MINNESOTA 7, NEW YORK 4 IN NEW YORK
Date: Sunday, June 20 (Game 2 of doubleheader).
Batting stars: Harmon Killebrew was 2-for-5 with a home run (his thirteenth) and a double, driving in three. Tony Oliva was 2-for-5 with a triple and a double, scoring once. Joe Nossek was 2-for-4 with a double, scoring once and driving in one.
Pitching star: Dick Stigman struck out four in 3.1 scoreless innings, giving up no hits and two walks.
Opposition stars: Hal Reniff struck out five in three shutout innings, allowing only a walk. Ray Barker was 1-for-2 with a three-run homer (his second) and a walk. Steve Hamilton struck out three in two shutout innings, allowing a hit and a walk.
The game: Killebrew hit an RBI double in the first, Zoilo Versalles doubled home two in the second, and the Twins got run-scoring singles in the third by Earl Battey and Nossek to go ahead 5-0. Barker hit a pinch-hit three-run homer in the bottom of the third to get the Yankees back in the game at 5-3. There was no more scoring until the sixth, when an error allowed the Yankees to cut the lead to one. They had the tying run on third with two out, but Stigman struck out Hector Lopez to end the inning. The Yankees did not get a hit after that and Killebrew's two-run homer in the ninth put the game out of reach.
Of note: Versalles was 1-for-5 with a stolen base (his seventh), scoring once and driving in two. Rich Rollins was 0-for-5. Jimmie Hall was 2-for-4 with a double and a run, raising his average to .325. Dave Boswell started and pitched 5.2 innings, giving up four runs (three earned) on four hits and two walks with four strikeouts.
Record: The doubleheader sweep made the Twins 38-23 and increased their lead over Chicago to a full game.
Notes: Rollins again played second base, with Nossek at third. Normally an outfielder, Nossek played ten games in his career at third base, nine of them in 1965. I had never heard of Ray Barker. He played in five games for Baltimore in 1960, then did not get back to the majors until 1965 at age twenty-nine. He played in eleven games for Cleveland, then was traded to the Yankees in May. This was the second of his ten career home runs, seven of which came in 1965. He played in parts of the 1966 and 1967 seasons for the Yankees as well.