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 fifteen.
The 38-54 Twins are mired in ninth place 21 games out of the lead behind the New York Yankees who have a three percentage point lead over the Detroit Tigers. The embarrassing part is that both expansion teams (Senators and Angels) are ahead of them in the standings.
July 20 – Scheduled day off.
July 21 – The Twins were up 3-0 over Cleveland at the Met going into the 8th inning and Twins starter Don Lee had a no-hitter going. Lee retired the first two batters and had two strikes on Woodie Held who had struck out three times earlier in the game when he threw a curve that Held liked and deposited over the left-field fence to break up the no-hitter and the shutout. Don Dillard followed with a single and Johnny Temple hit a double and suddenly the Jimmy Dykes boys had the Twins in trouble. Jimmy Piersall stepped up and bounced a one-hopper off Lee’s glove that scored Dillard and was ruled an error versus a hit which caused Piersall to shriek that it should have been a hit. Lee got out of the inning with a 3-2 lead but then gave up a lead-off home run in the ninth to Bubba Phillips which tied the game at 3-3. Lee hung on to retire the side and pitch his first complete game since September of 1960. According to the Star Tribune this is how the Twins ended up winning the game. Box Score
THE TWINS’ victorious ninth went like this: Bill Tuttle opened by coaxing relief pitcher Joe Schaffernoth of the Indians for a base on balls. Jose Valdivielso, after failing to sacrifice, looped a short fly into right field. Tuttle, fearing the ball would be caught, was forced at second base on right fielder Willie Kirkland’s throw to shortstop Held. Lee batted for himself and fouled the third strike attempting to sacrifice bunt. With Green at the plate, Valdivielso stole the potential winning run to second base, third stolen base of the game against catcher John Romano of the Indians. Then the southpaw-hitting Green swung hard and the ball dribbled perilously close to the first-base first-base first-base foul line. Schaffernoth, with a tough play to get the speedy Green at first, was inclined to let the ball roll foul. BUT THE BALL stayed fair. When Schaffernoth finally decided to field the ball, he sprawled flat on the ground outside the foul line. First baseman Tito Francona was holding the bag for a possible play as Valdivielso steamed around third and scored standing up with the winning walk-off run. This was the Twins’ 13th one-run victory in 28 such decisions, much-needed at a time they’re attempting to extricate themselves from ninth place in the American league standings.
July 22 – Jim “Mudcat” Grant (9-4) loves pitching against the Twins/Senators, heck, half of his career wins in his relatively short career are against this organization. Grant, 25, who barnstormed with Satchel Paige had the Twins under total control as he pitched a complete game six hit shutout allowing 3 walks and striking out just two Twins batters. Twins starter Jim Kaat whose record dropped to 3-11 with the loss also pitched a complete game six hitter and he walked no one and struck out four but he gave up 4 runs, 3 earned as the Twins committed four errors behind him. Harmon Killebrew had two of the Twins six hits. Where is Zoilo Versalles you ask? No where to be seen now that his wife has arrived from Cuba. There was a report in the paper a few days ago that Versalles was being treated for “worms”, really? Versalles last played on July 4. Box Score
July 23 – The Twins are beating up the Cleveland Indians 6 to nothing when Minnesota catcher Earl Battey is beaned in the 7th inning by Indians pitcher Bobby Locke at Met Stadium, fracturing his cheek. Indians starter Barry Latman was 9-0 going into this game but the Twins took him behind the woodshed and put a serious beating on him over four innings. Twins infielder Ted Lepcio hits one of three Twins home runs and goes 3 for 4 with a run scored and two RBI in the 10-0 pounding of the Cleveland Indians at Met Stadium as 26,476 fans looked on. Pedro Ramos pitches the shutout for Minnesota and allows just six hits. Battey returns to action less than two weeks later at Yankee Stadium on August 4th wearing a special batting helmet. Back in his day, players were tough. Box Score Take the time to click on the date link to read more.
July 24 – No game today scheduled day off. Tony Oliva is signed by scout Joe Cambria upon recommendation of former outfielder in club’s system, Roberto Fernandez.
July 25 – According to the Star Tribune the next day here is how Tom Briere described Senators starter Dick Donovan’s pitching at Met Stadium.
The 30-year-old tall and proper New England right-handed pitcher was nothing short of masterful in winning his fourth straight to end the Senators’ three-game losing streak.
Donovan pitched a complete game five-hitter allowing one walk and just one run while striking out only two batters. The Senators scored both their runs in the top of the third inning and the first run was scored by Donovan himself when he homered deep to right field off Twins starter Jack Kralick. Two singles and a ground out later and the Senators scored again to take a 2-0 lead. The Twins scored their lone run in the bottom of the fourth when Zoilo Versalles who was playing in his first game back since he left the team after the July 4 double-header led off the inning with a double (extending his hitting streak to 12 games) but tried to stretch it and was thrown out at third base for the first out of the inning, Lenny Green followed with a walk, Harmon Killebrew was retired on a flyball for the second out before Bob Allison hit a pop fly to left that bounced off the glove of the left fielder allowing Green to score all the way from first and Allison ended up with a double. That was all the Twins would get in this inning and the final score ended up as 2-1 for Washington. Allison had the Twins only RBI and had two (3B and a 2B) of the teams five hits. Kralick (9-6) took the loss but he deserved better going 8 innings and allowing two runs on 7 hits, no walks, and six KO’s. Box Score
July 26 – After participating in a tight pitchers duel yesterday and losing, the ninth place Twins out slug the seventh place Washington Senators 10-9 at the Met. Lenny Green had 3 hits and 4 RBI, Hal Naragon was 3 for 4 and Ted Lepcio hit a 3 run home run to support the cause. Twins starter Camilo Pascual blew a 6-2 lead and left after 5.2 innings after having allowed 6 runs on 7 hits. Twins reliever Bert Cueto who didn’t know it at the time, was pitching in his last big league game, pitched 1/3 of an inning and earned the win in relief, the only win (with three losses) he would ever have in the big leagues. Bill Pleis who had pitched the seventh and eighth innings ran out of gas in the ninth and needed help from Ray Moore who struck out the final two Senators batters to save the game. The Twins drew 18,658 for the game for a YTD total of 747,820 in 45 home dates exceeding their total attendance in Washington last season of 743,404 over 72 home dates. Prior to the game Camilo Pascual was named to participate in the second All-Star game of the year, it will be Pascual’s third AS game having also been named in 1959 and 1960. Box Score
The Twins are 3-2 on the week but still lose ground in the standings as they remain in ninth place with a 41-56 record but are now 22.5 games behind the league leading Yankees who are just a 1/2 game up on the Tigers. In the Senior circuit the Cincinnati Reds have a one game lead on the Los Angeles Dodgers.
