‘68 Pale Hose take 3 of 4 from ‘82 Twins

8/16-8/17 - HHH Metrodome
GAME 1 - White Sox 5, Twins 4
Bobby Castillo left the game after 7 strong innings of 1 run ball.  Castillo was on the winning side of the ledger with the score 3-1, but the Twins pen let him down in a big way.  The light hitting Chisox punched across 4 runs over the course of the next two innings off of reliever Paul Stanley Boris.  Chicago's 2 runs in the 8th began with a Luis Aparicio bunt hit, then a stolen base.  Tom McCraw walked and both runners executed a perfect double steal, which setup a Pete Ward sac fly to left and a two out clutch RBI single from Ken Berry.  With the score tied at 3 in the top of the 9th Buddy Bradford singled with one out.  Sandy Alomar executed the perfect hit and run to put runners on the corners.  Aparicio lined one deep to right for a sac fly and McCraw doubled home Alomar to give reliever Hoyt Wilhelm a 2 run cushion.  As it would turn out Wilhelm would need that cushion when Kent Hrbek doubled with 1 out and scored on a 2 out single by Tom Brunansky, before Bobby Mitchell ground out weakly to the box to end it.  Bob Locker would get the win for a perfect 8th inning in relief of starter Cisco Carlos.  The save would be Wilhelm's first of the season.

GAME 2 - White Sox 6, Twins 4
Frank "sweet music" Viola got rocked for 3 big runs in the top of the first.  On most days that would be enough for Chisox ace Joe Horlen, but today Horlen coughed the lead up in the bottom of the frame.  Tied at 3 the Chisox got 2 off of Viola in the 4th when Aparicio doubled home Bradford with 2 out.  Banjo hitting Tim Cullen lined an opposite field single to score Luis to make it 5-3.  Gary Ward would hit his second homer of the game in the bottom of the 5th to bring the Twins to within 1, but a Tim Cullen suicide squeeze in the 6th wold easily score Jerry McNertney to put the Pale Hose back up by 2.  After the near catastrophic 1st Horlen settled down and got as far as 1 out in the 9th before giving way to Wilhelm who served up a double to the first batter he faced (Mickey Hatcher).  The veteran knuckleball specialist righted the ship real fast and got John Castino to ground out to third and Tim Laudner to line out to left to end it.

8/18-8/19 - Comiskey Park
GAME 3 - Twins 3, White Sox 1
For the 3rd consecutive game the road team emerged victorious in this series.  Brad Havens went 5 shutout innings and Pete Redfern went the final 4.  The Twins took a 1-0 lead in the top of the 2nd when Gary Gaetti singled home Tim Laudner, who doubled with one out.  That tenuous lead would remain in tact until the top of the 7th when the Twins padded it with 2 runs.  Chisox starter Tommy John walked the first two batters then narrowly dodged a bullet when "Bruno" hit an opposite field liner that ran out of energy on the warning track.  Kent Hrbek would follow that with a sliced opposite field single that scored Gary Ward.  Laudner singled to load the bases and Gaetti legged out an infield single to make it 3-0.  Chicago would break the shutout in the 7th when Bradford led off with a single and stole 2nd.  McNertney singled to right to put runners on the corners.  Pinch hitter Leon Wagner grounded weakly to second as Bradford trotted home to cut Minnesota's lead to 3-1.  That would be it for the Chisox as Redfern would shut the door the rest of the way and earn a 4 inning save.

GAME 4 - White Sox 2, Twins 0
Chicago excels in low scoring games.  Jack Fisher clearly understood the recipe for success and cooked up a neat little two hitter.  Fisher was exceptionally efficient in going the distance and fanning 3 and not walking a batter.  Minnesota did not even get a runner to second as both singles were erased by double plays.  On the other side of the ledger Alvin Williams gave up only 2 runs in 8 innings of work, but those two runs would loom larger than the national debt on a day when runs would come at a premium.  Chicago got 1 of those runs in the bottom of the 1st with 2 out when Tom McCraw singled and stole second.  McCraw would wind up on 3rd because Laudner airmailed his throw into center and Bobby Mitchell was late in backing it up.  Veteran Tommy Davis followed that with a line drive single to center to easily score McCraw to make it 1-0.  It would stay that way until the 6th when Pete Ward hit a bomb to the deepest part of the ballpark only to see Mitchell track it down with a diving circus catch on the warning track.  Sandy Alomar, who led off the inning with a single, was able to stroll home for the second run.  With Fisher locked into "the zone" the Pale Hose would win easily.