I have been working on a very long term project whereas I do a brief recap of Twins games on my “In This Day in Twins History Pages.” So my plan is to give you a brief recap of the Twins first season as it plays out on a weekly basis. For more info on a particular game you can also click on the date and go to the appropriate “In This Day in Twins History Page” as there you will often get to see some player pictures and supporting documentation. We will see how long I can keep up with it, no promises. So let’s see what we have for week 9.
The Twins start the week with a record of 19-32, a whopping 14.5 games behind the Cleveland Indians who have taken over first place by a 1/2 game over the Detroit Tigers.
June 8 – The Twins finally snap their 13 game losing streak when they beat the Baltimore Orioles 3-1 in Memorial Stadium. It is their first win since May 25th and their first road victory in this road trip that started in Washington on the 26th of May. The Twins took a 2-0 lead in the third inning when Jim Kaat led off the inning with a single and Twins lead-off hitter Billy Martin hit his first home run wearing a Twins uniform. The Twins were out hit 10 to 7 but starter Jim Kaat kept the Orioles off the board for 7 innings before running into a bit of trouble in the eighth inning after retiring the first batter. The O’s followed with a double, walk and a single that scored a run and sent Kaat to the showers. Don Lee came in to retire Brooks Robinson and then Chuck Stobbs was brought in and he retired Jim Gentile. Stobbs picked up his second save when he kept the Orioles from scoring in the ninth. It turns out that it would be his final big league save. Kaat picked up the win, upping his record to 2-5 and he also had a good day with the bat going 2 for 3 with 2 runs scored. Martin also had two hits for Minnesota. The win got the Twins out of the cellar and put their record at 20-32 and in the process gave interim manager Sam Mele his first win as a manager. As an aside, the win also ends the Twins longest losing streak of the season. Box Score
Off the field owner Calvin Griffith was busy also signing Jim Roland to a $50,000 bonus and sending him to Wilson in the class B Carolina League. Jim Roland picture credit to Denver Post via Getty Images.
June 9 – Twins vs Orioles in Baltimore game is rained out and rescheduled for August 2.
June 10 – The lack-luster Twins lose to the Baltimore Orioles 4-3 at Memorial Stadium and their winning streak ends after just one game. The Twins have now lost 19 of their last 21 games. Not much to write home about this game if you are a Twins fan, the Twins could only muster five hits and starter Camilo Pascual (4-7) was not particularly effective and it added up to be a loss for the visiting Twins as their record dropped to 20-33. The rains came down in the seventh with the Orioles coming to bat and a rain delay of about an hour ensued and when the game resumed Pascual was done and Don Lee was the Twins pitcher. The Twins top two starters, Pascual and Pedro Ramos have lost nine straight games between them. What make this game unique however; is that this was the first time that the Minnesota Twins had ever appeared in a nationally televised game. The game was on NBC and the announcers were Lindsey Nelson and Joe Garagiola. The Twin would not have a home game on national TV until April 25, 1964. After the game the Twins left for Boston, the last stop on their six city road trip where they will play a DH tomorrow. Box Score
June 11 game one – The Boston Red Sox were happy to see the slumping Twins show up at Fenway Park and they showed off their power with four home runs and three doubles and they had 7 extra base hits in their total of ten hits in game one as they coasted to an easy 8-2 win. Rookie right-hander Don Schwall won his fifth straight game upping his record to 8-2. Schwall left the game in the seventh with a back spasms after allowing just one run (on a Bob Allison home run) 3 hits and 4 walks in 6.1 innings. Mike Fornieles finished the last 2.2 innings allowing one run for his fourth save. The Red Sox beat up Pedro Ramos handing him his sixth straight defeat and eighth of the season. Ramos (3-8) had only given up two hits through the first five innings although one of them was a Don Buddin home run for a 1-0 Boston lead. The happy-go-lucky and sometimes temperamental Ramos who had given up several home runs on 0-2 counts over the last few games decided to throw two pitches over the catchers head in this game and when warned to stop, he threw a ball into the screen. The sixth inning started poorly for Ramos when he gave up a double and a walk but then he settled down and retired the next two batters. Catcher Earl Battey had Jackie Jensen thrown out at second for the third out of the inning on an attempted steal but Billy Martin dropped the ball and the Red Sox had runners on second and third when third baseman Frank Malzone who the Twins had been trying to acquire in a trade for Jim Lemon stepped up to the plate. Malzone worked the visibly upset Ramos to a full count and when Ramos threw a high pitch, Malzone poked it into the left field screen for a 4-0 Sox lead. Ramos promptly decked the next batter Don Buddin, who had homered earlier and home plate umpire Ed Runge wasted no time fining Ramos $50 then and there. Buddin got up, dusted himself off and hit his second home run of the game and bumped the score to 5-0. Ramos gave up another single and a double before Sam Mele had seen enough and brought in Bill Pleis to get out of the inning. The long sixth must have taken its toll on Schwall who gave up a lead-off home run to Allison in the top of the seventh and then after retiring the next batter he left the game with his back spasms. The Twins had seven hits of their own but they were 0 for 6 with RISP and their three errors allowed five unearned Red Sox runs. Ed Palmquist finished the game for the Twins going the final 2 innings in what would turn out to be his final big league pitching appearance. Box Score game one
