Vida Blue pitched four-hit, scoreless ball for eight innings and then needed help from Rollie Fingers before the Athletics emerged with a 4-3 victory over the Twins. The A's scored their first three runs off Bert Blyleven and added what proved to be the deciding marker off Wayne Granger in the eighth on a single by Joe Rudi, two walks and an infield out by Sal Bando. In the ninth, the Twins rallied for three runs, two scoring on a homer by Harmon Killebrew, but Fingers came in and retired the last two batters. [The Sporting News]



Oakland Athletics 4, Minnesota Twins 3
Game Played on Thursday, July      27, 1972 (Night game) at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum
Twins        0  0  0    0  0  0    0  0  3  -   3  7  1
A's          0  0  1    2  0  0    0  1  x  -   4  8  0


Twins                AB   R   H RBI    BB  SO    AVG      A's                  AB   R   H RBI    BB  SO    AVG
Tovar rf              4   1   1   0     0   2   .259      Campaneris ss         4   0   0   0     0   1   .249
Thompson ss           4   0   1   0     0   0   .294      Rudi lf               4   2   3   0     0   0   .310
Braun 2b              4   1   1   1     0   0   .324      Jackson cf            3   1   2   0     1   0   .256
Killebrew 1b          3   1   1   2     1   1   .244      Mangual rf            3   0   0   0     1   1   .290
Darwin cf             4   0   1   0     0   2   .269      Bando 3b              4   0   1   2     0   0   .248
Soderholm 3b          3   0   1   0     0   1   .192      Hegan 1b              3   0   0   1     0   1   .216
  Reese ph            1   0   0   0     0   1   .253      Duncan c              3   1   2   0     0   0   .241
Brye lf               3   0   1   0     0   1   .224      Kubiak 2b             3   0   0   0     0   0   .212
Mitterwald c          3   0   0   0     0   0   .171      Blue p                3   0   0   0     0   2   .083
Blyleven p            2   0   0   0     0   2   .190        Fingers p           0   0   0   0     0   0   .300
  Renick ph           1   0   0   0     0   0   .130
  Granger p           0   0   0   0     0   0   .400

Totals               32   3   7   3     1  10             Totals               30   4   8   3     2   5

Time of Game: 2:11   Attendance:  9,936
Left on Base: Twins 3, A's 5
DP: Twins 1, A's 2
Errors: Blyleven
Doubles: Tovar (13), Bando (13)
Home Runs: Killebrew (16)
Sacrifice Flies: Hegan (2)
GIDP: Mitterwald 2 (5)


Twins                  IP     H   R  ER  BB  SO  HR BFP    ERA
Blyleven L(9-13)        7     7   3   2   0   5   0  27   2.84
Granger                 1     1   1   1   2   0   0   6   2.68
Totals                  8     8   4   3   2   5   0  33

A's                    IP     H   R  ER  BB  SO  HR BFP    ERA
Blue W(3-5)             8.1   7   3   3   1   9   1  31   3.16
Fingers SV(14)          0.2   0   0   0   0   1   0   2   2.33
Totals                  9     7   3   3   1  10   1  33

Wild Pitches: Blyleven 2 (4)

Umpires: HP - Larry Napp, 1B - Art Frantz, 2B - Merle Anthony, 3B - George Maloney


TWINS 1ST: Tovar struck out; Thompson grounded out (second to
first); Braun grounded out (first unassisted); 0 R, 0 H, 0 E, 0
LOB.  Twins 0, Athletics 0.

ATHLETICS 1ST: Campaneris grounded out (third to first); Rudi
grounded out (third to first); Jackson grounded out (first to
pitcher); 0 R, 0 H, 0 E, 0 LOB.  Twins 0, Athletics 0.

TWINS 2ND: Killebrew grounded out (shortstop to first); Darwin
singled to third; Soderholm was called out on strikes; Brye
struck out; 0 R, 1 H, 0 E, 1 LOB.  Twins 0, Athletics 0.

