Walter Johnson 1913: Game 9

May 14, 1913

Walter Johnson had his worst outing of the season in the final game of four in St. Louis. He lasted just six innings against the Browns, allowed eight hits, and ended his scoreless innings streak when St. Louis pushed a run across with one out in the fourth inning. Johnson was pulled after six innings thanks to a 9-1 lead that the offense managed. The Nats went on to win the game 10-5.

Johnson scoreless streak ended at 56 innings. Though by the New York Times count that only tied the record held by Doc White, The Sporting News said that he broke the record that was held by Jack Coombs. Johnson seemed to agree with the TSN assessment, joking that he had to allow the run so he wouldn’t make the new record too hard for somebody else to break.

Through May 14
9 G 6 GS 8-0 59 2/3 IP 2 R 1 ER 40 H 6 BB 47 K 0.15 ERA 0.30 RA 0.77 WHIP

The All-Washington Team: Second Base

Buddy Myer 1925-1927; 1929-1941

1926:
SS Buddy Myer .304/.370/.380 1 HR -0.7 BFW 14 WS 20 FRAR 4.3 WARP3
“I think in Myers we have a better player than Peck, and a better shortstop than any who ever came up to the American League” - Clark Griffith, New York Times 1/19/1926. An unusual comment for an owner to make under any circumstances, but particularly interesting considering he was benching the reigning MVP in favor of a rookie. Coming into the 1926 season, 22-year-old Buddy Myer had nine career regular season plate appearances and eight career World Series plate appearances, and now he was being handed the starting job over Roger Peckinpaugh. Griffith insisted that the move had nothing to do with the poor fielding performance Peckinpaugh displayed in the 1925 World Series, but the speculation of the day was that was precisely the reason.

1929:
2B Buddy Myer .300/.373/.403 3 HR -0.4 BFW 18 WS 16 FRAR 4.6 WARP3
Myer was originally Roger Peckinpaugh’s replacement at short stop before he was traded to Boston in the early part of the 1927 season. Clark Griffith called it the “dumbest move” he had ever made, and proved that wasn’t just talk when he traded five players to Boston in order to get Myer back for the 1929 season. Griffith won’t make the mistake of trading Myer again, as Buddy will hang around Washington until 1941.

1930:
2B Buddy Myer .303/.373/.377 2 HR -1.6 BFW 14 WS 13 FRAR 2.7 WARP3
Though Myer batted .300 or above for the third straight season, his value was limited due to his low slugging percentage. His OPS+ was 91 in 1930, partially due to the strength of other second basemen in the league (Charlie Gehringer, Tony Lazzeri, Max Bishop, and Johnny Hodapp). Fortunately for Myer, .377 slugging will remain a career low in season that he played more than 100 games.

1931:
2B Buddy Myer .293/.360/.406 4 HR -0.6 BFW 20 WS 24 FRAR 4.7 WARP3
At age 27, Myer had one of his best years so far, though he would improve even more in the coming years.

1932:
2B Buddy Myer .279/.360/.426 5 HR -0.4 BFW 20 WS 15 FRAR 4.6 WARP3
Almost identical numbers to his 1931 campaign, with just a touch more slugging. Like a lot of Senators, Myer was a year away from a big season.

1933:
2B Buddy Myer .302/.374/.436 4 HR 1.8 BFW 23 WS 31 FRAR 6.7 WARP3
Myer had an interesting season in 1933, aside from the fact that it was probably his best so far. In a late April game against the Yankees, Myer stepped on Lou Gehrig’s foot during a play at first base. The Yankees waited a few days, and retaliated on April 25 when Ben Chapman slid into second spikes first at Myer. The game is delayed for 20 minutes plus as the two teams exchanged pleasantries. Both Myer and Chapman were suspended for five games. A few weeks later, Myer was carried off the field unconscious after being hit in the head by a Whit Wyatt pitch. Despite all of this, Myer still managed to appear in 131 games.

