Establishing a major league record is always special, but sometimes they fade away and become an obscure moment in history.
The 1969 Minnesota Twins set a standard that might be tough for any team to surpass on June 21. It happened in Oakland as the Twins beat the A’s 14-4 in 10 innings. The score isn’t a typo as the contest was tied 3-3 after nine frames.
Minnesota is the only team in baseball history to score 11 runs in the 10th inning of a game. The New York Yankees are the only other team to score 11 times in an extra inning when they did it during the 12th in a 12-1 win at Detroit on July 26, 1928.
The Twins were in a fight for the new American League West title as the teams competed in divisions for the first time. They were one game behind the A’s, who had posted a 4-3 victory in 14 innings the day before the offensive barrage in the next contest.
With the win, Minnesota moved back into a tie for first with the A’s. By July 5, the Twins would take the lead for good as they were in the middle of a three-game sweep of Oakland in Minnesota.
Minnesota would eventually claim the division crown by nine games over the A’s and make the AL Championship Series. Baltimore went on to sweep the Twins in three contests before the Orioles fell to the New York Mets in the World Series.
Star Pitchers on the Mound
Jim Perry of the Twins and Catfish Hunter of the A’s started on the mound, but neither would last more than six innings.
Perry, who would end up 20-6 on the season, gave up a sacrifice fly to Larry Haney in the second and a RBI single to Sal Bando in the third before leaving with one out in the sixth.
The Twins scored in the fourth when Harmon Killebrew singled on a run.
Hunter surrendered the lead in the sixth as he gave up back-to-back run-scoring singles to Graig Nettles and Leo Cardenas.
Oakland’s Danny Cater set the stage for the extra inning history when hit blasted a solo homer in the eighth against Ron Perranoski.
The Onslaught
After Hunter left the mound, Jim Roland and Rollie Fingers blanked the Twins before giving way to Paul Lindblad in the top of the 10th.
Lindblad allowed singles to Ted Uhlaender and Rod Carew to begin the inning.
Lew Krausse replaced Lindblad and Killebrew, who would be the 1969 AL Most Valuable Player, greeted him with a three-run homer.
Krausse would face four more hitters without recording an out as he gave up two runs on two hits with a pair of walks.
Marcel Lachemann was able to retire the Twins, but he got smacked around for six more runs as he pitched to nine batters.
The Twins had eight hits, while getting some help from the A’s with four walks and three errors.
Carew was the only player to get two hits in the inning, while he scored twice as did Uhlaender and Killebrew.
Tony Oliva, Cesar Tovar, Frank Quilici, Cardenas and John Roseboro all crossed the plate.
Minnesota pitcher Joe Grzenda was the only player to not reach base as he struck out.
However, Grzenda did pick up the victory as he fanned Reggie Jackson, who was the only hitter he faced in the bottom of the ninth. He gave up a run in the 10th before ending the game.