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Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–April 1

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Hugo Bezdek (1884)
Jeff Heath (1915)
Vern Hoscheit (1922)
Bo Schembechler (1929)
Giulio Glorioso (1931)
Ron Perranoski (1936)
Ted Sadowski (1936)
Phil Niekro (1939)
Rusty Staub (1944)
Willie Montanez (1948)
Mike Bacsik (1952)
Mike Kinnunen (1958)
Rich Amaral (1962)
Frank Castillo (1969)
Matt Herges (1970)
John Axford (1983)
Daniel Murphy (1985)

Hugo Bezdek is the only man to manage a major league team and coach an NFL team.  He was the manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates from 1917-1919 and the coach of the Cleveland Rams in 1937.  He is also a member of the College Football Hall of Fame.

Vern Hoscheit was a long-time minor league manager, scout, and major league coach.  He was also the president of the Three-I League from 1960-61.

Better known as a college football coach, Bo Schembechler was the president of the Detroit Tigers from 1990-1992.

Giulio Glorioso won six ERA titles and four pitching triple crowns in Italy and is a member of the Italian Baseball Hall of Fame.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–April 1 →

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–April 1

Hugo Bezdek (1884)
Jeff Heath (1915)
Vern Hoscheit (1922)
Bo Schembechler (1929)
Giulio Glorioso (1931)
Ron Perranoski (1936)
Ted Sadowski (1936)
Phil Niekro (1939)
Rusty Staub (1944)
Willie Montanez (1948)
Mike Bacsik (1952)
Mike Kinnunen (1958)
Rich Amaral (1962)
Frank Castillo (1969)
Matt Herges (1970)
John Axford (1983)
Daniel Murphy (1985)

Hugo Bezdek is the only man to manage a major league team and coach an NFL team.  He was the manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates from 1917-1919 and the coach of the Cleveland Rams in 1937.  He is also a member of the College Football Hall of Fame.

Vern Hoscheit was a long-time minor league manager, scout, and major league coach.  He was also the president of the Three-I League from 1960-61.

Better known as a college football coach, Bo Schembechler was the president of the Detroit Tigers from 1990-1992.

Giulio Glorioso won six ERA titles and four pitching triple crowns in Italy and is a member of the Italian Baseball Hall of Fame.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–April 1 →

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–April 1

Hugo Bezdek (1884)
Jeff Heath (1915)
Vern Hoscheit (1922)
Bo Schembechler (1929)
Giulio Glorioso (1931)
Ron Perranoski (1936)
Ted Sadowski (1936)
Phil Niekro (1939)
Rusty Staub (1944)
Willie Montanez (1948)
Mike Bacsik (1952)
Mike Kinnunen (1958)
Rich Amaral (1962)
Frank Castillo (1969)
Matt Herges (1970)
John Axford (1983)
Daniel Murphy (1985)

Hugo Bezdek is the only man to manage a major league team and coach an NFL team.  He was the manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates from 1917-1919 and the coach of the Cleveland Rams in 1937.  He is also a member of the College Football Hall of Fame.

Vern Hoscheit was a long-time minor league manager, scout, and major league coach.  He was also the president of the Three-I League from 1960-61.

Better known as a college football coach, Bo Schembechler was the president of the Detroit Tigers from 1990-1992.

Giulio Glorioso won six ERA titles and four pitching triple crowns in Italy and is a member of the Italian Baseball Hall of Fame.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–April 1 →

Keeping Track

1970 Rewind: Game One Hundred Sixty-two

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MINNESOTA 4, KANSAS CITY 0 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Thursday, October 1.

Batting stars:  Tony Oliva was 2-for-3 with a triple and a double.  Jim Kaat was 1-for-2 with a two-run homer.

Pitching stars:  Kaat struck out seven in seven shutout innings, giving up three hits and a walk.  Stan Williams retired all five men he faced.

Opposition star:  Bob Johnson struck out ten in an eight-inning complete game, giving up four runs on nine hits and no walks.

The game:  The Twins got on the board in the first inning when Cesar Tovar led off with a single and scored from first on an Oliva double.  With two out in the second Danny Thompson doubled and Kaat followed with a two-run homer, making it 3-0 Twins.  They added one more run in the sixth when Oliva tripled and Cotton Nash followed with an RBI single.