1934:
2B Buddy Myer .305/.419/.416 3 HR 2.1 BFW 19 WS 17 FRAR 6.3 WARP3
The 30-year-old Myer had some injury problems of his own, but still played in 139 games. 1934 was his best season with a bat so far, but there are better years to come for Myer.

1935:
2B Buddy Myer .349/.440/.468 5 HR 5.3 BFW 33 WS 31 FRAR 10.7 WARP3
Myer’s OPS+ by season:
1929 (25 years old) - 99
1930 - 91
1931 - 100
1932 - 104
1933 - 115
1934 - 120
1935 (31 years old) - 128

Aside from another spike in 1938, the rest of Myer’s career will be spent right around 100.

1935 was Myer’s signature season. He finished fourth in the year-end MVP voting and won the AL batting title with a 4-for-5 effort on the last day of the season.

1936:
An illness to a star player was a major factor in the team’s slow start. Buddy Myer, just one year removed from his best season, missed the bulk of the 1936 season due to a stomach ailment.

1937:
2B Buddy Myer .293/.407/.384 1 HR -0.2 BFW 15 WS 19 FRAR 5.3 WARP3
Myer rebounded from his stomach ailment the year before to have a solid season in 1937. Still, at the age of 33, his days of playing in 140+ games at second base were over, though he did still appear in 119 games in 1937.

1938:
2B Buddy Myer .336/.454/.465 6 HR 3.5 BFW 24 WS 41 FRAR 10.7 WARP3
At age 34, Myer had his best season as a pro, setting career highs in OBP, HR, and OPS+ (137).

1939:
2B Buddy Myer .302/.396/.376 1 HR 1.1 BFW 9 WS 16 FRAR 3.6 WARP3
Myer started the 1939 season in an extended slump. Just as he was starting to hit, he was injured in a collision at home plate. Harris called Jimmy Bloodworth’s number to replace Myer, and was so impressed with Bloodworth’s offense and defense that he remained the starter even when Myer was healthy and ready to play.

The Franchise 1966

1966 Minnesota Twins

Manager: Sam Mele 6th Season (6th with Minnesota 499-411-3)
89 W 73 L 663 RS 581 RA 2nd AL 9.0 GB (Baltimore 97-63)
4.09 RPG (AL = 3.89) 3.13 ERA (AL = 3.43)
.721 DER (2nd AL)

All Stars (4) Earl Battey, Jim Kaat, Harmon Killebrew, Tony Oliva

Franchise (1901-1966) 4736-5311-107; 11-15 WS
Washington (1901-1960) 4214-4864-104; 8-11 WS
Minnesota (1961-1966) 522-447-3; 3-4 WS

Though the Twins were healthier than they had been a year ago, the result of the 1966 season was certainly not as successful as was 1965. The team bottomed out when they sat in seventh place with a 35-43 record going into play on July 4. From that day on, the Twins were 54-30 - good enough to storm back into second place, but not nearly good enough to give the Orioles any sort of competition for the pennant.

At season’s end it was clear that Sam Mele had something to prove heading into 1967. He and Calvin Griffith had never gotten along particularly well, and the relationship was further strained at season’s end when Mele’s differences with his coaching staff forced two of them, including popular pitching coach Johnny Sain, to leave for Detroit. With players starting to grumble about Mele’s leadership, it seemed as though one of the most successful managers in franchise history was heading into the 1967 season with a short leash.

Roster/Stats
Bold = Player new to WAS/MIN in 1966

C Earl Battey .255/.337/.327 4 HR 1.4 BFW 13 WS 29 FRAR 3.9 WARP3
C Jerry Zimmerman .252/.338/.328 1 HR 0.8 BFW 5 WS 13 FRAR 1.7 WARP3
Battey had become the subject of annual trade rumors. Though nothing panned out, it was clear that even the talk of a trade stung the 31-year-old franchise catcher. 1966 was more of the same for Battey: constant battles with injury but, when healthy, one of the better hitting catchers in the league. The difference between Battey in 1966 and Battey a few years earlier was that the piling up injuries began to take their toll. He only appeared in 115 games in 1966, his lightest work load since 1959 when he was a backup with the White Sox. All of Battey’s injuries meant more playing time for back up Jerry Zimmerman, who became the regular catcher in 1967. Battey spent the off season after 1966 working hard to get his knee into shape, but the 1967 season became nothing more than one injury after another. After appearing in only 48 games, Battey called it a career, helped along by his unconditional release by the Twins. Though Battey’s career was relatively short, he is still considered the top catcher in Twins history and is a member of the Twins Hall of Fame.

