MINNESOTA 5, BOSTON 2 IN MINNESOTA
Date: Friday, June 12.
Batting stars: Leo Cardenas was 4-for-4. Harmon Killebrew was 1-for-2 with three walks.
Pitching stars: Jim Perry pitched six innings, giving up one run on five hits and two walks and striking out four. Ron Perranoski pitched 2.1 scoreless innings, giving up one hit and striking out two.
Opposition stars: Tom Satriano was 2-for-3 with a home run. Mike Andrews was 2-for-4.
The game: The Twins took a 1-0 lead in the second when Brant Alyea reached on an error, Cardenas singled, and Perry delivered an RBI single. The Twins loaded the bases in the third on two walks and a single, but could not add to their lead. That changed in the fifth. Tony Oliva singled with one out. With two down, Alyea had an RBI double and Cardenas hit a run-scoring single, making it 3-0 Twins.
The Red Sox got on the board in the sixth when Satriano led off with a home run. Rico Petrocelli led off the seventh with a single. He was still on first with two out, but Satriano singled and Mike Fiore had an RBI single. The Twins lead was down to 3-2 and the tying run was on third, but Andrews struck out to end the inning.
The Twins got control again in the eighth. Jim Holt walked, Cardenas singled, and George Mitterwald had an RBI single. With two out, Rod Carew delivered a run-scoring double to build the lead back to three at 5-2.
The Red Sox managed only a one-out single in the ninth. The game ended, oddly enough, when Jerry Moses popped up a bunt, which was caught by Perranoski.
WP: Perry (8-5). LP: Gary Peters (3-7). S: Perranoski (14).
Notes: Rick Renick was the third baseman in this game, with Killebrew moving to first. Killebrew was primarily a third baseman in 1970, with Rich Reese the regular at first. Others who played a decent number of games at third, often coming in for defense, are Danny Thompson and Frank Quilici.
Carew was the second baseman in this game. Between injuries and military service, he was able to play only forty-five games at second base, with Thompson and Quilici handling most of the second base duties.
Holt pinch-ran for Alyea in the fifth and remained in the game in left field. Charlie Manuel pinch-hit for Perry in the sixth, even though Perry was batting .313 and Manuel was batting .214. Reese pinch-hit for Renick in the seventh and went to first base, with Killebrew moving to third. Quilici pinch-ran for Killebrew in the ninth and remained in the game at third base.
Carew was leading the team in batting at .371. He would finish at .366 in 204 plate appearances. Oliva was batting .333. He would finish at .325. Killebrew was batting .315. He would finish at .271. Perry was batting .313. He would finish at .247.
All the Twins pitchers had ERAs under 3.00. Perry was at 2.81. He would finish at 3.04. Stan Williams was at 2.21. He would finish at 1.99. Perranoski was at 2.00. He would finish at 2.43.
Record: The Twins were 35-17, in first place in the American League West, 2.5 games ahead of California. They would finish 98-64, in first place, nine games ahead of Oakland.
The Red Sox were 26-27, in fourth place in the American League East, 9.5 games behind Baltimore. They would finish 87-75, in third place, twenty-one games behind Baltimore.