BRAUN'S 6-HIT DAY PACES TWINS' ROUT OF HALOS
Minnesota Closes to 5 1/2 of AL West Lead
ANAHEIM, Cal., Sept. 17 (AP) - Steve Braun became the second major league player
this season to amass six hits in a single game, leading the Minnesota Twins to a
9-3 bludgeoning of the California Angels at Anaheim Stadium. The win
advances Minnesota to four games above .500, the club's high water mark on the
season thus far. The victory also moves the Twins to within 5 1/2 games of
the first place Oakland Athletics, who dropped their third consecutive contest,
falling 2-1 to the Texas Rangers. Minnesota has now won 15 of its last 20
games. The Royals stand second in the American League West, two behind the
A's pending the outcome of Kansas City's game with the Chicago White Sox.
Led by Braun, the Twins accrued 20 hits in the game, matching the team's season
high previously reached in a 9-8 win over the Royals on May 10.
Minnesota broke out on top in the very first inning against Angels starter Don
Kirkwood, who barely made it out of the frame. Braun opened the game with
a single through the box and advanced to second when Roy Smalley looped a single
to left on an 0-2 pitch. Rod Carew then laced a triple into the right
field corner, scoring both baserunners to give the Twins a 2-0 lead. Butch
Wynegar's infield out scored Carew to make it 3-0 and Lyman Bostock resumed the
hit parade by doubling to right. Dan Ford's ground out advanced Bostock to
third and Larry Hisle drew a walk on a 3-2 pitch from Kirkwood. Mike
Cubbage followed with a base hit to center, scoring Bostock for a 4-0 Minnesota
advantage. With the California bullpen at work, Kirkwood finally escaped
the inning when Bob Randall flied out.
The Twins firmly blew the game open in the second and chased Kirkwood in the
process. Again Braun opened the inning with a single and stole second
base. Smalley struck out but Carew reached on an infield hit with Braun
advancing to third. Carew then stole his 49th base of the season, putting
runners on second and third, and Wynegar launched a double off the right-center
field fence, scoring both runners to give Minnesota a 6-0 lead. That was
the end of the day for Kirkwood, who was replaced on the mound by Paul Hartzell.
The Angels picked up a run in the bottom of the second when Rusty Torres tripled
with one out off Twins starter Pete Redfern and scored on Mike Miley's sacrifice
fly, but the Twins got the run back in the top of the third when Hisle led off
with a double and scored two batters later on Braun's third consecutive
single. The Angels were never able to pose a serious threat from that
point on.
Braun's fourth hit came in the fifth--a one-out single--which ended Hartzell's
stint on the mound. When Braun singled for the fifth time--part of a
two-run Minnesota sixth--he became just the second Twins player to amass five
hits in a single game so this year (Randall, on July 4, is the other) and the
20th different major leaguer to accomplish the feat in a nine-inning contest
this season. (Rennie Stennett, of the Pittsburgh Pirates, is the only
major leaguer to amass five hits in a nine-inning game twice this year.)
Tony Solaita's two-run home run in the bottom of the sixth capped the scoring in
this game, but there remained the question of whether Braun would reach the
elusive six-hit threshold. He got his chance leading off the top of the
eighth inning against Angels reliever Dick Drago. He took a strike then
lashed an 0-1 off-speed pitch sharply through the middle for his sixth hit in as
many plate appearances. The small crowd at "The Big A" gave him
a lengthy ovation in recognition of the feat.
There appeared a real possibility that Braun would have a shot at a seventh
safety, but Drago retired the next three Twins hitters in order, leaving Braun
three batters shy of the opportunity.
9/17/1976, Min76-Cal76, Anaheim Stadium 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E LOB DP 1976 Twins 4 2 1 0 0 2 0 0 0 9 20 0 16 0 1976 Angels 0 1 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 3 6 1 6 0 Twins AB R H BI AVG Angels AB R H BI AVG Braun dh 6 2 6 2 .279 Collins lf 3 0 0 0 .279 Smalley ss 5 1 2 0 .253 Melton ph 0 0 0 0 .182 Gomez ss 0 0 0 0 .250 Remy 2b 4 0 0 0 .313 Carew 1b 5 2 3 2 .336 Bochte rf 2 1 1 0 .269 Kusick 1b 1 0 0 0 .262 Stanton rf 0 0 0 0 .204 Wynegar c 5 0 1 3 .288 Lopez ph 1 0 0 0 .000 Bostock cf 5 1 1 0 .308 Briggs rf 0 0 0 0 .191 Brye cf 1 0 0 0 .324 Solaita 1b 4 1 1 2 .242 Ford rf 6 1 2 0 .258 Guerrero dh 4 0 1 0 .328 Hisle lf 4 2 2 0 .250 Torres,R cf 3 1 1 0 .232 Cubbage 3b 4 0 1 1 .265 Miley ss 2 0 0 1 .100 Randall,B 2b 3 0 1 0 .313 Hampton ss 1 0 0 0 .000 Terrell ph 2 0 1 1 .234 Humphrey c 3 0 0 0 .208 47 9 20 9 Etchebaren c 0 0 0 0 .223 Easler ph 1 0 0 0 .333 Chalk 3b 2 0 2 0 .232 Davis,T ph 1 0 0 0 .241 Jones,B lf 1 0 0 0 .160 32 3 6 3 Twins INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Redfern W 5-9 6.0 6 3 3 2 1 107 58 3.84 Burgmeier S 4 3.0 0 0 0 1 1 36 21 2.06 9.0 6 3 3 3 2 143 79 Angels INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Kirkwood L 7-13 1.1 8 6 6 1 1 53 30 5.12 Hartzell 3.0 5 1 1 1 0 42 25 2.91 Wheelock 1.0 3 2 2 0 1 17 13 18.00 Monge 1.1 3 0 0 2 1 38 17 3.14 Drago 2.1 1 0 0 0 1 18 13 3.84 9.0 20 9 9 4 4 168 98 Min: Terrell batted for Randall,B in the 6th Kusick inserted at 1b in the 6th Terrell moved to 2b in the 6th Gomez inserted at ss in the 8th Brye inserted at cf in the 8th Cal: Stanton inserted at rf in the 7th Hampton inserted at ss in the 7th Davis,T batted for Chalk in the 7th Melton batted for Collins in the 7th Lopez batted for Stanton in the 7th Melton moved to 3b in the 8th Briggs inserted at rf in the 8th Jones,B inserted at lf in the 8th Etchebaren inserted at c in the 9th Easler batted for Etchebaren in the 9th E-Humphrey. 2B-Wynegar(26), Bostock(16), Hisle(16). 3B-Carew(7), Torres,R(4). HR-Solaita(4). RBI-Braun 2(40), Carew 2(75), Wynegar 3(73), Cubbage(37), Terrell(15), Solaita 2(30), Miley(1). SB-Braun(11), Carew(48), Collins(26). K-Smalley 3, Bostock, Solaita 2. BB-Wynegar, Hisle 2, Cubbage, Bochte, Torres,R, Melton. SF-Miley. CI-Smalley. GWRBI: Carew Temperature: 65, Sky: clear, Wind: left to right at 15 MPH. Attendance: 8,536 Game Time: 3:01