Koufax on Two Days' Rest Shuts Out the Twins in Game 7

On October 14, 1965, Sandy Koufax pitched a three-hit shutout on two days' rest to beat the Minnesota Twins 2-0 in Game 7 of the World Series. He struck out 10 and walked three across nine innings at Metropolitan Stadium. The Dodgers won the championship in a Series that required Koufax to pitch two complete games in the final four days.

Koufax had sat out Game 1 because it fell on Yom Kippur. Don Drysdale started in his place and lost. Koufax returned for Game 2 and lost as well. The Twins took a two-games-to-none lead before the Dodgers rallied, and Koufax threw a four-hit complete-game shutout to win Game 5 and give Los Angeles a 3-2 series lead. Two days later, manager Walter Alston handed him the ball for Game 7.

He told catcher John Roseboro after the first inning that his arm was sore and his curveball was not working. Koufax adjusted by relying almost entirely on his fastball for the final eight innings. The Twins' lineup, loaded with power hitters like Harmon Killebrew, Bob Allison, and the left-handed-hitting Tony Oliva, could not catch up to it. Lou Johnson's solo home run in the fourth inning and Wes Parker's RBI single provided the only runs Koufax needed.

Across Games 5 and 7, Koufax threw 18 innings over four days, allowed seven hits, and struck out 20. He was named World Series MVP for the second time. The performance cemented his reputation as the premier big-game pitcher of his generation, and it came the season before his final year in 1966, when arthritis in his left elbow forced him into retirement at age 30.