MINNESOTA 6, MILWAUKEE 5 IN MINNESOTA
Date: Monday, May 25.
Batting stars: Harmon Killebrew was 1-for-3 with a triple and a walk. Rich Reese was 1-for-3 with three RBIs.
Pitching stars: None.
Opposition stars: Russ Snyder was 3-for-5 with two RBIs. Mike Hegan was 2-for-3 with two doubles. Tommy Harper was 2-for-4 with a double, a stolen base (his twentieth), a walk, and two runs. Skip Lockwood pitched a complete game, giving up six runs (two earned) on seven hits and a walk and striking out six.
The game: Cesar Tovar and Rod Carew led off the first with singles, putting men on first and third, and Tony Oliva hit an RBI ground out to put the Twins up 1-0. The Brewers tied it in the third when Harper drew a two-out walk, stole second, and scored on Russ Snyder's single. The Twins went back in front in the fourth. Oliva reached on an error and scored on a Harmon Killebrew triple. Reese followed with a sacrifice fly to make it 3-1 Twins.
Milwaukee came back. Ted Kubiak led off the fifth with a triple and scored on a sacrifice fly to make it 3-2. In the sixth Snyder singled and scored from first on Mike Hegan's double to tie it 3-3. The Brewers took the lead in the seventh when Gus Gil singled, was bunted to second, and scored on Harper's single.
It was the Twins' turn in the seventh. George Mitterwald reached on an error and was bunted to second. Tovar reached on another error, sending Mitterwald to third. With two out, Oliva reached on yet another error, scoring Mitterwald to tie it 4-4. Killebrew walked to load the bases and Reese delivered a two-run single to give the Twins a 6-4 lead.
Milwaukee drew a pair of one-out walks in the eighth but did not score. The first two Brewers went out in the ninth, but Harper doubled and scored on Snyder's single, cutting the lead to 6-5. An error on Frank Quilici (in the game as a defensive replacement) put men on first and second, but future Twin Danny Walton flied out to end the game.
WP: Tom Hall (2-1).
LP: Lockwood (0-1).
S: Ron Perranoski (12).
Notes: Jim Holt was in left field in place of Brant Alyea. Quilici replaced Killebrew at third base in the ninth.
Carew was 1-for-4 and was batting .387. Oliva was 1-for-4 and was batting .329. Killebrew was batting .328. Bill Zepp pitched 6.2 innings and gave up four runs, making his ERA 2.78. Hall did not give up a run in two-thirds of an inning and had an ERA of 2.59. Stan Williams gave up a run in 1.1 innings and had an ERA of 1.65. Perranoski got the last out and had an ERA of 1.64.
This was Zepp's second start of the season. He would make one more, then go back to the bullpen until July, when he would go into the rotation.
Milwaukee made four errors in the game, and as you can see above, the errors cost them. Lockwood was allowed to pitch a complete game despite giving up six runs, presumably on the theory that it's not his fault that his fielders couldn't field. Still, a complete game while giving up six runs is unusual, even if four were unearned.
This was Killebrew's only triple in 1970. For his career, he hit twenty-four triples. He only once hit more than two in a season, and that's in 1961, when he hit seven.
Gus Gil somehow managed to play in parts of four seasons and appear in 221 games despite batting .186/.272/.226, for an OPS of .499. Presumably he was considered a good fielder, but his batting line pretty much defines "futility infielder".
The Twins had played four one-run games in a row, winning two and losing two.
Record: The Twins were 27-12, in first place in the American League West, one game ahead of California.