1965 Rewind: World Series Game Five

LOS ANGELES 7, MINNESOTA 0 IN LOS ANGELES

Date:  Monday, October 11.

Batting stars:  None.  The Twins had only four hits, all singles.

Pitching star:  Dave Boswell struck out three in 2.2 innings, giving up one run on three hits and two walks.

Opposition stars:  Sandy Koufax struck out ten in a complete game shutout, allowing four hits and one walk.  Maury Wills was 4-for-5 with two doubles and a stolen base, scoring twice and driving in one.  Ron Fairly was 3-for-5 with a double, scoring once and driving in one.

The game:  The Dodgers scored two in the first and two in the third to take a 4-0 lead.  Jim Gilliam and Lou Johnson had RBI singles and Fairly had a run-scoring double.  Gilliam had another RBI single in the fourth and Koufax and Wills each had a run-producing single in the seventh.  The Twins did not get a hit until Harmon Killebrew's leadoff single in the fifth, and he was immediately erased by a double play.   The Twins only had two innings in which they sent more than three men to the plate and only once, in the ninth, got a man as far as second base.

Of note:  Zoilo Versalles was 0-for-4.  Joe Nossek was 1-for-4.  Tony Oliva was 0-for-3.  Killebrew was 1-for-3.  Jim Kaat lasted only 2.1 innings, giving up four runs (three earned) on six hits and no walks with one strikeout.

Record:  The Twins now trailed the series three games to two.

Notes:  Nossek again started in center in place of Jimmie Hall to gain a platoon advantage.  While Hall did substantially worse against left-handers than righties in 19965, he still did better against them than Nossek, who in 114 at-bats against left-handers hit .228/.262/.325 against them.  Hall had slumped badly in September, however, which may have been part of the reason for the move.  Nobody was hitting Sandy Koufax this day, though, so whether this decision was wise or dumb or somewhere in between, it probably made no difference in the outcome of the game.