Battey, Twins career 8 Seasons .277/.354/.412 91 HR 38.6 WARP3

1B Don Mincher .251/.340/.418 14 HR 0.4 BFW 14 WS 8 FRAR 3.3 WARP3
After falling off from his numbers of the previous several seasons, Mincher was traded to the California Angels. Mincher bounced around the majors from 1967 to 1972, even posting a career best season with the Angels in 1967. He finished his 13-year major league career with 200 home runs.

2B Bernie Allen .238/.299/.348 5 HR -0.6 BFW 7 WS 25 FRAR 2.8 WARP3
2B Cesar Tovar .260/.325/.335 2 HR -0.1 BFW 14 WS 31 FRAR 4.5 WARP3
After Allen got off to a rough start, he was replaced at second base by Cesar Tovar, a man who had 18 games of major league experience with the Twins in 1965. Tovar’s 74 games played at second base would be the most he would play at one position until he became the every day center fielder in 1970. The Venezuelan was the ultimate utility man. Over the span of his career he appeared in at least one game at every position.

SS Zoilo Versalles .249/.307/.346 7 HR -1.3 BFW 12 WS 25 FRAR 3.1 WARP3
The 1965 American League MVP took a major step back in 1966, probably due to injuries. Versalles struggled in the early part of the summer with a “damaged muscle” in his back below his right arm. The Sporting News compared it to the injury that forced Camilo Pascual to have surgery a year earlier. While Versalles was out, Cesar Tovar filled in quite capably. Later in the season Versalles was still struggling, forcing Mele to replace him again with Tovar. “I don’t know if Versalles is tired,” said Mele, “but he looks bad in the batter’s box.” In hopes that it might give him a boost, Calvin Griffith gave Versalles permission to play winter ball after the season.

3B Harmon Killebrew .281/.391/.538 39 HR 2.6 BFW 33 WS 12 FRAR 8.7 WARP3
3B Rich Rollins .245/.286/.390 10 HR -1.3 BFW 5 WS 8 FRAR 1.2 WARP3
Killebrew’s game of musical chairs around the field continued as he played most of his defense at third base in 1966. It didn’t seem to have any adverse effects on his hitting, however. After an injury-plagued 1965 season, Killebrew appeared in every game for the Twins in 1966, the only player to do so. He also seemed to be taking a slightly different approach at the plate. 1965 was the first season in the slugger’s career in which he walked more than he struck out. He did it again in 1966, and was described in TSN as more of a “contact hitter” in 1966. Killebrew himself said that he was trying to “meet the ball” more often, and he particularly seemed to look for singles and doubles in “clutch” situations. Even with the new approach, Killebrew still managed to finish second in AL home runs and AL slugging percentage. He finished fourth in AL MVP voting behind three Orioles (Frank Robinson, Brooks Robinson, and Boog Powell).

LF Jimmie Hall .239/.302/.449 20 HR -0.2 BFW 10 WS 7 FRAR 2.3 WARP3
LF Bob Allison .220/.335/.411 8 HR 0.3 BFW 7 WS 5 FRAR 1.8 WARP3
It was a tough year for Bob Allison. He struggled in the spring enough to lose his grip on a starting job. When he finally got a chance as a regular, the struggles continued. Long a fan favorite in Minnesota, Allison began to hear the boos as he carried a sub-.200 batting average the bulk of the season. Just when he seemed to be returning to form in late July, Allison was hit by a pitch on his left hand. His hand was broken and he was unable to swing a bat for about a month. Frustrated by his performance, Allison spent the bulk of the season staying away from the media. There were some highlights for Allison, including a game-winning three-run home run on September 18 that put the Yankees in the AL cellar. Hall got a lot of playing time due to Allison’s struggles, but was traded to the Angels at the end of the season.

