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“DIARY OF A WINNER”
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THE "GOLD DUST TWINS" AND
May 31, 1975 ... The Sox gave an exhibition of line drive hitting in Minnesota. Bert Blyleven went into the fifth with a 7-3 lead for the Twins. Liner after liner, all over Metropolitan Stadium off the Sox bats, whittled that down. Jim Rice's three-run homer in the seventh inning highlighted a 17-hit attack, in a 12-8 comeback victory. The Twins wasted homers by Larry Hisle and Rod Carew, and Steve Braun as the Sox rallied from a 7 to 3 deficit. Wasted also was Carew's 3-for-4 performance, which accounted for 3 RBIs and raised his batting average to .379. Hisle's homer was his ninth and increased his RBI total to 34. Braun's shot made it three straight games in which he has hit a home run. The Twins took an early lead in the first inning. After Carew singled and stole second, Rick Wise walked Tony Oliva. Hisle's homer put Minnesota up 3 to 0. The Sox caught the Twins in the second inning on doubles by Fred Lynn and Dwight Evans, a single by Juan Beniquez and another double by Tim Blackwell. Doug Griffin's sacrifice fly brought in Beniquez with the Sox third run, that tied the game. In the third inning Braun led off with a home run to put the Twins back on top. Rogelio Moret took over for Wise in the fourth inning, following Carew's homer, with Danny Thompson and Glenn Borgmann on base, that gave Minnesota a 7 to 3 lead. The Sox knocked out Blyleven in the fifth inning with another three runs. Fred Lynn singled home Rick Burleson, and Rice brought in Yastrzemski with a single to center. The two then worked a double steal. Lynn scored from third base with the Sox sixth run, while Rice was hit in the head by Twins catcher, Glenn Borgmann's throw. A base hit by Juan Beniquez and a triple by Bernie Carbo, in the sixth inning, tied the score at 7 to 7. Rice's seventh homer of the year, a 371 ft belt, inside the left field foul pole off Tom Burgmeier, came after Burleson and Yastrzemski singled in the seventh inning, to make the score 10 to 7. Yaz's hit was the 2300th of his career. The Twins scored their last run in the seventh inning. Tony Oliva's single, after Carew's double, was good for their 8th run. Dwight Evans finished the Sox assault with a two-run double in the ninth inning. Six Sox players had two hits apiece, led by Rice (.282 BA, 7 HRs, 26 RBIs) and Evans, who delivered three runs with a pair of doubles. Lynn had a double, two singles, stole home and even had a sacrifice bunt. He is hitting .350 and leading the league with a .600 slugging percentage. Beniquez, who started at third base because of Rico Petrocelli's sore wrist, had two hits, to raise his average to .300 Moret allowed three hits and one run in his 5 1/3 innings in relief of Wise, who experienced control problems. The three homers off Wise raised his "gopher ball" total to 13 in 84 innings pitched and he walked three men after going 22 1/3 innings without giving up a free pass. Four of Wise's last five starts haven't been good. He has a 4.71 ERA and 13 runners have stolen on him in 14 attempts. The Sox have now won nine of their last 12 and finished the month of May with a 16-9 record and a 2 1/2 game lead in the AL East. |
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