Red Hot Red Sox Rip Minnesota, 9-5

It was one of those Fenway Park games, and the wind wasn't even blowing out. The Boston Red Sox and Minnesota Twins together pounded out 26 hits and 14 runs, but the Red Sox had more of the latter total, defeating the Twins, 9-5.

The victory kept the Red Sox in first place in the American League Eastern Division.

Red Sox starter Reggie Cleveland pitched one of those Bill Lee trouble-filled type of ballgames. About the best that could be said for Cleveland's performance was that he didn't give up an extra base hit until Tony Oliva's home run in the sixth.

The Saskatchewan Snacker was in trouble in every inning he worked, but he somehow managed to find the good pitch forget the lucky break when he needed it. Cleveland gave the Twins nine singles in the first five innings, but Minnesota stranded eight of those runners. The Twins got a run in the first on Bobby Darwin's base-hit, scoring Steve Braun.

Bert Blyleven, meanwhile, pitched a blistering first three innings, setting down nine straight Red Sox. But he met some trouble in the fourth.

Juan Beniquez started it off with a chopper to third that Danny Thompson couldn't handle. Cecil Cooper lined a solid single to center, and Dwight Evans followed with another infield hit to load the bases for Carl Yastrzemski. The potato farmer hit a long sacrifice fly, easily scoring Beniquez, but center fielder Steve Brye made the mistake of throwing the ball into third behind the speedy Cooper, allowing Evans to advance to second.

Bernie Carbo (33 RBI's) then hit a grounder to Rod Carew, whose fielding is as weak as his hitting is good. He made a poor throw to home and Cooper scored with Evans moving to third. Rico Petrocelli hit another sacrifice fly and the Sox led 3-1.