CF Ted Uhlaender .226/.280/.286 2 HR -1.9 BFW 7 WS 7 FRAR 0.0 WARP3
The Twins spent the first several months of the season looking for a center fielder. They tried just about everybody, including Tony Oliva. It wasn’t until late June that they finally settled on Uhlaender, the 1965 PCL batting champion. Uhlaender played well enough in the field, according to the Twins, to keep the job despite anemic offensive production.

RF Tony Oliva .307/.353/.502 25 HR 2.8 BFW 28 WS 22 FRAR 8.0 WARP3
Oliva did not win his third consecutive batting title, but he did have a season that was on par with his first two in the majors. On June 9 Oliva was one of five Twins to homer in the same inning against Kansas City.

SP Jim Kaat 25-13 2.75 ERA 1.07 WHIP 3.6 PW 26 WS 8.9 WARP3
Kaat’s spring work was limited due to a back injury, but that was not an omen for the 1966 season, which turned out to be Kaat’s career best. He simultaneously cut back on walks and added strikeouts while posting a career best WHIP. It helped that Kaat stayed healthy throughout the season - he pitched 304.7 innings, another career high. Unfortunately, Kaat’s great season might be overshadowed by the controversy in the months following the season. After a falling out between Mele and pitching coach Johnny Sain resulted in Sain’s departure to Detroit, the usually mild-mannered Kaat blasted the organization and, particularly, his manager in the papers, saying in part: “If I were in a position of general manager, I’d give Sain a ‘name-your-own-figure’ contract to handle my pitchers. (And oh yes, I’d hire a manager that could take advantage of his talents).” Kaat later backed off of his words towards Mele, but never hid his disappointment in the circumstances surrounding Sain’s departure.

SP Mudcat Grant 13-13 3.25 ERA 1.19 WHIP 1.3 PW 16 WS 5.3 WARP3
Grant missed a chunk of the spring due to a hold out, but like Kaat didn’t seem to miss a beat. The season was largely considered a huge step down from his 20-win campaign a year before, but a closer look at the numbers indicate that Grant had similar success in every category expect wins and losses.

SP Jim Perry 11-7 2.54 ERA 1.10 WHIP 2.4 PW 17 WS 6.2 WARP3
As much as Mele wanted to keep Perry in the bullpen, the 30-year-old’s performance combined with team circumstances meant that Perry got 25 starts in 1966. He pitched very well, but once again did not earn a starting job in the eyes of Mele, who used Perry out of the bullpen once again at the start of 1967.

SP Dave Boswell 12-5 3.14 ERA 1.09 WHIP 0.8 PW 12 WS 4.1 WARP3
Boswell improved on his numbers from the previous season. It can be argued that his 1966 performance plus about 100 more innings pitched would be on par with his 20-win performance of 1969. Boswell showed a flash of dominance on July 30 against Baltimore. That day he shut the Orioles out while allowing just one hit and striking out 11.

SP Camilo Pascual 8-6 4.89 ERA 1.39 WHIP -1.5 PW 2 WS 0.5 WARP3
Pascual’s last season with the Twins was probably his worst. It certainly didn’t help that he missed most of July with arm trouble. With all of the arm problems, including surgery, it seemed like a good bet that Pascual’s career as an effective major league pitcher might be over. In December he was traded with Bernie Allen to Washington in exchange for Ron Kline. Pascual was able to have a few productive seasons in Washington before bouncing around the league and finally retiring after he was released from Cleveland in June of 1971.

