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Rico's homer wins the game in the 13th inning July 15, 1971 ... Rico Petrocelli homered in the 13th inning for a 3 to 0 win over the Minnesota Twins, in a game notable are several reasons. Luis Tiant pitched his finest game for the Red Sox and Jim Perry of the Twins had a bid for a no-hitter. And Bill Lee racked up his eighth win in relief. Twins reliever Stan Williams was pitching very well with two outs, none on, in the bottom of the 13th. But he walked Reggie Smith and when Reggie broke to steal second, Williams threw a pitch all the way to the backstop. That made it 2-2 on Carl Yastrzemski and while Yaz may be booed and in a slump, he is Yaz and Williams walked him. Williams then went to work on Petrocelli, whom he had struck out in the 11th inning, while working out of a bases-loaded and one-out situation. He got two strikes on Rico and then wasted a pitch, which Rico drove foul over the roof. But the next pitch was in the same place, right near his chin and in the middle of the plate. Petrocelli blasted it midway up into the net in left-center. It was his 15th home run of the season and his fourth game-winning RBI homer, that tied him with Harmon Killebrew for the RBI lead at 60. Yastrzemski and Billy Conigliaro both got solid courses of boos, and they increased for Yaz who went 0 for 4, as his hitting problems continue. Conigliaro had a single which was only one of five hits the Red Sox managed all night. Tiant was superb in pitching 10 innings and striking out nine. But in the second inning he had the bases loaded with none out. So he flicked his head around, threw a few fakes, a double pump, and then struck out George Mitterwald and Perry before getting Steve Braun to pop up. He also got out of trouble in the third, with men on first and second and one out. But he was at his finest in the 10th inning. With one out, Rod Carew reached out and sliced a drive to left. Yaz leaped against the wall, missed, and while the ball rolled toward the infield, Carew raced around to third with a triple. But Leo Cardenas fouled off three, 3-2 pitches and then struck out. Tiant next fanned Graig Nettles and retired for the night. He had thrown 154 pitches, so manager Eddie Kasko decided to bat Joe Lahoud for him. Jim Perry had a no-hitter until Luis Aparicio hit a clean single to center in the sixth inning. In the 10 innings, Perry allowed just three hits, escaping only one serious problem in the eighth. Duane Josephson doubled off the wall with two outs in the eighth, and then Perry and Aparicio were going at it. The count was 3-2, and Aparicio hit a pop foul which Braun dropped. An error by the rookie had given the Sox a 1-0 lead earlier in the game, but Perry bored down and Aparicio popped a fly ball to left. Tom Hall followed Perry into the game and loaded the bases in the 11th inning, before Williams came on to strikeout Petrocelli and get Scott to pop out to the catcher. Bill Lee, who must be baseball's only middle reliever with an 8-2 record,
pitched the last three innings, not allowing a hit and getting the win.
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