1970 Great Eight League

Through Game #49.

Game Results:

Baltimore 1 Minnesota 4

WP- Jim Perry (5-4) LP- Jim Palmer (6-4)

HR- Harmon Killebrew (7)

Minnesota’s Jim Perry went the distance as the Twins defeated the first-place Baltimore Orioles, 4 to 1. Harmon Killebrew’s two-run clout in the third inning turned out to be the deciding blow.

New York 3 Los Angeles 1

WP- Fritz Peterson (4-3) LP- Don Sutton (2-6) SV-Gary Waslewski (2)

HR-Thurman Munson (2)

After going without a home run all season, New York’s Thurman Munson has hit one in each of his last two games. His two-run smash in the first inning was all Fritz Peterson needed to defeat the Dodgers, 3 to 1.

Oakland 6 Cincinnati 7 Eleven innings

WP- Wayne Granger (6-2) LP- Paul Lindblad (0-2)

HR- Tony Perez (9), Johnny Bench (14); Sal Bando (10), Don Mincher (13), Gene Tenace (7)

This game was an absolute barnburner. Johnny Bench hit a solo homer in the bottom of the second to open the scoring. Tommy Helms singled in Bernie Carbo later in that same inning, to give the Reds a 2-0 lead. Oakland would tie it at 2 all in the fourth. Mincher singled, Rick Monday tripled him in, then Monday scored on a Dave Concepcion error. In the last of the fifth, Pete Rose tripled and scored, putting Cincinnati up, 3 to 2. The Reds scored twice more in the sixth, to go ahead, 5 to 2. With a seemingly comfortable lead, starter Gary Nolan gave way to Pedro Borbon. The fiery Reds reliever retired Campy Campaneris for the first out, but allowed a single to Steve Hovley, who was pinch hitting for Joe Rudi. Sal Bando then smashed a two-run homer, to make it, 5 to 4. Borbon fanned Reggie Jackson, but then issued back-to-back taters to Don Mincher and Gene Tenace, to give Oakland the lead, 6 to 5. Don Gullett took over the pitching duties and was able to get the third out. In the bottom of the eighth, Rose singled in Tommy Helms, retying the game at 6 all. The game moved to the eleventh inning, where Tony Perez hit a two- out game winning home run off Paul Lindblad, for a 7 to 6 Cincinnati victory.

Pittsburgh 0 Boston 6

WP- Ray Culp (5-3) LP- Dock Ellis (2-5)

HR- Tony Conigliaro (10), Rico Petrocelli (12), Mike Andrews (4)

Ray Culp stepped up for Boston in a huge way, tossing a three-hit shutout against the Pittsburgh Pirates. Culp allowed just two walks against thirteen punchouts, in a game the Red Sox had to have. Boston clubbed three homers in the win.

Standings and Leaderboard courtesy of http://www.cardanddicebaseball.com

Game #49 Recap:

With Baltimore losing to Minnesota and Boston beating Pittsburgh, the Red Sox are now three games behind the Orioles, with seven to play. Baltimore’s magic number remains at five.

With their loss to the Reds, Oakland has been eliminated from Championship contention. Game #50 kicks off with a marquee matchup. #1 Baltimore vs. #2 Boston at Fenway Park. When the dust clears, the Orioles will have either a two-game lead, or a four-game lead.

Individually, there were two complete games pitched, one, by Jim Perry, the other by Ray Culp. The latter’s thirteen strikeouts give him a sizeable lead over teammate, Gary Peters, who will pitch against Baltimore in the next game. Peters will likely have two more starts to try to reach double figures in wins.

The home run race is getting exciting. Johnny Bench leads by one over Don Mincher, 14 to 13. Rico Petrocelli is knocking at the door with 12.Reggie Jackson has 11 and several players have 10. Oakland has four players in double figures, Boston has three.

Game #50 Schedule and Probable Pitchers:

Baltimore (McNally 4-1, 3.31) at Boston (Peters 9-1, 2.21)

New York (Stottlemyer 2-5, 3.27) at Minnesota (Katt 3-3, 5.05)

Oakland (Dobson 3-1, 4.86) at Los Angeles (Osteen 1-3, 3.45)

Pittsburgh (Blass 1-6, 5.02) at Cincinnati (Merritt 1-6, 4.75)