Pascual’s place in franchise history might be somewhat distorted by the fact that he had his prime right around the time of the franchise move to Minnesota. Since the Twins tend to ignore their pre-1961 history, Pascual’s career doesn’t look quite as impressive as it was. By all rights, he should be in the Twins HOF, and certainly is among the top pitchers during the Minnesota years. He remains in third place on the franchise strikeout list, behind only Walter Johnson and Bert Blyleven.

Pascual, WAS/MIN career: 145-141 3.66 ERA 106 ERA + 1885 K 67.7 WARP3

SP/RP Jim Merritt 7-14 3.38 ERA 1.01 WHIP 0.8 PW 9 WS 4.5 WARP3
Merritt’s performance was much better than his record indicated. On July 21 he struck out seven straight on his way to a three-hit shut out of the Senators.

RP Al Worthington 6-3 2.46 ERA 1.02 WHIP 1.8 PW 15 WS 5.1 WARP3
At the age of 37, Worthington had his busiest season to date as a Twin. Worthington proved his flexibility when a garage door accident took away his ability to throw the knuckleball in the middle of the season. He came back and was just as effective without his signature pitch as he had been with it.

RP Pete Cimino 2-5 2.92 ERA 1.28 WHIP 0.3 PW 5 WS 1.9 WARP3
RP Dwight Siebler 2-2 3.44 ERA 1.23 WHIP -0.2 PW 1 WS 0.4 WARP3
Though they both had success out of the bullpen for the Twins, neither Cimino nor Siebler stuck with the team very long.

1966 World Series
Baltimore Orioles’ pitchers allowed just two runs total in a four-game sweep of the Dodgers that included three consecutive shutouts.

Memorial Day

On Sunday I got a chance to go to the Fort Snelling cemetery with my dad to visit the site where his father was buried 16 years ago this July. There was quite a crowd gathered and we had to search a bit to find the spot among the rows and rows of veteran laid to rest. I saw a couple of memorials for World War I vets along the way, including one who died just short of reaching 100 years of life. It reminded me of the George Will column I read that morning about the last surviving U.S. doughboy from the Great War - the last living link to a horrible war that seems to be all but forgotten because of its sequel.

I could tell a lot of stories about my grandpa, none of which have anything to do with his service in the Second World War. Like many of his generation, his combat experience in the Pacific was not something to be discussed, even though he carried a souvenir at all times - the scar from a piece of shrapnel that found his leg, something that I had to learn about from my father.

Grandpa liked sports, but not particularly baseball. The only interaction I ever really had with him about the game was when he would tease me as a three year old, telling me that my favorite team at the time, the Houston Astros, was nothing but a collection of bums. As my allegiances shifted to the Twins, so did Grandpa’s “bum” label, though technically accurate when describing the Twins of the early eighties. One Memorial Day shortly before he died, Grandpa made me watch the Indianapolis 500 with him. I think there was a baseball game on television at the time, but he told me that Indy was required watching on Memorial Day. It was probably the first and definitely the last time that I paid any attention to the race.

As I scanned the rows of headstones at the cemetery, I noticed the vast majority seemed to be from World War II like my grandpa. I had read somewhere that those veterans were dying at a pace in the thousands per day, and it won’t be long before some columnist will write about the last living veteran of the Second World War. I wish that Grandpa would have talked about, or at least written down his experiences. When Grandpa passed away from cancer in 1992, my dad found his war medals buried among his other belongings, likely not having seen the light of day in decades.

I think that I’ll make the trip to Fort Snelling a yearly one, and hopefully will bring my son with when he is old enough. I think I may try to do it on a weekend other than Memorial Day, though. I’m pretty sure Grandpa would appreciate any attempt to avoid the crowd. After all, he is the one who made us get up before sunrise to make the trek to Disney World so we didn’t have to fight the traffic.

Walter Johnson 1913: Game 8

May 10, 1913

From The New York Times:

Walter Johnson, the speedy pitcher of the Washington Club, added nine more innings to his record holding holding his opponents runless by shutting out the local team to-day, 1-0. This gives him a total of fifty-two and two-thirds innings pitched in which his opponents have been unable to score. The record for runless innings is held by Doc White, pitcher for the Chicago American League Club. White pitched fifty-six innings without allowing a score nine years ago.

