OLIVA'S 3 HRS NOT ENOUGH; TWINS FALL IN OPENER
Tribe Capitalizes on Twins Miscues in 1-Run 'W'
CLEVELAND, Aug. 9 (AP) - Tony Oliva became the second major leaguer this season
to hit three home runs in a game, but it wasn't enough as the Minnesota Twins
fell by a 7-6 score to the Cleveland Indians in the first game of a doubleheader
at Municipal Stadium. Oliva finished with four hits and drove in five, but
two Minnesota errors led to four unearned runs, keying the loss.
The Indians scored single runs in the first and third innings off Twins starter
Camilo Pascual, on Chico Salmon's leadoff home run in the opening frame and Fred
Whitfield's sacrifice fly. Oliva's first home run of the game, off
Cleveland starter Sonny Siebert, halved the deficit in the fourth.
But the Indians came back with two runs in their half of the fourth
inning. Woodie Held singled with one out and Siebert then belted a Pascual
fastball into the left field stands to give Cleveland a 4-1 advantage.
The score remained unchanged until the top of the seventh. Frank Kostro
led off with a single, but pinch hitter Don Mincher flied to center for the
first out. Zoilo Versalles' slow grounder to second was the second out of
the inning, with Kostro advancing to second. That brought Bernie Allen to
the plate and Indians manager George Strickland to the mound. Pedro Ramos
was summoned from the bullpen to relieve Siebert, but Allen foiled the strategy
by lining a single to right-center, scoring Kostro and cutting the Cleveland
lead to 4-2. Strickland then replaced Ramos with Ted Abernathy, with the
dangerous Oliva coming to the plate. Oliva turned the game upside down,
cracking his second home run of the contest, and knotting the score at
4-4. Abernathy retired Harmon Killebrew on a ground ball to end the
inning.
The Indians immediately came back with three runs of their own in the bottom
half of the inning. Gerry Arrigo came on to pitch for the Twins and
induced a ground ball off the bat of Leon Wagner that was kicked by shortstop
Versalles for an error. Whitfield laid down a successful sacrifice, moving
Wagner to second and Tito Francona flied to left for the second out of the
inning. John Romano was walked intentionally so that Arrigo could benefit
from the lefty-lefty matchup with Vic Davalillo, but the Cleveland center
fielder blooped a single just inside the right field line, scoring Wagner with
the lead run and advancing Romano to third. Johnny Klippstein came on for
Arrigo but gave up consecutive singles to Held and Abernathy, leading to two
more runs and a 7-4 Indians lead.
It was still 7-4 when Minnesota came to bat in the top of the ninth, with
Abernathy remaining on the hill. Pinch hitter Ron Henry and Versalles were
easily retired for the first two outs, but Allen singled and Oliva hit his third
home run of the game to cut the lead to 7-6. Killebrew worked a walk,
bringing the potential go-ahead run to the plate, but Abernathy retired Jimmie
Hall on a roller to second to end the game.
Oliva is the first American League player this season to homer three times in a
game. Willie Stargell of the Pittsburgh Pirates also hit three home runs
in a game, also in a losing effort, on August 1.
8/9/1964, Min64-Cle64, game 1, Cleveland Municipal Stadium 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E LOB DP 1964 Twins 0 0 0 1 0 0 3 0 2 6 11 2 8 0 1964 Indians 1 0 1 2 0 0 3 0 x 7 12 1 10 0 Twins AB R H BI AVG Indians AB R H BI AVG Versalles ss 5 0 0 0 .227 Salmon 2b 5 2 1 1 .336 Allen,B 2b 5 2 2 1 .202 Howser ss 5 0 2 0 .223 Oliva rf 5 3 4 5 .310 Wagner lf 4 1 0 0 .235 Killebrew lf 3 0 1 0 .261 Whitfield 1b 3 0 3 1 .297 Hall,J cf 5 0 0 0 .287 Francona rf 4 0 0 0 .236 Allison 1b 4 0 2 0 .298 Romano c 3 1 1 0 .259 Battey c 4 0 1 0 .257 Davalillo cf 4 1 1 1 .273 Kostro 3b 4 1 1 0 .245 Held 3b 3 1 2 1 .244 Pascual p 1 0 0 0 .085 Siebert p 3 1 1 2 .235 Mincher ph 1 0 0 0 .220 Ramos p 0 0 0 0 .157 Arrigo p 0 0 0 0 .179 Abernathy p 1 0 1 1 .333 Klippstein p 0 0 0 0 .000 35 7 12 7 Henry,R ph 1 0 0 0 .182 38 6 11 6 Twins INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Pascual 6.0 7 4 3 3 4 102 69 3.70 Arrigo L 5-8 0.2 1 3 0 1 0 19 10 2.71 Klippstein 1.1 4 0 0 0 2 31 18 5.62 8.0 12 7 3 4 6 152 97 Indians INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Siebert 6.2 6 2 2 2 5 117 67 5.07 Ramos 0.0 1 1 1 0 0 4 2 3.09 Abernathy BS 3, W 2-5 2.1 4 3 3 1 1 42 26 3.66 9.0 11 6 6 3 6 163 95 Min: Mincher batted for Pascual in the 7th Henry,R batted for Klippstein in the 9th E-Versalles, Pascual, Held. 2B-Whitfield(10). HR-Oliva 3(23), Salmon(3), Siebert(2). RBI-Allen,B(21), Oliva 5(64), Salmon(12), Whitfield(32), Davalillo(28), Held(30), Siebert 2(3), Abernathy(1). CS-Howser. K-Hall,J 3, Allison 2, Kostro, Salmon, Francona 2, Davalillo, Held, Siebert. BB-Killebrew 2, Pascual, Wagner, Francona, Romano, Held. SH-Whitfield. SF-Whitfield. GWRBI: Davalillo Temperature: 81, Sky: cloudy, Wind: right to left at 21 MPH. Attendance: N/A Game Time: 2:49