May 14, 1975: Carew steals home as Hughes outduels Perry in Twins’ whitewash of Cleveland

The Minnesota Twins started 23-year-old righty Jim Hughes on May 14 in an early clash with the Cleveland Indians at a “nearly deserted Metropolitan Stadium.”1 Hughes had made two starts the previous September and had fired a three-hitter in a tough 2-1 loss to the Texas Rangers and 1971 National League Cy Young Award winner Ferguson Jenkins in the final game of the season. In spite of that promising performance, the Twins envisioned Hughes more as a long reliever; however, a spate of injuries to the starting staff – Dave Goltz, Joe Decker, and Vic Albury all missed time with various ailments – forced Hughes into the rotation.2 Hughes was coming off a complete-game victory over Baltimore on May 9 in which he had allowed only one earned run (two total) and had lowered his season earned-run average to 2.31. Now, in only the fifth start of his young major-league career, his mound opponent was another former Cy Young Award winner, the venerable greaseballer Gaylord Perry, who had claimed the American League award in 1972. Hughes seemed to pitch up to the level of his competition and, on this day, he had his best outing to date.

Although Hughes’s performance became the positive story of the game, another event that occurred early on ended up garnering most of the press coverage. Hughes surrendered a leadoff triple to John Lowenstein but managed to escape unscathed before part one of the game’s “incident” took place in the bottom of the first. Perry, too, allowed the leadoff batter to reach base as Steve Braun singled to right field. Four-time AL batting champ Rod Carew grounded into a fielder’s choice and then decided he needed to get into scoring position since Braun had been forced at second. With Larry Hisle at the plate, Carew stole second and went to third when Indians second baseman Jack Brohamer was unable to corral catcher John Ellis’s throw and was charged with an error.

At this point, Perry practically dared Carew to steal home as he continued to pitch from the windup rather than from the stretch. After Hisle struck out, the temptation became too much for Carew as Bobby Darwin batted. Carew explained after the game, “Gaylord was just slow in his windup. … I saw I could get that far off, so I decided to go on the third one [pitch].”3 Darwin stepped aside as Carew slid into the plate for his first steal of home since 1973 and a 1-0 Twins lead.4 As for Darwin’s alertness on the play, Carew said, “I gave Bobby a signal that I was coming. I hit my belt and pointed to my eye this time.”5 Darwin walked, but Perry bore down and fanned Eric Soderholm to end the inning.

After that, all was quiet on the basepaths for a time as both pitchers set down the side in order over the next two innings. However, part two of the “incident” took place as Carew came to bat with two outs in the bottom of the third. Perry threw Carew a bit of old-fashioned chin music in retaliation for the latter’s steal of home in the first inning. On the very next pitch, an agitated Carew swung and missed and intentionally let go of his bat, which landed to the right of the mound. Perry stood still and stared at the bat while Brohamer and first-base umpire Nestor Chylak rushed between Carew and the mound to prevent any potential fisticuffs. According to Carew, Chylak asked him, “Is the bat slippery?” to which he responded, “Did you ask Gaylord if the ball was slippery?”6

Carew’s sarcasm notwithstanding, Chylak’s quick action prevented the situation from escalating and no warnings were issued to either side. Perry remained calm in the moment and refused to comment afterward, but Carew was still livid at game’s end, asserting, “If it ever happens again, I’ll do it [let his bat fly] again or I’ll do something to get back. … I just don’t like being thrown at. Too many guys have been hurt by things like that. A batter can freeze when a pitcher’s throwing at him intentionally and he can really be injured.”7 Carew likely got his message across to Perry, but he also became the Cleveland starter’s third strikeout victim in the at-bat.

On the heels of such hubbub, Hughes almost lost his shutout in the top of the fourth. Frank Duffy led off with a double and advanced to third on George Hendrick’s grounder. Boog Powell hit a grounder that first baseman Craig Kusick scooped up and rifled home to catcher Glenn Borgmann, who tagged Duffy out at the plate. Hughes then walked Rico Carty, which put Powell in scoring position, but Ellis flied out to right field to end the threat.

In the bottom of the inning, Hisle greeted Perry with a leadoff solo homer that made it a 2-0 game. Soderholm drew a one-out walk but overplayed his hand when he tried to steal second and was gunned down by Ellis for the second out. Steve Brye’s grounder was out number three, and then Hughes had a one-two-three top of the fifth, courtesy of a 4-6-3 double play.

