Keeping Track

1965 Rewind: Game Forty-one

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MINNESOTA 6, BALTIMORE 0 IN BALTIMORE

Date:  Monday, May 31 (Game 1 of doubleheader).

Batting stars:  Sandy Valdespino was 3-for-4 with a walk and a stolen base, scoring twice and driving in one.  Zoilo Versalles was 2-for-5 with a two-run homer, his sixth.  Tony Oliva was 2-for-4 with a double and two RBIs.

Pitching star:  Jim Kaat pitched a complete game shutout, giving up three hits and one walk with two strikeouts.

Opposition star:  Don Larsen pitched three innings of relief, allowing one run on four hits and no walks with two strikeouts.

The game:  Oliva singled in a run in the first inning to give the Twins a 1-0 lead.  Versalles hit a two-run homer in the third to make it 3-0.  Valdespino singled in a run in the fifth, Hall homered in the sixth, and Oliva had an RBI double in the seventh.  The Orioles did not get a man past first base in the entire game.

Of note:  Jerry Kindall was 0-for-4 with a walk, dropping his average to .194.  Hall was 1-for-4 with a home run, his eighth.

Record:  The win was the Twins' fourth in a row and kept them in first place, a half game ahead of Chicago.

Notes:  Valdespino, in his rookie season, had been on the roster all year, but this was the first time he was used as anything other than a pinch-hitter.  He started in left field to give Bob Allison a rest.  Also rested were Harmon Killebrew and Earl Battey, replaced by Don Mincher and Jerry Zimmerman, respectively.  The Baltimore starter was Robin Roberts, in the next-to-last season of his Hall of Fame career.  Larsen, who of course pitched a no-hit game in the World Series, was in his last full season in the major leagues.

4 thoughts on “1965 Rewind: Game Forty-one”

  1. that photo makes Kaat look like a soft-tosser. Which, I guess he was, judging by his K/9 rates in his prime.

    2. I've been surprised that there haven't been more high-strikeout games. When I think of 1960s baseball, I think of pitchers like Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale and Bob Gibson. But I suppose it makes sense that there were a lot of guys who weren't nearly as good, and so didn't rack up nearly the strikeouts.

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