According to manager Cal Ermer about 1/3 of the Twins roster was a bit lighter in the wallet after Ermer fined them for curfew violations. The Twins who took on the Yankees in a scheduled doubleheader today were on a 8 game winless streak which included yesterdays tie game.
In game one,Twins left fielder Bob Allison batting lead-off, hit a home run off Yankee starter Steve Barber but it turned out to be the only run the Twins would score, it was the fifth consecutive game, all losses, that the Twins would score just the one run. The Yankees won the game 6-1 with Joe Pepitone hitting two home runs and Steve Whitaker contributing another. Twins starter Jim Perry took the defeat.
Game two however; had a happier ending but the Twins had to play 18 innings before they could finally say their eight game losing streak was over with a 3-2 win over the Bronx bombers.
The Yankees scored 2 runs in the bottom of the fifth inning off Twins starter Jim Merritt and the Twins scored one in the second and one in the sixth of Yankee starter Fred Talbot and no one crossed home plate after that until the top of the 18th inning when Rich Rollins singled off Yankee reliever Thad Tillotson to score Rod Carew with an unearned run on the Yankees third error of the game.
Twins starter Jim Merritt pitched the first 13 innings for the Twins and came away with a ND. Al Worthington was credited with the win and Jim Roland notched his first save of the season.
The 18 inning game was the longest the Twins had ever played to that point in their history. In terms of time the game only lasted 4 hours and 24 minutes.
The 8 game winless streak which included a tie game would be the longest the Twins would encounter in 1967.
The Yankees second pitcher of the game Bill Monbouquette pitched 9 innings of scoreless relief allowing just 3 hits and a walk.
Cesar Tovar and Yankee Roy White who both went 0 for 8 would just as soon forget this game was ever played.
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The rest of the stories that I have done on the 1967 AL pennant race can be found here.
