1ST 7 BATTERS REACH AS TWINS ROUT A'S
8-Run 1st Inning is Twins Biggest of the Season
BLOOMINGTON, Minn., July 31 (AP) - The first seven batters of the game for the
Minnesota Twins all singled en route to an eight-run frame in a 9-2 victory over
the Oakland Athletics at Metropolitan Stadium. It was the first time this
season that any team had the first seven batters of the game reach safely via a
hit of any kind. The first eight batters reached base for the A's in a
10-6 win over the Tigers in Detroit on July 18, but six of those batters drew
bases on balls. The eight-run inning for the Twins was their biggest of
the year and tied the largest first inning output of the season by any
team. The Atlanta Braves scored eight first inning runs in a victory over
the Houston Astros on June 22. A's right-hander Paul Mitchell became the
first starting pitcher this year to fail to record a single out in a game.
After Dave Goltz retired the A's in the top of the first, Steve Braun lined the
first pitch he saw from Mitchell to left for a single. After Braun stole
second, Roy Snmalley dropped a base hit into right, scoring Braun with the
game's first run. Rod Carew followed with a single to center, advancing
Smalley to second and Butch Wynegar then singled through the box. Smalley
beat Bill North's throw to the plate to give Minnesota a 2-0 lead and Carew and
Wynegar advanced to second and third on the throw. Lyman Bostock followed
with a single to left, scoring Carew and moving Wynegar to third and Mike
Cubbage's base hit to center plated Wynegar with Bostock moving to second.
Larry Hisle then singled to center, the seventh consecutive one-base hit,
driving in Bostock to put the Twins on top 5-0. Stan Bahnsen replaced
Mitchell and retired Dan Ford on a fly ball for the first out of the inning but
then yielded a double to left-center off the bat of Bob Randall, scoring Cubbage
with the sixth run of the inning and leaving runners on second and third.
Braun then singled to left--his second safety of the inning--scoring Hisle with
Randall stopping at third. Smalley walked to load the bases and Carew's
grounder to short scored Randall with the eighth and final tally of the
frame. Wynegar, the 13th batter of the inning, grounded out to finally end
the frame with Minnesota ahead, 8-0.
The A's never threatened to get back in the game. After the Twins made it
9-0 in the third on Braun's solo home run, Oakland tallied single runs in the
fourth and fifth on Gene Tenace's sacrifice fly and Don Baylor's RBI single
respectively, but it wasn't nearly enough. Neither club scored again.
The victory was the ninth in ten games for the suddenly hot Twins who have
climbed into third place in the American League West after a sluggish start to
the season. The loss snapped Oakland's five-game winning streak. The
A's remain in first, 3 1/2 games head of Kansas City pending the outcome of the
Royals' game with Texas.
7/31/1976, Oak76-Min76, Metropolitan Stadium 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E LOB DP 1976 Athletics 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 2 5 2 8 0 1976 Twins 8 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 x 9 15 0 9 2 Athletics AB R H BI AVG Twins AB R H BI AVG North cf 4 1 1 0 .283 Braun dh 4 2 3 2 .292 Campaneris ss 3 0 0 0 .253 Kusick ph 1 0 0 0 .270 Baylor 1b 2 1 1 1 .275 Smalley ss 3 1 1 1 .284 Rudi lf 4 0 1 0 .261 Carew 1b 5 1 1 1 .307 Bando 3b 4 0 1 0 .248 Wynegar c 5 1 2 1 .293 Tenace c 3 0 1 1 .287 Bostock cf 5 1 2 1 .330 Washington rf 3 0 0 0 .268 Cubbage 3b 4 1 2 1 .265 Williams,B dh 2 0 0 0 .217 Hisle lf 4 1 2 1 .239 Alexander,M pr 0 0 0 0 .130 Ford rf 4 0 0 0 .248 Garner 2b 4 0 0 0 .249 Randall,B 2b 4 1 2 1 .303 29 2 5 2 39 9 15 9 Athletics INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Mitchell,P L 4-9 0.0 7 7 7 0 0 20 15 6.75 Bahnsen 4.0 5 2 2 1 2 63 39 3.60 Todd 2.1 2 0 0 1 2 37 24 1.80 Lindblad 1.2 1 0 0 1 3 36 24 3.64 8.0 15 9 9 3 7 156 102 Twins INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Goltz W 9-12 6.1 5 2 2 6 5 117 67 3.47 Johnson,To 2.2 0 0 0 1 3 27 16 0.00 9.0 5 2 2 7 8 144 83 Oak: Alexander,M ran for Williams,B in the 9th Min: Kusick batted for Braun in the 7th E-Garner 2. 2B-North(19), Randall,B(18). HR-Braun(3). RBI-Baylor(72), Tenace(33), Braun 2(27), Smalley(35), Carew(47), Wynegar(47), Bostock(39), Cubbage(21), Hisle(40), Randall,B(42). SB-Braun(7). K-North, Campaneris 3, Bando, Tenace, Williams,B, Garner, Wynegar 2, Cubbage, Hisle, Ford 2, Kusick. BB-North, Campaneris, Baylor 2, Washington, Williams,B 2, Smalley 2, Cubbage. SF-Tenace. GWRBI: Smalley Temperature: 70, Sky: clear, Wind: in from left at 3 MPH. Attendance: 11,720 Game Time: 2:38