The Royals had only three hits in the game, all singles.  The closest they came to scoring was the seventh.  With one out, Lou Piniella and Bob Oliver hit consecutive singles.  Jim Campanis then grounded into a double play to end the inning.

WP:  Kaat (14-10).

LP:  Johnson (8-13).

S:  Ron Perranoski (34).

Notes:  Oliva ended the season batting .325.  Tovar was 1-for-2 and ended at .300.  Williams ended the season with an ERA of 1.99.  Perranoski ended the season with an ERA of 2.43.

Herman Hill was 0-for-1 and ended batting .091.  Charlie Manuel was 0-for-3 and ended batting .188.

This was the last game of Nash's major league career.

This was Kaat's only home run of the season.  He hit sixteen for his career, with a high of three in 1964.

Perranoski came in to record the last out and get the save.  There was no apparent reason to remove Williams and bring him in.  Perhaps the Twins wanted him to get into a game before the playoffs.  He would have been the league saves leader regardless.  Not a big deal, obviously, just a curiosity some fifty-two years later.

In the east, the Baltimore Orioles won the division by fifteen games over the second-place Yankees.  Thus, for the second consecutive season, the Twins would play the Orioles in the American League Championship Series.

Record:  The Twins were 98-64, in first place in the American League West, nine 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-four

MINNESOTA 4, CALIFORNIA 0 IN CALIFORNIA

Date:  Friday, September 4.

Batting stars:  Tony Oliva was 4-for-4.  Cesar Tovar was 2-for-4 with two stolen bases, his twenty-fifth and twenty-sixth.  Brant Alyea was 1-for-3 with a three-run homer, his thirteenth.

Pitching stars:  Bert Blyleven pitched 5.1 scoreless innings, giving up four hits and two walks and striking out four.  Ron Perranoski pitched 3.2 scoreless innings, giving up one hit and striking out one.

Opposition stars:  Jim Fregosi was 2-for-3 with a triple and a walk.  Alex Johnson was 2-for-4.  Eddie Fisher pitched two shutout innings, giving up two hits and striking out one.

The game:  In a matchup of the first and second place teams, the Twins jumped out early.  With two out and none on in the first, Harmon Killebrew walked, Oliva singled, and Alyea hit a three-run homer, putting Minnesota ahead 3-0.

The Twins put two men on in the third and the fourth but did not score.  The Angels, who did not have a baserunner in the first three innings, got a pair of two-out singles in the fourth but did not score.

With one out in the sixth, Tony Gonzalez singled, Fregosi walked, and Johnson got an infield single, loading the bases.  Bill Rigney brought in Perranoski, who struck out Billy Cowan and retired Tommie Reynolds on a grounder to end the inning.

California got only one hit after that, a two-out triple by Fregosi in the eighth.  The Twins added a run in the eighth.  A walk to Killebrew and a single by Oliva put men on first and third with none out, and a sacrifice fly brought the final score to 4-0.

WP:  Blyleven (9-6).

LP:  Rudy May (6-12).

S:  Perranoski (26).

Notes:  Danny Thompson remained at second base in place of Rod Carew.  Jim Holt replaced Alyea in the sixth and went to center, with Tovar moving to left.  Frank Quilici pinch-ran for Killebrew in the eighth and stayed in the game at second base, with Thompson going to third.

Oliva raised his average to .316.  Perranoski lowered his ERA to 2.18.

May pitched five innings, giving up three runs on five hits and two walks and striking out five.

Oliva broke out of his slump in a big way.  The four hits were as many as he'd had in the previous eight games.

With just a three-game difference going in, this three-game series was obviously an important one for both teams.  The two teams would play again, in a four-game series, in mid-September, so it's not like the Angels had to sweep.  I'm sure, though, that they felt they at least needed to win two of the three.  Taking the first one was a big advantage for the Twins.

