MINNESOTA 4, CLEVELAND 2 IN MINNESOTA
Date: Monday, July 20.
Batting stars: Cesar Tovar was 3-for-4 with two doubles and two runs. Harmon Killebrew was 2-for-3 with a double and a walk.
Pitching stars: Jim Kaat struck out seven in seven innings, giving up two runs on six hits and two walks. Ron Perranoski pitched two shutout innings, giving up three hits and a walk and striking out one.
Opposition stars: Ray Fosse was 2-for-3. Graig Nettles was 2-for-4 with a double, a walk, and two runs. Tony Horton was 2-for-4.
The game: Each team scored one in the first. For the Indians Nettles doubled and scored on Fosse's single. In the bottom of the first Tovar and Killebrew doubled. The Twins threatened in the third, putting men on first and third with two out, but it stayed 1-1 until the fourth.
In the fourth Rick Renick doubled, George Mitterwald walked, and Leo Cardenas was hit by a pitch, loading the bases with none out. A sacrifice fly was all the Twins could get out of it, but it gave them a 2-1 lead. It went to 3-1 in the fifth when Tovar doubled, was bunted to third, and scored on an error. The Twins went on to load the bases with one out, but a double play ended the inning. They got one more run in the sixth on singles by Frank Quilici, Kaat, and Rich Reese.
Meanwhile, Cleveland did not get a man past first base in innings two through six. They opened the seventh with consecutive singles but left the runners on first and third. In the eighth, however, Nettles walked and Fosse and Horton singled, cutting the lead to 4-2 and putting men on first and second with one out. Buddy Bradford struck out, but Eddie Leon walked to load the bases. Ex-Twin Rich Rollins grounded out, however, and the score stayed 4-2. Nettles got a two-out single in the ninth, but the Indians could do no more.
WP: Kaat (8-7).
LP: Rick Austin (1-4).
S: Perranoski (23).
Notes: Renick was in left in place of Brant Alyea. Quilici was at second base in place of Rod Carew. Jim Holt pinch-hit for Mitterwald in the fifth, with Tom Tischinski them going behind the plate. Danny Thompson went to third base in place of Killebrew in the ninth.
Killebrew was batting .324. Oliva was 0-for-4 and was batting .321. Tovar was batting .314. Perranoski had an ERA of 1.46.
Quilici was 1-for-3 and was batting .189.
Perranoski batted in the ninth and singled. It was his only hit of the season, as he went 1-for-24. It was also the last hit of his major league career. He would bat only six more times in the next three seasons. For his career, he batted .096/.147/.114, with one double, one triple, three RBIs, and six runs.
The two relief appearances coming out of the all-star break did not appear to affect Kaat in this game.
In addition to Nettles and Rollins, Cleveland used ex-Twins Fred Lasher and Dean Chance. Each pitched a scoreless inning.
The starter for the Indians was Rick Austin. This was his sixth major league start. He pitched a shutout in his second start, but other than that had not had a game score over 43. He would not have one in this game, either, although he came close--he allowed three runs on six hits and two walks in 4.1 innings for a game score of 51. He would make only two more major league starts, then go to the bullpen. He pitched for Cleveland from 1970-1971 and for Milwaukee from 1975-1976. For his career he was 4-8, 4.63, 1.61 WHIP, six saves in 89 games (136 innings).
Record: The Twins were 57-30, in first place in the American League West, 4.5 games ahead of California.