ATHLETICS 2ND: Mangual grounded out (second to first); Bando
made an out to second; Hegan struck out; 0 R, 0 H, 0 E, 0 LOB.
Twins 0, Athletics 0.

TWINS 3RD: Mitterwald grounded out (third to first); Blyleven
struck out; Tovar grounded out (third to first); 0 R, 0 H, 0 E,
0 LOB.  Twins 0, Athletics 0.

ATHLETICS 3RD: Duncan singled to center; Duncan was picked off
first but was safe on an error by Blyleven [Duncan to third];
Blyleven threw a wild pitch [Duncan scored (unearned)]; Kubiak
flied out to right; Blue was called out on strikes; Campaneris
grounded out (third to first); 1 R (0 ER), 1 H, 1 E, 0 LOB.
Twins 0, Athletics 1.

TWINS 4TH: Thompson grounded out (shortstop to first); Braun
grounded out (shortstop to first); Killebrew walked; Darwin was
called out on strikes; 0 R, 0 H, 0 E, 1 LOB.  Twins 0, Athletics
1.

ATHLETICS 4TH: Rudi singled to left; Jackson singled to center
[Rudi to second]; Mangual struck out; Bando doubled to left
[Jackson to third, Rudi scored]; Hegan lined out on a sacrifice
fly to left [Jackson scored]; Duncan flied out to center; 2 R, 3
H, 0 E, 1 LOB.  Twins 0, Athletics 3.

TWINS 5TH: Soderholm singled to right; Brye popped to first in
foul territory; Mitterwald grounded into a double play (third to
second to first) [Soderholm out at second]; 0 R, 1 H, 0 E, 0
LOB.  Twins 0, Athletics 3.

ATHLETICS 5TH: Kubiak flied out to left; Blue struck out;
Campaneris was called out on strikes; 0 R, 0 H, 0 E, 0 LOB.
Twins 0, Athletics 3.

TWINS 6TH: Blyleven struck out; Tovar was called out on strikes;
Thompson singled to third; Braun grounded out (second to first);
0 R, 1 H, 0 E, 1 LOB.  Twins 0, Athletics 3.

ATHLETICS 6TH: Rudi singled to third; Blyleven threw a wild
pitch [Rudi to second]; Jackson singled to left [Rudi to third];
Mangual made an out to third; Bando hit into a double play
(pitcher to first) [Jackson out at second]; 0 R, 2 H, 0 E, 1
LOB.  Twins 0, Athletics 3.

TWINS 7TH: Killebrew struck out; Darwin struck out; Soderholm
flied out to center; 0 R, 0 H, 0 E, 0 LOB.  Twins 0, Athletics 3.

ATHLETICS 7TH: Hegan grounded out (shortstop to first); Duncan
singled to left; Kubiak flied out to right; Blue grounded out
(second to pitcher); 0 R, 1 H, 0 E, 1 LOB.  Twins 0, Athletics 3.

TWINS 8TH: Brye singled to second; Mitterwald grounded into a
double play (shortstop to second to first) [Brye out at second];
RENICK BATTED FOR BLYLEVEN; Renick grounded out (shortstop to
first); 0 R, 1 H, 0 E, 0 LOB.  Twins 0, Athletics 3.

ATHLETICS 8TH: GRANGER REPLACED RENICK (PITCHING); Campaneris
grounded out (third to first); Rudi singled to right; Jackson
walked [Rudi to second]; Mangual walked [Rudi to third, Jackson
to second]; Bando forced Mangual (shortstop to second) [Jackson
to third, Rudi scored]; Hegan flied out to left; 1 R, 1 H, 0 E,
2 LOB.  Twins 0, Athletics 4.

TWINS 9TH: Tovar doubled to left; Thompson flied out to right;
Braun singled to center [Tovar scored]; Killebrew homered [Braun
scored]; FINGERS REPLACED BLUE (PITCHING); Darwin flied out to
right; REESE BATTED FOR SODERHOLM; Reese struck out; 3 R, 3 H, 0
E, 0 LOB.  Twins 3, Athletics 4.