June 18, 1968: Twins-Senators game has almost everything

The Twins-Senators game on June 18, 1968, had many ebbs and flows and featured almost every play you could imagine.

Minnesota starter Jim Merritt had a no-hitter for 5⅔ innings, and then bullpen implosions by both teams led to four lead changes in the last two innings. Among the 26 hits in the game were four doubles, two triples, and three home runs; all the extra-base hits were by the Twins except for two home runs by the Senators in the eighth inning.

There were pinch-hitters, pinch-runners, a stolen base, a sacrifice, two sacrifice flies, two intentional walks, a hit batter, and an error. In addition, the game featured three double plays, an ejection, two runners thrown out at the plate, and a walk-off victory. About the only plays missing, unnoticed at the time, were a caught stealing and a balk.

Twins starter Jim Merritt retired the side in order in the first, third, and fifth innings. He walked right fielder Cap Peterson with two out in the second inning and third baseman Ken McMullen and first baseman Mike Epstein with two out in the fourth inning but got the third out each time without further incident. In the sixth inning, with one out, he hit second baseman Bernie Allen with a pitch, retired Frank Howard on a foul pop, and then allowed his first hit, a single by Ken McMullen, with Allen scampering to third base. As in the second and fourth innings, Merritt got the third out without further trouble. Peterson led off the seventh inning with the Senators second hit, a single to right. Catcher Paul Casanova hit into a 6-4-3 double play (Jackie Hernandez–Frank Quilici–Harmon Killebrew). Merritt finished off the inning with a strikeout of shortstop Ron Hansen.1 In the fourth inning, with Frank Howard at the plate, Senators first-base coach Nellie Fox was convinced that Jim Merritt was throwing a spitball. Fox argued quite vehemently with home-plate umpire Red Flaherty, with Senators manager Jim Lemon also getting involved. Flaherty had to calm the situation by tossing Fox from the game.2

Meanwhile, the Twins built a 4-0 lead against Senators starter Phil Ortega and relief pitchers Bruce Howard and Dick Bosman. Tony Oliva led off the second inning with a base on balls. Bob Allison followed with a single and catcher Bruce Look walked to load the bases. Hernandez lofted a short pop to right field, too shallow for the runners to advance. Quilici, however, hit a fly ball deep enough to Frank Howard in left field and Oliva scored from third base. In the third inning, singles by Cesar Tovar, Killebrew, and Oliva led to a second run and knocked out Ortega. Bruce Howard relieved. Killebrew scored the Twins’ third run when Allison flied to Peterson in right. In the bottom of the fifth inning, Howard was replaced by Bosman, and the Twins greeted him with three consecutive hits. Singles by Ted Uhlaender and Killebrew put men on second and first and a ground-rule double by Oliva that bounced into the right-field seats scored Uhlaender and sent Killebrew to third base. After Allison popped out to shortstop, Bruce Look received an intentional walk to load the bases. Hernandez grounded to third, and McMullen threw Killebrew out at the plate. Quilici grounded out, McMullen to Epstein, to end the inning.

Merritt seemed to be breezing along when he retired pinch-hitter Ed Brinkman (batting for Bosman) and leadoff batter Sam Bowens to start the eighth inning. Nobody witnessing the game had any ideas how difficult it would be to get the next four outs. Allen started the Washington rally by recovering from a two-strike count and singling to right field. Howard’s 23rd home run of the season, a 381-foot blast to left-center, followed. Some reports had the ball still rising as it left the ballpark.3 The two runs batted in gave the Senators’ left fielder 50 RBIs, increasing his American League lead in that category. Some fans started to chant, “Bring in Perranoski, bring in Perranoski.” When McMullen walked, Twins manager Cal Ermer summoned lefty Ron Perranoski to face first baseman Mike Epstein, a left-handed hitter. Epstein walked on four pitches. Perranoski stayed in the game even though the next five Senators batters were right-handed hitters. Ermer explained his reasoning in the Minneapolis Star: “Washington had three left-handed hitters on the bench in Del Unser, Ed Stroud, and Bill Bryan. If I bring in the right-handed Al Worthington, Washington manager Jim Lemon will pinch-hit one or more of these lefties and they are all stronger batters than the men they would replace.”4 Leather-lunged fans chanted for Worthington as Perranoski gave up a single to Peterson, scoring McMullen and cutting the Twins’ lead to 4-3. The chanting got even louder as the light-hitting Casanova lofted his first homer of the year to left field, 390 feet away, scoring three runs, giving the Senators a 6-4 lead. The next batter, Hansen, singled. Perranoski finished the inning, however, by getting Brinkman, batting for the second time in the inning, to fly to right.

Dave Baldwin replaced Dick Bosman for the Senators in the bottom of the eighth inning. Bosman had pitched three innings, allowing five hits and one run, and stood to be the winning pitcher if the Senators could hold the lead. Quicili lined to second for the first out. Rich Reese, batting for Perranoski, singled to center field. Cesar Tovar doubled to right and Uhlaender homered to right, knocking in three runs, giving the lead back to the Twins at 7-6. It was Uhlaender’s third hit of the game. Baldwin’s day was finished when he walked Harmon Killebrew. Dennis Higgins replaced Baldwin on the mound. Jim Holt ran for Killebrew. Oliva flied to left for the second out. Allison doubled to center, and Holt tried to score from first base. A strong throw from Bowens nailed Holt at the plate.

