranoski (7-2).

LP:  Fred Scherman (3-3).

S:  Dick Woodson (1).

Notes:  Thompson was at second base in place of Rod Carew.  Tischinski was again behind the plate in place of George Mitterwald.  Jim Holt replaced Alyea in left field in the seventh.  Manuel pinch-hit for pitcher Stan Williams in the eighth.  Frank Quilici pinch-ran for Tischinski in the eighth, with Ratliff going behind the plate.  Renick pinch-hit for Holt in the ninth and went to left field.  Allison pinch-hit for Perranoski in the tenth.

Oliva was 1-for-6 and was batting .323.  Killebrew was 1-for-5 and was batting .306.  Tovar was batting .303.  Williams retired both men he faced and had an ERA of 1.57.  Perranoski gave up a run in two innings and had an ERA of 1.91.

Allison was 0-for-1 and was batting .170.

The Twins stranded fifteen men, but were still 7-for-15 with men in scoring position.  The Tigers stranded eight and were 0-for-6 with men in scoring position.

The Twins received three intentional walks in the tenth inning.  I don't know what the record for intentional walks in an extra inning, or in any inning, is, but it seems like it can't be much more than three.  They received a total of ten walks in the game.

Record:  The Twins were 63-36, in first place in the American League West, seven games ahead of Oakland, who had moved into second place ahead of California.

Keeping Track

1970 Rewind: Game Twenty-two

MINNESOTA 8, DETROIT 5 IN DETROIT

Date:  Tuesday, May 5.

Batting stars:  Tony Oliva was 3-for-4 with a home run (his fourth), a triple, two runs, and six RBIs.  Leo Cardenas was 2-for-5 with a double and two runs.  Harmon Killebrew was 1-for-4 with a home run (his sixth), a walk, and two runs.

Pitching stars:  Luis Tiant pitched 5.2 innings, giving up two runs on two hits and nine (!) walks and striking out four.  Ron Perranoski pitched 1.1 scoreless innings, giving up a hit and a walk and striking out one.  Twins pitchers issued thirteen walks.

Opposition stars:  Ken Szotkiewicz was 2-for-3 with a walk and two RBIs.  Dick McAuliffe was 1-for-3 with a two-run homer (his fourth) and three walks.  Al Kaline was 1-for-5 with a home run (his fourth).

The game:  The Twins took the early lead, as Cesar Tovar led off with a walk and Oliva hit a two-run homer.  The Tigers loaded the bases on three walks in the first and did it again in the second, but did not score either time.  In the third, Cardenas hit a one-out double and Oliva hit a two-out single to put the Twins ahead 3-0.

Detroit got on the board in the fourth.  Szotkiewicz got the first Tiger hit of the game, a single, and McAuliffe hit a two-run homer, cutting the lead to 3-2.  The Twins got the run back with interest in the fifth.  With one out, singles by Tovar and Cardenas and a walk to Killebrew loaded the bases.  Oliva followed with a bases-clearing triple, making the score 6-2.  Rich Reese delivered a two-out-single to make it 7-2.

Detroit threatened in the seventh with two walks, but did not score.  Killebrew homered in the bottom of the seventh, moving the lead to 8-2.  In the bottom of the seventh, the Tigers loaded the bases again, this time getting two walks and a single.  Szotkiewicz hit a two-run single to cut the margin to 8-4, but Elliott Maddox struck out to end the inning.  Kaline homered in the eighth to close out the scoring.  Detroit got two on in the eighth after the Kaline homer, and got two more on in the ninth to bring the tying run to the plate with two out, but Don Wert flied out to end the game.

WP:  Tiant (5-0).

LP:  Mickey Lolich (4-3).

S:  Perranoski (7).

Notes:  Bob Allison was at first base in place of Reese.  Frank Quilici remained at second in the continuing absence of Rod Carew.  Reese pinch-hit for Allison in the fifth and stayed in the game at first base.  Jim Holt replaced Brant Alyea in left in the seventh.  Minnie Mendoza replaced Killebrew at third base in the ninth.

Oliva took over the team batting lead at .352.  Alyea was 0-for-4 and was batting .328.  Killebrew was batting .320.  Tovar was 1-for-4 and was batting .315.  Tiant had an ERA of 2.86.  Stan Williams gave up his first earned run of the season in 1.1 innings and had an ERA of 0.71.  Perranoski had an ERA of 1.50.

Allison was 0-for-1 and was batting .167.  Quilici was 0-for-4 and was batting .184.  Reese was 1-for-2 and was batting .191.  Mitterwald was 1-for-4 and was batting .193.

Lolich pitched 4.1 innings, giving up seven runs on six hits and three walks and striking out four.  In his two games against the Twins, he had given up twelve earned runs in ten innings.  In his six other starts, he had given up nine earned runs in fifty-two innings.

Twins pitchers walked thirteen Tigers, but amazingly, only two of them scored.  Detroit was 2-for-11 with men in scoring position and stranded fifteen runners.  They had twenty baserunners in nine innings, and managed to score only five of them.

This was the only year of Ken Szotkiewicz' career, and 22.2 percent of his career RBIs (two of nine) came in the seventh inning of this game.  An infielder, he batted .107/.216/.226 in 84 at-bats.  The Twins had actually drafted him in the first round of the secondary phase of the June draft in 1967, but he did not sign.  He had not played above AA, and only had 116 at-bats there, before making the Tigers at the start of the 1970 season.  Surprisingly, he stayed all year as a backup shortstop.  The regular was Cesar Gutierrez, who only batted .243/.275/.299.  Szotkiewicz had not hit much in his limited time in the minors, and would not hit much after he was sent back down in 1971.  The only good offensive season he had came in 1974, when he was a twenty-seven year old in AA.  Presumably he was considered a good defender.

The usage of Perranoski continues to be interesting.  You remember that, in April he had appeared in five of six games, pitching 9.2 innings.  He then got five days off.  Now, he has appeared in four of five games, pitching 6.1 innings.

Record:  The Twins were 15-7, in first place in the American League West, 1.5 games ahead of California.