May 12: Chicago 6, Minnesota 4
Bert Blyleven had that beautiful curveball buckling Chicago knees for the first seven innings and was enjoying a 4-1 lead as he started the eighth. A Chet Lemon homer was the only blemish of Bly’s day to that point. Miguel Ordonez led off the bottom of the eighth with a single, followed by a walk to Robin Ventura. Out came Blyleven and in came Al Worthington. Al was not worthy and issued walks to his first two batters to force in a Chicago run. He also served up a single and a Chet Lemon triple before he could get three outs, and all of a sudden the White Sox were in charge. Terry Forster pitched a scoreless ninth in relief of a good eight innings by starter Eddie Cicotte.
R H BB MN 000 013 000 - 4 8 4 CHI 000 000 15x - 6 7 3 HR: C. Lemon (3) starters IP R ER HR BB SO B. Blyleven 7.0 3 3 1 1 3 E. Cicotte 8.0 4 3 0 3 2 MN 16-18, CHI 16-18
May 13: Minnesota 4, Chicago 0
Jim Shaw somehow managed to hang up zeroes around seven walks. It helped that he only allowed three singles in the hits department, as well as his fielders pulling off a nifty triple play with runners on the corners in the sixth inning. Chet Lemon drilled a liner right at first baseman Harmon Killebrew, who caught it to retire Lemon, stepped on first to force out Frank Thomas, and whipped it to third base, all in one motion. Joe Jackson had taken an aggressive lead at third and wasn’t able to get back in time before Cecil Travis stepped on the bag for the third out.
Every Twins batter chipped in with at least one hit. Firpo Marberry completed the shutout with 2.1 innings of relief after Shaw exited.
R H BB MN 001 200 001 - 4 13 2 CHI 000 000 000 - 0 5 7 HR: none starters IP R ER HR BB SO J. Shaw 6.2 0 0 0 7 1 C. Sale 8.0 4 4 0 1 8 MN 17-18, CHI 16-19
May 14: Chicago 4, Minnesota 3 (13 innings)
The rubber match was a beauty and the longest game in the Rhubarb’s brief history. Walter Johnson just kept pitching and pitching and pitching. Chet Lemon and Frank Thomas managed back-to-back doubles off him in the fourth to tie the score at one. A Sherm Lollar walk in the sixth that was followed by singles by George Davis and Joe Jackson scratched across a 2-1 lead for Chicago. Besides those minor disturbances, Johnson was masterful for 11 innings.
Chicago’s Ed Walsh was as good or better for eight innings, after which he clung to a 2-1 lead. But Walsh was pulled in the ninth after Goose Goslin singled and skipper Jimmy Dykes wanted a south paw to face Minny’s heavily wrong-handed lineup. The lefty in question, Terry Forster, allowed the inherited Goose to score and tie up the contest in the top of the ninth.
The Twins had runners on the corners with one out in the 11th, but Cecil Travis struck-out and pinch-hitter Chuck Knoblauch grounded out. But the Twins did push one over the in the twelfth on singles by Joe Mauer, Tony Oliva, and Kirby Puckett. Walter Johnson took the mound for the 12th time with an incredible marathon win in his grasp. Robin Ventura flew out for out number one. But then Sherm Lollar doubled. Johnson still seemed unbeatable, but to the delight of the Sox faithful, George Davis poked a single to score Lollar and tie the game. Johnson’s day was finally done, but not in the manner he wanted.
Chet Lemon led off the bottom of the 13th with a double against Joe Nathan. After a Frank Thomas fly-out, Luke Appling lifted one to left field that was playable for Goslin and would have kept Lemon at second with two out had Goslin been able to make a fairly routine play. But the Goose mis-judged it, and as the ball bounded away from him, Lemon tore for third, and then crossed home before Goslin could ever recover the ball, and the White Sox were delirious winners.
R H BB MN 000 100 001 001 0 - 3 14 4 CHI 000 011 000 001 1 - 4 10 4 HR: none starters IP R ER HR BB SO W. Johnson 11.1 3 3 0 4 6 E. Walsh 8.0 2 2 0 3 2 MN 17-19, CHI 17-19
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