MINNESOTA 7, NEW YORK 3 IN NEW YORK
Date: Tuesday, August 10.
Batting stars: Earl Battey was 2-for-4 with two doubles, scoring once and driving in two. Zoilo Versalles was 2-for-5 with a double and two runs. Tony Oliva was 1-for-3 with two walks, scoring once and driving in one.
Pitching stars: Jim Kaat pitched 7.1 innings, giving up three runs (two earned) on seven hits and two walks with four strikeouts. Al Worthington struck out two in 1.2 scoreless innings, giving up one hit.
Opposition stars: Whitey Ford pitched seven innings, allowing two runs (one earned) on four hits and no walks with four strikeouts. Hector Lopez was 2-for-3 with a triple, scoring twice. Mickey Mantle was 1-for-4 with a home run, his sixteenth.
The game: The Twins started the scoring early, as Rich Rollins had an RBI double and Tony Oliva a run-scoring single to take a 2-0 lead. It stayed 2-0 until the fifth, when Lopez tripled and scored on a Clete Boyer single to make it 2-1. The Yankees had two out and none on in the seventh, but a walk, an error, and a Ray Barker single tied it 2-2. Things worked out for the Twins, though, because Barker pinch-hit for Ford, against whom the Twins had done little since the first. Pete Mikkelsen came in and it looked as if it might work, as the Twins had a man on second with two out. A walk and an error put the Twins up 3-2. Then came an RBI single by Jimmie Hall, a two-run double by Battey, and a run-scoring single by Don Mincher to make it 7-2. Mantle homered leading off the eighth, but New York never threatened to get back into the game.
Of note: Rollins was 1-for-4 with a double, scoring once and driving in one. Bob Allison was 0-for-5 with a run.
Record: The win was the Twins' sixth straight and made their record 73-39. Baltimore split a doubleheader with Boston, making the Twins' lead 8.5 games.
Notes: Oliva's average stayed at .307. Hall fell to .306. Battey raised his average back to .300...1965 was Whitey Ford's last year as a rotation starter. He had the worst ERA of his career at 3.24. He also pitched the fewest innings that he had since 1960, at 244.1.
Heh, different times. I was wondering if the Yankees saw something or it was his age, but he was part of the rotation to start 1966 but looks like he got injured at the end of May, made a relief appearance at the end of June, and then shellacked in his first start after that. Though, with only three earned runs out of ten total, his fielders didn't help him much.