In what was described as the coldest game of the year in Chicago, Johnson allowed the White Sox just two hits and a walk. The Nats scored the only run of the game when the White Sox left fielder, Biff Schaller, dropped a routine fly ball with two men on.

Through 5/10
8 G 5 GS 7-0 53 2/3 IP 1 R 0 ER 32 H 6 BB 40 K 0.00 ERA 0.71 WHIP

Walter Johnson 1913: Game 7

May 5, 1913

The headline after Walter Johnson’s relief appearance two days earlier read “Johnson Rescues Senators.” The headline writer in the New York Times had an easy job two days later, when the headline simple read “Johnson Rescues Senators Again.” This time the game went into extra innings. Johnson came into the game in the bottom of the eighth inning, just after Washington had scored three runs to tie the score. He pitched five innings, allowed four hits, and struck out three against no walks.

Johnson’s bat was key to the winning rally in the 12th inning. He led off the inning with a single, and ultimately scored the winning run in the Nats’ 5-3 victory. Johnson’s five scoreless innings to close the game out ran his consecutive scoreless innings streak to 43 2/3.

Through 5/5

7 G 4 GS 6-0 44 2/3 IP 1 R 0 ER 30 H 5 BB 36 K 0.00 ERA 0.78 WHIP

1984: Roger Clemens’ First ML Win

Sunday May 20, 1984

Young Roger Clemens was the second player from the 1983 draft to make the major leagues when he made his first start on May 15 (Jeff Robinson of the Giants beat him to the punch by about a month). Clemens struggled a bit in his first outing, but managed to leave with a no-decision in the Red Sox loss to Cleveland. He made his second start in the Metrodome five days later against the 21-19 Minnesota Twins.

Clemens pitched seven innings that day. Though he allowed his first major league home run off the bat of Tom Brunansky in the sixth inning, overall it was a good day for the young pitcher. He allowed four runs on seven hits and struck out seven to just a single walk to earn his first major league victory. The Red Sox got a pair of RBI from Rich Gedman and Jim Rice, and scored all five of their runs in the first 4 1/3 innings off of John Butcher.

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Clemens also earned career victory number 350 against the Twins 23 years later on July 2, 2007.

Also this week:

1918: An 18-Inning Shutout

1981: Darling vs. Viola

2005: A Carlos Silva Masterpiece

1965 World Series Game 7

Thursday October 14, 1965
Metropolitan Stadium

The narrative on Sandy Koufax’s performance in Game 7 of the 1965 World Series reads that he wasn’t at his best. That was of little consolation to the Twins, who were able to muster only three hits of the Dodger lefty.

Game 7 was the only close game in a series that was typically decided in the early innings. All of the scoring occured in the top of the fourth inning. Lou Johnson led off with a solo home run off of Jim Kaat. The next batter, Ron Fairly, doubled down the right field line and scored on Wes Parker’s single for a 2-0 Dodger lead. The runs marked the end of a short afternoon for Jim Kaat. Though Al Worthington retired the Dodgers with no further runs scored, the damage had been done. From TSN:

The rest of the story, though, belonged to Koufax. He was not as sharp as usual. You could see that when he walked Oliva and Harmon Killebrew on the first two of three walks he issued.

He was laboring, often coming in high with pitches. He was also a bit more truculent than usual, frequently questioning plate umpire Ed Hurley’s calls.

The decision to start Koufax came just a few hours before game time. Walter Alston had also considered pitching Don Drysdale, whose turn it was in the rotation. Alston didn’t regret the decision, though there were some tense moments.

With one out in the bottom of the fifth, Frank Quilici doubled to left-center. Rich Rollins, pinch hitting for Worthington, drew the third walk off of Sandy Koufax with MVP Zoilo Versalles ready to come to the plate. Versalles hit a hard grounder that looked to be destined for extra bases. Dodger third baseman Jim Gilliam dove to his right and backhanded the ball, robbing Versalles of an RBI hit and forcing the runner at third. Koufax then retired Joe Nossek to maintain the 2-0 lead.