Showing the importance of this game is pulling Blyleven in the sixth with a shutout going and bringing in the closer, Perranoski.  You can't always tell from a written play-by-play, but it does not appear that Blyleven was being hit hard.  Still, it was an important game.  Bringing your closer in that early was unusual back then, although certainly not unheard of.  But, as we've chronicled in this series, Perranoski was sometimes asked to pitch three or more innings, and he generally got the job done when he did.

Record:  The Twins were 79-55, in first place in the American League West, four games ahead of California.

Keeping Track

1970 Rewind: Game Eighty-seven

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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.

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.

Keeping Track

1970 Rewind: Game Twenty-nine

MINNESOTA 5, BALTIMORE 4 IN MINNESOTA (10 INNINGS)

Date:  Wednesday, May 13.

Batting stars:  Rod Carew was 4-for-5 with two runs.  Harmon Killebrew was 2-for-4 with a two-run homer and a walk.  Rich Reese was 2-for-4 with a double and a walk.

Pitching stars:  Bill Zepp pitched three perfect innings.  Ron Perranoski pitched three shutout innings, giving up three hits and walking four.

Opposition stars:  Dou Buford was 2-for-4 with a walk and a stolen base.  Boog Powell was 2-for-4 with a walk.  Paul Blair was 2-for-5 with a double and two RBIs.  Brooks Robinson was 2-for-5 with two doubles.  Frank Robinson was 2-for-5.

The game:  Each team scored two in the first.  For the Orioles, Mark Belanger walked, Frank Robinson singled, and Paul Blair hit a two-out two-run double.  For the Twins, Carew singled and Killebrew hit a two-out two-run homer.

Baltimore had a man on second in the third and again in the fourth but did not score.  They broke through in the fifth, though.  Buford and Belanger opened the inning with singles.  Frank Robinson followed with a single-plus-error, bringing home one run, and Powell had an RBI single to make it 4-2 Orioles.  The Twins came back in the sixth.  Singles by Carew and Killebrew and a walk to Rich Reese loaded the bases with one out.  A force out scored one run and Leo Cardenas had an RBI single to tie it.  The Twins missed a chance to take the lead when Jim Holt was thrown out trying to go from first to third on the hit.

Baltimore opened the eighth with two singles, but a line drive double play ended the threat.  They had a pair of two-out walks in the ninth and did not score.  In the tenth Powell walked, Brooks Robinson hit a one-out double, and Dave Johnson was intentionally walked, loading the bases.  Andy Etchebarren hit into a double play to end the inning.

The Twins had not gotten a man past first base since the sixth.  In the tenth, however, Cesar Tovar walked, Tony Oliva hit a one-out double, and Killebrew was intentionally walked, loading the bases.  Up to then, the Twins' tenth went exactly like the Orioles tenth.  The difference was that instead of hitting into a double play, Reese hit a double, bringing in the deciding run.

WP:  Perranoski (2-1).

LP:  Ed Watt (1-1).

S:  None.

Notes:  Holt was in left field in place of Brant Alyea.  Paul Ratliff caught in place of George Mitterwald.

Charlie Manuel pinch-hit for Zepp in the seventh, with Dave Boswell pinch-running for Manuel.

Carew was batting .368.  Killebrew was batting .333.  Oliva was batting .331.  Zepp had an ERA of 2.08.  Perranoski had an ERA of 1.75.

Holt was 0-for-4 and was batting .138.

Jim Kaat started and pitched four innings, giving up four runs on nine hits and a walk and striking out two.  Baltimore starter Jim Palmer pitched 5.1 innings, giving up four runs on six hits and two walks and striking out four.

Each team turned three double plays.  For each team, one of them was a line drive double play.

Carew was 6-for-10.  Spoiler alert:  he would go on a tear for the next week or so.  We'll keep track of it.

Reese was 7-for-18, raising his average from .182 to .226.

I mentioned this once before, but Zepp was a key pitcher for the 1970 Twins.  He's pretty much forgotten now, because the Twins traded him after the season and because this was the only good year he had, but this was one of several games in which he was instrumental in the victory.

This was Perranoski's thirteenth appearance.  He pitched more than one inning in ten of them; exactly two innings in six of them; and more than two innings in three of them.

Record:  The Twins were 19-10, in second place in the American League West, one game behind 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.