June 11 – Game two pitted the Twins Jack Kralick against Galen Cisco for Boston. The Red Sox scored one in the first and another in the second and were up 2-0 when the Twins got to Cisco for five runs on three singles, a double and Bob Allison’s 11th home run sending him to the showers. The five runs was more then they had scored in any nine-inning game since May 30th. The Red Sox kept pecking away at Kralick and he was relieved by Don Lee after 6.1 innings and a 6-4 lead. Lee allowed one of Kralick’s baserunners to score and all of a sudden it was a 6-5 game and stayed that way through the eighth inning. The Twins managed to put together four hits for four runs in the ninth off Billy Muffett and held on for a hard fought 10-5 win that was closer then the score indicated. Kralick got his fifth win against four losses and Lee got the save, his first as a Twin. Each team had 11 hits and Killebrew led the Twins with 3 runs, 3 hits including a home run and a double and 3 RBI. The Killer’s 13th home run was his first since May 28th. The DH split moved the Twins record to 21-34 and good for eighth place, 15.5 games behind the 37-19 league leading Indians. Box Score game two
June 12 – The Boston Red Sox prevail over the visiting Twins 10-8 at Fenway Park in spite of being out-hit 15 to 11 and watching the Twins hit three balls out of the park to their none. Harmon Killebrew, Earl Battey and Billy Martin all hit home runs. Killebrew goes 5 for 6, knocks in four and scores once. Twins rookie Gerry Arrigo was called up and made his major league debut on his 2oth birthday but it was not the start he dreamed of over the years. Arrigo pitched a scoreless first but got in trouble in the second when he allowed three singles, a walk, hit a batter and had an error committed behind him. Arrigo lasted just 1.1 innings and allowed 3 runs on 3 hits, 2 walks while striking out one batter and took his first big league loss. The loss ended a disastrous 18 game swing through the AL east teams in which the Twins posted a 2-16 record. Sam Mele who managed the Twins during the week long furlough imposed on Cookie Lavagetto by owner Calvin Griffith ended his short reign with a 2-5 mark. The Twins now return home for a short three game series against the Kansas City A’s before hitting the road again. Box Score
June 13 – Cookie Lavagetto is glad to be back at the helm of the good ship Minnesota Twins and sends Jim Kaat out to the mound at Met Stadium to get the Twins back in the win column. The Athletics get 10 hits off Kaat over six innings and take a 3-0 lead before the Twins come to life in the bottom of the sixth and score three times highlighted by a two-run triple by Billy Martin to tie the game at 3-3 and the Twins seemed to have found the secret to A’s rookie starter Norm Bass who had held the Twins to just a single through the first five innings. Ray Moore kept the A’s off the board in the seventh and the Twins kept on hitting and scored twice to knock Bass out of the game and when the seventh inning came to an end, the score was Twins 7 and and Athletics 3. The A’s kept on hitting the Twins relievers and kept scratching away but when the game ended the Twins had an 8-6 win in spite of being out hit 13-10 thanks primarily to the A’s leaving 12 runners stranded. Ray Moore (4-2) got the victory and Pedro Ramos got the save even though he gave up his 19th home run in 17 games. Harmon Killebrew hit a home run (15), Billy Martin was 2 for 4 with 4 RBI and Earl Battey was 2 for 2 with 2 runs scored. Pinch-hitter Elmer Valo playing in his 20th big league season and who had a single in his last AB for the Twins on June 11th was released and signed with the Phillies. Box Score
June 14 – Camilo Pascual and the Twins are in cruise control with a 2-0 lead against the KC A’s at Met Stadium and Pascual has 13 strikeouts and allowed just two hits when everything goes south for Pascual in the top of the 8th inning when he walks Gene Stephens, allows a single to Jerry Lumpe but then retires Wes Covington on a flyball for the first out of the inning. With runners on first and second, Norm Siebern who has struck out twice against Pascual earlier in the game homers deep to right field and all of a sudden the A’s are up 3-2. Pascual walks the next batter and Lavagetto brings in Ray Moore who then walks two more batters without retiring anyone to load the bases. Lavagetto again goes to the mound and brings in Bill Pleis with the bases loaded and one out. Pleis promptly allows single-single-double which scores four runs and he too is sent to the showers without retiring a batter as Lavagetto turns to rookie Gerry Arrigo who just started two days earlier against the Red Sox game to get some outs. Arrigo retires the next two batters but the damage is done as the A’s score 8 times on 5 hits and 4 walks. The A’s score an unearned run in the ninth off Arrigo and beat Minnesota 9-2. Pascual goes 7.2 innings, strikes out 13 and takes the loss as four of the runs are charged to him. In the process he gives up just four hits and 6 walks but to be fair only his last two BB scored. What a weird game. Box Score
The Twins make a deal and acquire pitcher Danny McDevitt from the New York Yankees in exchange for second baseman Billy Gardner.
The Twins finish the week with 3-4 record and are now 22-36 on the season. With manager Cookie Lavagetto back from a furlough, he faces a huge uphill fight to get his ninth place Twins back into the race at 15.5 games behind the league leaders. The Tigers and Indians are tied for first place with 38-21 marks and the Yankees are just a game back nipping at their heels.
