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 nineteen.
Coming off a 4-3 week the eighth place Minnesota Twins begin this week with a 51-68 record and they trail the first place Yankees by 27.5 games in the dog-days of August.
August 17 – Scheduled day off
August 18 – The Twins start a short two city six game road-trip to Los Angeles and Chicago. First stop is Wrigley Field (in LA) to play the seventh place Los Angeles Angels who are one game ahead of the Twins in the AL standings. Eli Grba, a bespeckled right-hander who hasn’t won a game since June 6 faces off against the Twins Camilo Pascual. Only 4,178 fans show up at Wrigley to watch the Angels erase a 1-0 Twins lead as they score four times in the third inning when Pascual allows four singles and two walks. Pascual gives up a home run to Joe Koppe in the fourth and Grba has all the runs he needs as he pitches a complete game striking out 10 and allowing 2 runs, none earned on 4 hits and 4 walks and grabbing the elusive sixth win of the season as the Angels beat Minnesota 5-2. Pascual took the loss dropping his record to 10-13. Bill Tuttle (photo on the right) had half of the Twins four hits including a double and both of the Twins RBI. Box Score
August 19 – The Twins unleashed a 15 hit attack against the LA Angels and hit four home runs in the home run friendly Wrigley Field and coasted to a 5-3 win behind the stellar pitching of young Jim Kaat. Kaat ran out of gas after retiring the first batter in the ninth when he gave up a double to Steve Bilko, a home run to Earl Averill and a single to George Thomas. Twins skipper Sam Mele had seen enough and brought in Ray Moore who gave up two more singles and another run to make it 5-3 before striking out Joe Koppe for the game ending out. Lenny Green (6) and Zoilo Versalles (6) each had three hits including home runs. Harmon Killebrew (37) and Bill Tuttle (4) also hit home runs. Kaat got his second consecutive win for the first time this season going 8.1 innings allowing 3 runs on 6 hits, 4 walks while striking out 5. Kaat also contributed with the bat getting two hits. Attendance was a paltry 2,857. Box Score
Jack Kralick 
Al Schroll
August 20 – Jack Kralick and fellow pitcher Al Schroll hit home runs for the Twins, to become the sixth pitching duo in major league history to hit a homer for the same team during a single season game. Kralicks’ home run was the first of his career. Almost lost in the shuffle is the fact that Lenny Green hits the Twins first ever lead-off home run as the first batter of the game and then hits another home run in his next at bat in the third inning. Minnesota defeated the Los Angeles Angels, 9–7 at Wrigley Field. Box Score
August 21 – Scheduled day off
August 22 – The now seventh place Twins arrive in Chicago to take on the fourth place Chicago White Sox at Comiskey Park. Pedro Ramos started for Minnesota and Frank Baumann went for the White Sox but the Twins scored three in fourth when Bob Allison led off with a home run and the Twins added two more on three singles, a HBP and a groundout and Baumann was headed for the showers. The White Sox scored in the seventh to tie the game at 3-3. Ramos retired Roy Sievers for the first out in the ninth but then allowed a double to Minnie Minoso and gave Sherm Lollar an intentional pass before retiring Al Smith for the second out and was just about off the hook. Nellie Fox who had walked off the Twins earlier this season then delivered a single to center and the White Sox walked-off the Twins 4-3. Don Larsen who pitched 5.1 innings of scoreless relief pocketed the win upping his record to 4-1 while Ramos took his 15 defeat of the year. The Twins outhit the Sox 10 to 7 but went 1 for 7 with RISP and hit into two double-plays. The Twins 6 through 8 batters, Battey, Tuttle and Versalles each had two hits. Box Score
August 23 – Twins starter Camilo Pascual had it on autopilot in today’s 4-0 win over the Chicago White Sox on a rainy night at Comiskey Park as he pitched his team leading fifth shutout of the season. Pascual started the game with two walks in the first inning but escaped that jam. Twins bats got to White Sox starter Cal McLish in the second inning chasing him from the mound after just 1.1 innings with a walk, a double and three singles that scored three runs for the good guys (Twins). Pascual allowed s single to Al Smith in the second inning and then didn’t allow another hit until Sherm Lollar singled with two out in the ninth and Pascual followed that by retiring Al Smith on a flyball for the final out of the game. Twins bats kept getting hits but managed to push across only one more run on a total of 12 hits in the game. Harmon Killebrew, Bob Allison and Bill Tuttle each had two hits in the game. Pascual allowed two hits and three walks while striking out six to earn victory number 11 against 13 losses. Box Score
The Twins put together back-to-back winning weeks by going 3-2 this week. That however, does not keep them from falling back another game behind the New York Yankees who know have a 28.5 game bulge over Minnesota but it does move them up a notch in the standings to seventh place. Not great by any means but Minnesota Twins fans love their new MLB team regardless.
