July 6, 1969: Harmon Killebrew does it again with game-winning homer to defeat A’s, 7-6

Harmon “Killer” Killebrew lived up to his name on this Fourth of July weekend. Going into a three-game series with the Oakland Athletics, the Minnesota Twins (43-34) were one game behind the A’s (42-31). Prior to the Friday series opener, Killebrew’s batting average was .273 with 19 home runs and 72 runs batted in. After Tony Oliva doubled in Ted Uhlaender in the first inning, Killebrew drove Oliva home with a two-run bomb over the left-field fence to give the Twins a 3-0 lead. Killebrew added a single in the sixth inning as the Twins tied the Athletics for first place in the American League West with the 10-4 victory.

Saturday, Killebrew was 3-for-4 with six runs batted in (RBIs), including home runs in the first and second innings, to help the Twins take a one-game lead over the Athletics by a score of 13-1.

Killebrew raised his batting average to .283, up by 10 points in the past two games, and was up to 22 home runs and 80 RBIs.

In the third and final game of the series, on Sunday, July 6, Blue Moon Odom took the mound for the Athletics. Odom, 11-3 with victories in his last four decisions, also sported an impressive 2.28 earned-run average. On the mound for the Twins was Dave Boswell, who was 10-8 for the season with a 3.09 ERA.

The Athletics jumped on Boswell early. In the top of the first, Ted Kubiak lined out to center fielder Cesar Tovar. Dick Green walked and with Reggie Jackson at the plate, a wild pitch by Boswell sent Green scampering into second. Jackson doubled high off the right-field wall with Green stopping at third. Green thought the ball was going to be caught, so he held up.1 Sal Bando singled to left, driving in Green and Jackson for the first two runs of the game. Danny Cater grounded into a 6-4-3 double play to end the Athletics’ half of the first.

Odom took the mound in the bottom of the first, feeling good about his team’s two-run lead. Odom retired Uhlaender and Rod Carew on groundouts and Oliva on a line out to center.

Boswell surrendered a leadoff double to Rick Monday to start the second but struck out Joe Rudi, walked Dave Duncan, fanned Odom, and retired Kubiak on a grounder to first.

The hot-hitting Killebrew singled to start the bottom of the second, but Odom struck out Rich Reese and John Roseboro, then got Leo Cardenas to ground to second for an inning-ending force play.

The Twins threatened in the bottom of the third. Tovar doubled to lead off the inning. He held second as Boswell reached on a ball hit to third base. Odom buckled down and struck out Uhlaender and Carew, then Oliva grounded out to second to end the inning. At the end of three, the Athletics held on to their two-run lead.

Boswell allowed another walk in the top of the fourth but got out of the inning.

Killebrew led off the bottom of the fourth with another hit, this time a single to right. Reese followed with a single, and, when Jackson misplayed the ball in right, Killebrew scored and Reese went to third. Roseboro singled in Reese to tie the game, 2-2. Roseboro was caught stealing, Cardenas popped out to first baseman Cater in foul territory, and Tovar flied out to center to end the inning.

Kubiak singled to begin the top half of the fifth for the Athletics. Green struck out and Jackson walked. Bando flied out to left with the runners holding. With two outs, Cater drove one 380 feet into the left-field seats for a three-run homer to give the Athletics a 5-2 lead.2 With Boswell scheduled to lead off the bottom of the fifth, Twins manager Billy Martin wanted Boswell to finish the inning. After hitting Monday with a pitch, Boswell retired Joe Rudi on a groundout to second to retire the side.

In the bottom of the fifth, Charlie Manuel, pinch-hitting for Boswell, grounded out, first to pitcher. Uhlaender and Carew both grounded out to retire the side.

Joe Grzenda came in to pitch for the Twins and retired the side one-two-three on three grounders to make easy work of the Athletics in the top half of the sixth.

After a leadoff double by Oliva in the bottom of the sixth, Odom buckled down and retired Killebrew, Reese, and Roseboro, stranding Oliva at second.

The Athletics scored again in the top of the seventh. Green homered to left off Grzenda to lead off the inning. Grzenda then walked Jackson and Bando followed with a base hit to right, Jackson stopping at second. Cater grounded into a pitcher-to-short-to-first double play and Monday was out on a comebacker to first to end the inning with the Athletics now leading 6-2.

Odom hit Cardenas with his second pitch in the Twins’ seventh. Before this hit-by-pitch, there had been a lot of words exchanged between dugouts about pitches that were too far inside to batters on both teams. Boswell hit Monday in the fifth, and Grzenda dusted off Jackson in the top of the seventh.3 Cardenas walked slowly to first, carrying his bat most of the way. When he arrived at first, he said something to Odom, who said something back. With Tovar at the plate and Odom distracted, Cardenas took second on a wild pitch.4 Tovar singled to center, scoring Cardenas. Graig Nettles, pinch-hitting for Grzenda, walked. Athletics manager Hank Bauer replaced Odom with the Athletics’ top reliever, Rollie Fingers. Uhlaender, the first batter he faced, grounded out to short, with both runners advancing. Carew executed perfectly by hitting behind the runners as he grounded out to second, scoring Tovar with Nettles taking third. Oliva singled to right, Nettles scored, and the Athletics’ lead was down to one run at 6-5. The hot-hitting Killebrew stepped to the plate. To the amazement of the 23,611 fans in the ballpark on this Sunday afternoon, Killebrew hammered another homer into a 15-MPH wind into the left-field seats 360 feet away to give the Twins a 7-6 lead.5 Rich Reese grounded out to end the inning.

Ron Perranoski came in to pitch the final two innings as the Twins held on for the 7-6 win.

Killebrew started the three-game series with the Athletics with 19 home runs and 72 RBIs. At the end of the series, he had 23 home runs and 84 RBIs and was 8-for-12, raising his batting average from .273 to .289. “There are some stretches when you feel real comfortable at the plate and you feel you can hit anything the pitcher can throw,” Killebrew said after the game.  “Then there are times you can’t seem to hit a pitch when it comes right up the middle. Right now I feel pretty comfortable out there.”6

After the game Carew was leading the American League with a .357 batting average. Oliva was in third place, batting .328, and Cardenas was ninth at .294. Killebrew, with 82 RBIs, led second-place Boog Powell of the Orioles with 74 and the Athletics’ Reggie Jackson with 66.

Killebrew’s seventh-inning homer was the 16th time in the Twins’ 46 victories in 1969 that he drove in the deciding run.7

Sources

retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1969/B07060MIN1969.htm

baseball-reference.com/boxes/MIN/MIN196907060.shtml

Notes

1 “Bauer’s Tactic Turns Sour – and A’s Blow It,” San Francisco Examiner, July 7, 1969: 57.

2 Dave Mona, “Killebrew Sinks A’s,” Minneapolis Tribune, July 7, 1969: 34.

3 “Bauer’s Tactic Turns Sour – and A’s Blow It.”

4 Mona: 33.

5 Mona: 33.

6 Mona: 33.

7 Mona: 33.