MINNESOTA 12, CHICAGO 3 IN MINNESOTA
Date: Sunday, July 5.
Batting stars: Harmon Killebrew was 2-for-3 with a home run (his twenty-fourth), two walks, two runs, and two RBIs. Leo Cardenas was 2-for-3 with a double and three RBIs. Jim Holt was 2-for-5 with two RBIs. Tony Oliva was 2-for-5.
Pitching star: Stan Williams retired all ten men he faced, striking out one.
Opposition star: Duane Josephson was 2-for-4 with a triple.
The game: The Twins started the scoring in the second. Killebrew walked, Rich Reese singled, and Paul Ratliff was hit by a pitch, loading the bases with one out. All the Twins could get out of it was a Cardenas sacrifice fly, leaving them up 1-0. In the third, though, the offense came alive. Cesar Tovar and Holt singled, putting men on first and third, and Oliva singled in a run. A wild pitch scored another, and Killebrew singled to bring home a third. Singles by Ratliff and Cardenas brought home a run and a sacrifice fly plated one more, making it 6-0 Twins through three.
The Twins added some more runs in the fifth. Killebrew led off with a home run. Reese walked and went to third on a stolen base-plus error. Cardenas walked, Danny Thompson singled in a run, Tovar was hit by a pitch to load the bases, and Holt singled in two runs, pushing the Twins' lead to 10-0.
The White Sox got on the board in the sixth. Jim Kaat had shut them down through five and a third innings on just four singles, but with one out in the sixth Walt Williams walked, Luis Aparicio doubled, Tom McCraw had an RBI double, Carlos May drove in a run with a ground out, and Josephson tripled home a run. That was as good as it got for Chicago, though, as Williams came in at that point and retired every White Sox batter for the rest of the game.
The Twins added single runs in the sixth and seventh. In the sixth, Ratliff was hit by a pitch with two out and scored on a Cardenas double. In the eighth an error, an Oliva single-plus-error, and an intentional walk loaded the bases and Reese was hit by a pitch to bring in the game's final run.
WP: Kaat (7-6).
LP: Bob Miller (3-4).
S: Williams (7).
Notes: Holt was in left field in place of Brant Alyea. Ratliff was behind the plate in place of George Mitterwald. Thompson was at second base in place of Rod Carew. Herman Hill pinch-ran for Tovar in the seventh and stayed in the game in center field. Frank Quilici pinch-ran for Killebrew in the seventh and stayed in the game at second base, with Thompson moving to third.
Oliva was batting .326. Killebrew was batting .313. Tovar was batting .311. Williams had an ERA of 1.67.
Kaat had pitched very well through five innings, but his final line was 5.2 innings, three runs, seven hits, two walks, and no strikeouts.
Ex-Twin Bob Miller started for the White Sox and pitched just two innings, allowing five runs on five hits and a walk and striking out one.
I find it odd that Chicago manager Don Gutteridge would order an intentional walk to Killebrew in the eighth inning. I mean, yes, he's Harmon Killebrew, but the score was 11-3, it was the eighth inning, and the White Sox had just one more turn at bat. It just seems like a bit of poor sportsmanship to me. Not that anything should've been done about it--I'm not saying it was outrageously outrageous or anything. I just don't see the point of it. Play the game. Let the big man hit.
Record: The Twins were 49-26, in first place in the American League West, four games ahead of California.