The Twins didn’t have another base runner until Killebrew singled with one out in the ninth. Koufax then reached down to strike out, in succession, Earl Battey and Bob Allison with the tying run at the plate to end the game and the series. Koufax was named series MVP.

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1965 World Series Game 6

Wednesday October 13, 1965
Metropolitan Stadium

Game 6 was a continuation of the storyline that had been established by the first five games, characterized by TSN as a series in which “the home team is always the hero and the visitors are always bumbling villains.”

The hero, as has also been tradition in this series, was the starting pitcher for the home team. Mudcat Grant was working on short rest and had been struggling through a cold, so the stage seemed to be set for him to struggle. Instead, Grant’s pitching and hitting was the key to forcing a seventh game.

Grant and his Dodger counterpart, Claude Osteen, exchanged scoreless innings through three. Grant would have been perfect through three had it not been for a third inning error charged to third baseman Harmon Killebrew that allowed Johnny Roseboro to reach. The runner was erased by a strikeout/throwout double play, and Grant faced the minimum through four.

Roseboro’s steal attempt was the only for the Dodgers in the game. After running their way into three wins at their home field, the Dodgers came to the Met to find that the infield had been sprinkled heavily with sand in an attempt to slow down their running game. Los Angeles protested before the game, resulting in some of the sand being removed. Still, there was enough left that the Dodgers basically left their running game at home.

The scoreless tie was finally broken when Bob Allison, breaking out of a streak in which he had struck out in seven of ten plate appearances, knocked a two-run home run to left field.

Grant continued to retire Dodgers, but landed in his first real trouble in the sixth inning when the Dodgers put runners at first and second with one out. Grant escaped with a couple of pop flies before putting the game away with his bat in the bottom of the inning. With Allison at second base and two out, the Dodgers elected to give Frank Quilici and intentional pass to face Grant’s spot in the lineup. The hope may have been that Grant would be removed, but at the very least the Dodgers expected a quick end to the inning. Instead, Grant drove a Howie Reed pitch into left-center field, 392 feet for a three-run home run and a 5-0 Twins lead.

Ron Fairly led off the seventh with a solo home run, but it was really too little too late for the Dodgers. Grant shut the Dodgers down the rest of the way for a 5-1 Twins win that forced Game 7.

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1965 World Series Game 5

Monday October 11, 1965
Dodger Stadium

Like Drysdale the day before, Sandy Koufax came into Game 5 with something to prove. A motivated Koufax was never a good sign for the other team, and in this case the game seemed to be over before it started, a 7-0 victory for the Dodgers that put them one game away from putting the Twins away.

Koufax allowed only four hits over the course of nine innings. The Sporting News characterized only one of the Twins’ hits as “a solid, clean blow.” He walked one batter and struck out 10 to put the Twins on the brink of elimination.

The Dodgers scored twice in the first frame off of Jim Kaat, powered by Maury Wills’ lead off double and helped by another error charged to second baseman Frank Quilici. Though there were eight innings left to play, there seemed to be a sense among all involved that the two would be enough the way Koufax had looked in the top of the first inning.

The Dodgers added runs throughout the afternoon off of several Twins pitchers. When the day was done, Los Angeles had totaled 14 hits and three walks. Since scoring only three runs in the first two games at the Met, the Dodgers had put 18 runs on the board in what was considered a pitcher’s park in Los Angeles.

On their way to the third straight win over the Twins, the Dodgers had tied three series records. Wille Davis stole three bases in Game 5, perhaps taking advantage of catcher Earl Battey’s injuries from earlier in the series. That tied the mark set by Honus Wagner in 1909.

Maury Wills tied the other two records. He collected four hits and started three double plays in the field.

The only solace for the Twins and their fans was that the series was moving back to Bloomington for Games 6 and 7, both now must wins for the home team.

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