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 ten.
The ninth place Twins are 22-36 on the season and 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.
June 15 – In the rubber game of the series the Twins send Jack Kralick to the mound and the A’s use 32 year-old Joe Nuxhall who had actually pitched his first big league game for the Reds in 1944 at the age of 15. The game is scoreless after two innings before the A’s get on the board with two runs on a Hank Bauer home run after Nuxhall had singled earlier in the inning. In the home half of the third, Kralick singles, Billy Martin pops out, Lenny Green singles and Harmon Killebrew grounds out. Jim Lemon draws a walk to load the bases with two outs and Bob Allison clears the bases but is thrown out at third base for the final out of the inning. The score remains 3-2 Twins until the ninth. Kralick is still on the mound for the Twins and gives up a lead-off double to Deron Johnson and then former Twin Reno Bertoia sacrifices Johnson to third bringing up Jerry Walker who strikes out for out number two. Kralick goes 3 and 1 on Dick Howser who then tried to hold up on the next pitch and hits an excuse-me single through the box to short center that scored Johnson but Howser was thrown out at second trying to catch the Twins napping for the final out. In the bottom of the ninth the A’s bring in ancient 40 year-old knuckleballer Gerry Staley who gives up a single to Earl Battey. Bill Tuttle moves Battey up a base with a sacrifice and then Tuttle goes to third on a passed ball. With Battey on third and one out Jose Valdivielso who is hitting just .116 and playing for the injured Zoilo Versalles steps to the plate and hits a solid single off a Staley knuckleball and the Twins have a 4-3 walk-off win. Kralick (6-4) gets the complete game win allowing 3 earned runs on 6 hits and 4 walks. The win gives the Twins their first series win since they took 2 of 3 from these same A’s in mid-May. With the win the Twins are 23-36 and in ninth place, 14.5 games behind the Yankees, Indians and Tigers who are all tied for first place. The Twins are off to Chicago for a four game series with the White Sox. Box Score
June 16 – The Twins sent recently acquired 28 year-old lefty Danny McDevitt to the mound to open the four game series against the Al Lopez managed Chicago White Sox at Comiskey Park I. The White Sox countered with Don Larsen and yes, he is the same dude that threw that perfect game in the 1956 World Series for the Yankees. The White Sox scored in the bottom of the first without the benefit of a base hit by taking advantage of McDevitt’s wildness. In the inning McDevitt walked three, hit one and catcher Earl Battey had a passed ball that allowed a run to score. The Twins tied the game in the second but McDevitt’s wildness continued when he hit Sherm Lollar leading off the bottom of the second and manager Cookie Lavagetto said that he has seen enough and called for Pedro Ramos who had been banished to the bullpen of late after losing 5 of his last 7 starts and getting a ND in two others. Pistol Pete was on his game and pitched the remainder of the game throwing 8 shutout innings allowing just 4 hits, 1 walk and best of all, no home runs and got his 4th win against 8 losses. Jim Lemon had a home run and a double and Harmon Killebrew also smacked 2 hits with one of them being his 100th career home run and 16th of the season. Third baseman Rich Rollins who was called up recently made his major league debut going 1-4 with a single off future Hall of Fame pitcher Early Wynn. Rollins who was signed by the Washington Senators prior to the 1960 season spent all of 1960 playing class B ball at Wilson and then appeared in 39 minor league games in class A and AAA in 1961 before getting the call to head for Minnesota. When all was said and done the Twins had a 6-1 win and upped their record to 24-26 but remained in ninth place. I don’t want to spill the beans here but did this game make the Twins the first team to use an “opener” that became a more widely used strategy in 2018? Box Score
June 17 – Game two in the windy city and Comiskey Park I was not nearly as pleasant for the Twins as the day before was. The Mighty Whitey’s jumped on Twins starter Jim Kaat early while WSox starter Juan Pizarro kept Twins hitters at bay and when all was said and done, the White Sox had a 5-1 win and kept the Twins buried in ninth place in a ten team league. Kaat (2-6) took the loss allowing 4 runs on 8 hits, 2 walks while striking out 6. Pizzaro upped his record to 2-0. The Twins who left 10 runners on base had 9 hits, two off the bat of Harmon Killebrew. Jose Valdivielso had the teams only RBI. In off the field news Calvin Griffith spent about $15,000 more of his hard earned dollars signing a guy named Frank Quilici (image on the left) out of Western Michigan to a bonus contract, it will turn out to be money well spent. Box Score
