This Day in Twins History – May 24, 1972

Jim Kaat

In one of the best pitching duels in Twins history, the Twins Jim Kaat and the Kansas City Royals Dick Drago go hammer and tong for 11 scoreless innings before the Twins Danny Thompson doubles to center to lead off the top of the 12th inning off Drago and then Rod Carew singles him home for the games only run. The Twins Wayne Granger comes in to shut down the Royals 1-2-3 in the bottom of the 12th for the save.

Dick Drago

Drago was the tough luck loser pitching all 12 innings, facing 43 batters, giving up 6 hits, one walk while striking out 13 Twins batters. Kaat pitched 11 innings for the win and held the Royals to 5 hits, 3 walks, and struck out 7 of the 40 Royals he faced. The game took 3 hours and 15 minutes and only 8,381 fans saw a pitching duel for the ages at Municipal Stadium that day. Boy, if they counted pitches back then the old clicker would have really had a good work-out.

Box score

German born Navy vet 65-68 and served aboard the Shangri La CVA-38. I run https://Twinstrivia.com, best MN Twins historical web site there is. Stop by daily and check out OTD in Twins history and much more. Live in Minnesota and Florida depending on what time of the year it is.