Perry ran into another jam in the bottom of the fifth and was fortunate to escape it without allowing another Twins runner to cross home plate. Borgmann drew a one-out walk but was erased at second on Sergio Ferrer’s grounder; Ferrer’s ball should have resulted in a double play, but Powell dropped the ball at first for an error and Ferrer was safe. Braun singled to put runners at first and second as Carew came to bat for the third time. This time the ball truly did slip out of Perry’s hand and he was charged with a wild pitch that allowed both runners to advance. Perry then issued an intentional walk to Carew that loaded the bases, but he was able to breathe a sigh of relief when Hisle popped out to Brohamer.

By this point in the game, Hughes was on autopilot. He retired the Indians in order in the sixth, seventh, and ninth innings and allowed only a harmless two-out single by Brohamer in the eighth. Perry continued to scuffle, though his outing was hardly disastrous. He allowed Minnesota’s third and final run on Darwin’s solo homer to lead off the bottom of the sixth. The Twins had one last scoring opportunity in the seventh, which came when Braun struck a two-out single and pinch-runner Dan Ford stole second base. Now it was a case of déjà vu all over again (as Yogi Berra may or may not have said) as Perry intentionally walked Carew and induced a pop fly by Hisle to end the inning.

Hughes put an exclamation point on his first career shutout when he struck out Powell, the slugger who had won the AL Most Valuable Player Award in 1970 as a member of the Baltimore Orioles, to end the game. It was the first time in six games that Minnesota had defeated Perry since he had come to the AL in 1972.8 Hughes, who had been a 33rd-round draft choice in 1969, was ecstatic as he said, “I was so psyched up pitching against a name like Gaylord Perry, probably as high as I’ve ever been. I knew I’d probably have to pitch a shutout to win tonight.”9 After his sterling effort, Hughes sported a 3-1 record and 1.67 ERA for the young season.

Twins manager Frank Quilici was effusive in his praise and asserted, “I think Hughes’s use of his changeup will provide a good mental lesson for the rest of our staff. They’ll recognize the value of an offspeed pitch.”10 Hughes’s changeup was a palmball that he had begun to test out during offseason workouts in December 1971. Hughes described the pitch, saying, “I tucked the ball into the palm of my right hand and threw it as hard as a fastball.”11 The result of such experimentation was “an offspeed pitch that dropped.”12

For a brief period during the 1975 season, Hughes harnessed his palmball and the rest of his arsenal as he went on a six-game winning streak. The May 14 shutout of Cleveland was his second of five consecutive complete games and first of two consecutive shutouts. Although injuries initially gave Hughes his opportunity to start in 1975, Quilici said, “We’ll be using a five-man rotation because we have so many games in June, July, and August. And anyone who pitches the way Hughes has been pitching will be in that rotation.”13 Hughes’s magic ran out, but he still had his finest season in the majors, finishing at 16-14 with a 3.82 ERA over 249⅔ innings for a Twins team that finished in fourth place in the AL West with a 76-83 record.

Sources

Baseball-reference.com was consulted for the game box-score and play-by-play as well as for player and team statistics.

Retrosheet.org was also consulted for the game box score and play-by-play.

Notes

1 Tom Briere, “Hughes, Speed, Power Lead Twins to 3-0 Win,” Minneapolis Star Tribune, May 15, 1975: 39. Only 3,176 fans were in attendance at the game.

2 Bob Fowler, “Hughes Palm Ball a Handy Twin Pick-Me-Up,” The Sporting News, May 31, 1975: 12.

3 “Cleveland Indians Notebook: Rod Carew ‘Talks’ with Theft of Home,” Mansfield (Ohio) News-Journal, May 15, 1975: 30.

4 Briere.

5 “Cleveland Indians Notebook.”

6 “Cleveland Indians Notebook.”

7 “Carew Warns Gaylord Perry,” St. Cloud (Minnesota) Times, May 15, 1975: 33.

8 “Hughes Handles Indians,” St. Cloud Times, May 15, 1975: 33.

9 Briere.

10 Briere.

11 Fowler.

12 Fowler.

13 Fowler: 30.