June 18 – Game one – Twins starter Bert Cueto (pronounced Cute-O) made his major league debut in the first MLB game that he had ever seen in person. Dagoberto (Bert) Cueto, a pitching disciple of Camilo Pascual and Pedro Ramos started game one for Minnesota and held the White Sox to just one run for eight innings but in the ninth he gave up a single to Andy Carey but then retired J.C. Martin on a fly to center for the first out of the inning. The White Sox sent up pinch-hitter Billy Goodman to hit for the pitcher and he took Cueto deep to tie the score at 3-3. The 35 year-old Goodman was not exactly a home run hitter, his previous home run was in 1959, this would be his only home run in 1961, as a matter of fact it was his last big league home run. Lavagetto brought in Pedro Ramos who retired Luis Aparicio for out number two and that brought up Nellie Fox. Ramos got two strikes on Fox before Fox cranked one out to right field just 352 feet away where a fan caught the ball in the first row. The paper reported that the ball might have hit the wall had the fan not intervened but instead the exploding scoreboard at Comiskey Park signaled a walk-off win for the hometown boys. Turk Lown who relieved starter Cal McLish in the eighth inning and left the game down 3-1 in the ninth ended up with the win. Pedro Ramos took the loss and his record dropped to 4-9. Billy Martin had two hits for Minnesota and one RBI. Dan Dobbek hit the Twins only home run. Box Score game one
Game two saw the Twins send their ace Camilo Pascual to the mound and the cuban curve-baller was looking to end a personal five game losing streak. It was not to be, Pascual’s problems started in the second inning when Minnie Minoso’s short fly to right dropped in when 2B Billy Martin and RF Dan Dobbek couldn’t agree on who should catch it and Minoso ended up with a double. Three singles and ground out later the score was 3-0 for the Sox. In the fourth inning Pascual and Bob Allison got into a scuffle but supposedly no punches were thrown. A bat was thrown by Pascual that hit a coach in the stomach but cooler heads prevailed. The Twins scored a couple runs in the top of the fourth to make it 3-2 for the Whitey’s but in the fifth Pascual started getting hit again and Lavagetto brought in reliever Ray Moore. On his way to the showers Pascual had words for home plate umpire Joe Paparella and it turned into a shoving match before the two were separated. “Farmer” Moore didn’t fare much better giving up a cycle, a home run, triple, double and single in that order with two outs sprinkled in and Lavagetto again had to make a trip to the mound and brought in Danny McDevitt to finally get the third out of the inning but by that time six White Sox runners had crossed the plate and it was a 9-2 rout for the hometown Sox. The Twins ended up scoring five more runs as the game progressed but the final score ended up 10-7 and the seventh place mighty whitey’s had a DH sweep over the ninth place Twins who were now just two games ahead of the last place expansion Los Angeles Angels. Pascual took the loss and his record dropped to 4-9. Bob Allison hit the only long ball for the Twins. The Twins had 11 hits but their pitching gave up 14 hits and two walks and the Twins headed for home with their tails between their legs and a 24-39 record. Box Score game two
June 19 – The Twins had a scheduled day off.
June 20 – Twins starter Jack Kralick was breezing along with a four-hitter and a 4-1 lead after eight innings at the Met over the visiting Orioles. Kralick had all but locked up his seventh win of the season when things unraveled in the ninth inning. Twins nemesis Jim Gentile singled and Gus Triandos followed that with another single and all of a sudden the O’s had the tying run at the plate in Ron Hansen. Fortunately for Kralick, center fielder Bill Tuttle made a nice catch on a line drive to center for the first out of the inning bringing up utility player Earl Robinson who was playing right field on this day. The right-handed batting Robinson proceeded to hit a long home run to right field, his first homer of the season and just like that it was a 4-4 game and when Kralick gave up another single to the next batter, he was done for the day. Chuck Stobbs got the Twins out of the inning without further damage. With the score tied 4-4 at the Met against the Baltimore Orioles, Julio Becquer is called upon to lead off the bottom of the ninth as a pinch-hitter against Jack Fisher and he smashes a 370 foot home run over the right-center field screen becoming not only the first Twin to pinch hit a home run but also becomes the first Twins player in history to hit a walk-off home run as the Twins win 5-4. Harmon Killebrew also hit a home run in the game and Chuck Stobbs who pitched to three batters to retire the side in the ninth picked up an easy win. Box Score
June 21 – On a rainy night at the Met the Twins game versus the Orioles game was delayed twice before it even started. It was delayed again after 7 innings with the Twins leading 4 to 3. When play was resumed, both teams scored one in the 8th for a 5-4 Twins lead. But then the Orioles went wild and scored 7 runs in the top of the 9th to take a 11-5 lead and that is how the game ended. A long night at the old ballpark. Hoyt Wilhelm got the win and Bert Cueto got his first career loss. Harmon Killebrew was 2 for 4 with two home runs (18 & 19) and four RBI. Bob Allison extended his hitting streak to 13 games. With the loss the Twins record dropped to 25-40 and put them 16.5 games behind the Detroit Tigers. Box Score
The Twins won 3 but lost 4 this week and their record dropped to 25-40 and 16.5 games behind the league leading Detroit Tigers with the Yankees and Red Sox waiting for a chance at the Twins.
