Tag Archives: shutouts

Keeping Track

1970 Rewind: Game One Hundred Twenty-five

MINNESOTA 7, BOSTON 0 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Wednesday, August 26.

Batting stars:  Cesar Tovar was 2-for-3 with a double, two walks, a stolen base (his twenty-fourth), two runs, and three RBIs.  Jim Holt was 2-for-3 with a walk and two RBIs.  Tony Oliva was 2-for-5 with a triple.

Pitching stars:  Bert Blyleven pitched a complete game shutout, giving up four hits and a walk and striking out eight.

Opposition star:  George Scott was 2-for-3.

The game:  The Twins got on the board in the first when Tovar singled, stole second, and scored on a two-out single by Harmon Killebrew.  In the second, Leo Cardenas hit a one-out double, George Mitterwald hit a run-scoring single-plus-error, and Tovar delivered a two-out RBI single to make it 3-0 Twins.

The Twins missed some chances to add to their lead, wasting a leadoff triple by Oliva in the third and getting men on first and second with one out to no avail in the fourth.  In the sixth, however, the Twins put it out of reach.  Mitterwald led off with a walk and went to third when Blyleven reached on a two-base error.  Tovar doubled them both home to make it 5-0.  Walks to Rich Reese and Killebrew loaded the bases with two out and Holt hit a two-run single to increase the lead to 7-0.

Blyleven was in complete control.  The Red Sox never got a man to third and only twice got a man as far as second.  All four Boston hits were singles.

WP:  Blyleven (8-5).

LP:  Ray Culp (13-12).

S:  None.

Notes:  Oliva was batting .321.

Holt was in center, with Tovar moving to left and Brant Alyea on the bench.  Danny Thompson remained at second base in place of Rod Carew.  Frank Quilici replaced Killebrew in the eighth and went to second, with Thompson moving to third.

This was Blyleven's first career shutout.  He would end his career with sixty.  He led the league in shutouts three times--in 1973 (9). 1985 (5), and 1989 (5).

Culp was a good pitcher and he had a fine 1970 season, but he didn't have it in this game.  5.1 innings, seven runs (six earned), seven hits, four walks, and five strikeouts.

The win snapped a three-game losing streak for the Twins.

Record:  The Twins were 74-51, in first place in the American League West, 3.5 games ahead of California.

Keeping Track

1970 Rewind: Game One Hundred Nineteen

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MINNESOTA 3, NEW YORK 0 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Wednesday, August 19.

Batting stars:  Harmon Killebrew was 2-for-4 with a double.  Rich Reese was 2-for-4.

Pitching stars:  Jim Perry pitched a complete game shutout, giving up four hits and a walk and striking out five.

Opposition star:  Fritz Peterson pitched seven innings, giving up two runs on five hits and no walks and striking out two.

The game:  There was no score in the first three innings.  The Yankees got men on first and third with two out in the fourth but did not score.  It cost them.  In the bottom of the fourth Killebrew hit a one-out single.  The next batter went out, but two-out singles by Brant Alyea, Reese, and Leo Cardenas resulted in two runs.  It stayed 2-0 until the eighth, when Danny Thompson singled with two out and scored on Killebrew's double.

The Yankees had some threats early.  Horace Clarke walked leading off the game and reached second with two out.  Jake Gibbs hit a two-out triple.  Singles by Bobby Murcer and Jim Lyttle put men on first and third with two out in the fourth.  But they got only one hit after that, a two-out single by Clarke in the eighth.

WP:  Perry (18-10).

LP:  Peterson (13-8).

S:  None.

Notes:  Thompson remained at second base in place of Rod Carew.  Tom Tischinski was behind the plate in place of George Mitterwald.  Jim Holt replaced Alyea and went to center field, with Cesar Tovar moving to left.  Frank Quilici pinch-ran for Killebrew in the ninth and went to second base, with Thompson moving to third.

Tony Oliva was 0-for-3 and was batting .321.  Perry had an ERA of 2.94.

Tischinski was 0-for-3 and was batting .171.

This was one of four shutouts Perry had in 1970.  He had thirty-two for his career.  It was one of thirteen complete games he had in 1970, the most he had in a season.  He had 109 for his career.

The Twins had followed up their nine game losing streak with a three game winning streak.

Record:  The Twins were 72-47, in first place in the American League West, 5.5 games ahead of California.

Keeping Track

2003 Rewind: Game Thirty-four

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MINNESOTA 5, BOSTON 0 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Friday, May 9.

Batting stars:  Todd Sears was 2-for-4 with a home run and four RBIs.  Jacque Jones was 2-for-4 with two runs.  Cristian Guzman was 2-for-4.

Pitching stars:  Johan Santana pitched five shutout innings, giving up four hits and a walk and striking out three.  LaTroy Hawkins struck out two in two shutout innings, giving up one hit.  J. C. Romero pitched a perfect inning.  Eddie Guardado pitched a perfect inning.

Opposition stars:  Jason Shiell struck out two in two shutout innings, giving up a walk.  Jason Varitek was 1-for-2 with a walk.

The game:  Jones and Guzman opened the game with singles.  With one out, Sears singled to put the Twins up 1-0 in the first.

In the second, A. J. Pierzynski led off with a double and scored on a one-out single by Jones.  Guzman followed with a single.  With two out, Sears delivered a three-run homer to make it 5-0 Twins.

And that was it.  The Red Sox had some threats.  Nomar Garciaparra hit a two-out triple in the first.  Bill Mueller had a two-out double in the second.  With two out in the fourth, Shea Hllenbrand singled and Miller reached on an error.  But none of them came to anything, and the last ten Boston batters were retired.

WP:  Santana (2-0).  LP:  Pedro Martinez (3-2).  S:  None.

Notes:  Sears was the DH.  There were no in-game lineup substitutions.

Jones raised his average to .338.  Sears was batting .308.

Luis Rivas was 1-for-4 and was batting .191.

Santana's ERA was 1.13.  Hawkins' ERA was 1.38.  Guardado's ERa was 0.66.

I remember that Sears hit a mammoth home run in his short career.  I'm wondering if this might have been it.  He only hit one other homer, so there's a fifty percent chance.  Memory tells me that it took out some lights on the scoreboard or something.  It was a big home run in the game, whether it was a monster homer or not.

Martinez pitched five innings, giving up five runs on eight hits and a walk and striking out five.  He only lost four games in 2003, so this was an unusual thing.  He went 14-4, 2.22, 1.04 WHIP.  He led the league in winning percentage, ERA, FIP, WHIP, hits per nine, homers per nine, and strikeouts per nine.  He finished third in Cy Young voting, behind Roy Halladay and Esteban Loaiza, and while both of them have fine seasons you can make an argument that Martinez should have won it.  The one thing that probably hurt him is that he only made 29 starts and pitched just 186.2 innings.  Nothing wrong with that, but Halladay made 36 starts and pitched 266 innings, and eighty more innings makes a difference.  On the other hand, Halladay's ERA was a full run higher and Martinez actually struck out two more batters even though he pitched eighty fewer innings.  At any rate, Martinez was an excellent pitcher, and it was quite a thing to beat him.

This was Santana's first start of the season.  He was taking the place of Rick Reed, who missed a start due to injury.  Despite his strong start, he would go back to the bullpen.  His next start came on June 7, and he would not join the rotation until July 11.

The Twins had won consecutive games by a 5-0 score.  They had won nine of out of ten.

Record:  The Twins were 19-15, in second place in the American League Central, 1.5 games behind Kansas City.