Al Worthington came in to start the ninth inning for the Twins. He walked the leadoff batter, Bowens, who went to second as Allen grounded out to Reese at first. Howard grounded sharply to shortstop Hernandez, who threw wild to first (his 16th error of the season). McMullen singled to left, scoring Bowens and tying the score at 7-7. Epstein singled to right, scoring pinch-runner Ed Stroud, giving the Senators an 8-7 lead. When Peterson continued the barrage with another single, Twins manager Ermer waved in Jim Perry, who had not pitched since June 2 because of a pulled groin muscle. The future American League Cy Young Award winner (1970) had been used mainly in long relief and as a spot starter since his acquisition from Cleveland in 1963. He faced Casanova, the Senators catcher, who had hit a three-run homer the inning before. On the second pitch, Casanova hit the ball sharply to Hernandez, who started an inning-ending double play.5

The bottom of the ninth began with the Twins trailing 8-7. Dennis Higgins was still on the mound for the Senators. Bowens moved to left field to replace Howard, and Stroud, who had run for Howard in the top of the inning, now patrolled center field. Look struck out to begin the inning. Rich Rollins, pinch-hitting for Jackie Hernandez, singled to right field. Quilici, in the lineup because Rod Carew was on Marine Reserve duty, strode to the plate as the only Twins position player without a hit in the game. Quilici took two strikes and then lined two foul balls into the stands.6 Finally he got his bat squarely on the ball and hit a line drive into left field. Bowens slipped and the ball skidded by him and sped toward the fence. Rollins scored easily from first base to tie the game. Quilici ended up on third with a triple, his third in five days after having one in his career previously.7 Rich Reese was intentionally walked. Cesar Tovar then hit a sharp liner at second baseman Bernie Allen. The ball bounced off Allen’s chest, and he had no chance to get Quilici trying to score. As he threw out Tovar at first base, Quilici slid across the plate with the winning run. The Twins erupted from the dugout to swarm him at the plate.

Bill Boni of the St. Paul Dispatch claimed there was no possible play at the plate while Allen said he would have had Quilici at the plate if the ball hadn’t hit off the heel of his glove and then his chest. Ermer said he was sure the play would have been an easy double play if the ball had been an inch or two higher.8 Of Quilici’s triple, Bowens said, “I got over in front of the ball and just before it got to me it skipped to my left. I tried to get back, that’s when I slipped. By the time I was able to get up and retrieve the ball in front of the fence, it was too late to keep him from making it to third.”9

Ermer was upbeat after the game despite the second-guessing on the timing of his pitching changes. “Who the hell says baseball’s dull? I’ve seen a lot of good games,” he exclaimed. “But that was something else. I’d have to say it was the most exciting baseball game I’ve ever seen.”10

The win gave the Twins a record of 33-31 and left them in fourth place, nine games in back of the league-leading Detroit Tigers. It was the fifth straight win for the Twins and the seventh straight loss for the Senators, dropping them to 24-37, in last place 16½ games behind Detroit. The Twins finished the 1968 season in a disappointing seventh place with a record of 79-83. The Senators (65-96) finished in last place. The Twins would win 11 of 18 games against the Senators and six of nine games at home.11

Author’s Note

This was the first major-league game I attended where I remember any of the details. I had attended a Twins game five or six years before but was too young to appreciate what was really happening on the field. On this pleasantly warm Tuesday evening of June 18, 1968, I was still four months shy of my 12th birthday. I had avidly followed the Twins since the 1965 World Series and had viewed numerous games on television, but this game was special and left me with lasting memories. Among them were just the excitement of driving into the Metropolitan Stadium parking lot, noting that we parked near the Boston Red Sox sign attached to a light standard, walking up the ramps, and finding our seats a dozen or so rows above the walkway between home and third base. I remember the leather-lunged fans chanting for Perranoski and then for Worthington and noticed that many fans left after Harmon Killebrew’s last at-bat. A dog-eared Twins yearbook, costing all of 75 cents, is my remaining souvenir from this game.

Notes

1 The Minneapolis Tribune, June 19, 1968, contains play-by-play of the run-scoring plays, and Retrosheet was consulted to fill out the game’s scoresheet. There were several discrepancies in putout and assist totals for some players between the Tribune and Retrosheet.

2 Retrosheet gave the specifics on this ejection. The Minneapolis and St. Paul newspapers mentioned only the ejection of Fox, and it is not known if the crowd in attendance was informed of the ejection. Undoubtedly a majority remained in the dark and wondered what the rhubarb was all about.

3 Dave Mona, “Twins Outrally Senators 9-8,” Minneapolis Tribune, June 19, 1968: 29, 31.

4 “Baseball Not Exciting – Don’t Ask Ermer,“ Minneapolis Star, June 19, 1968: 4D.

5 “Baseball Not Exciting.” The author for years has remembered that Perry threw only one pitch and was the winning pitcher after getting a double-play ball in the top of the ninth inning. The Minneapolis Star the next day and thus more reliable, reported that Perry threw two pitches.

6  Glenn Redman, “Fans Have Picnic Second-Guessing Cal,” St. Paul Dispatch, June 19, 1969: 49.

7  Sid Hartman column, Minneapolis Tribune, June 19, 1968: 30.

8  “Baseball Not Exciting – Don’t Ask Ermer.”

9  Glenn Redman, “Hopper Fools Bowens, Gives Quilici Triple,” St. Paul Pioneer Press, June 19, 1968: C16.

10 Mona.

11 1969 Minnesota Twins Media Guide: 48.