had Koufax for L.A. the game before, but in this case with a towering three-run home run, after Quilici was intentionally walked to get to Grant. A Fairly home run, his second of the series, put the Dodgers on the board to make the score 5–1, but that's all they would get as Grant pitched a complete game. Twins manager Sam Mele chose to leave veteran pitchers Pascual and Perry and youngster Jim Merritt in the bullpen, instead going with Grant on two days' rest. Twins catcher Earl Battey brought the nearly 50,000 Metropolitan Stadium fans to their feet by leading off the second inning with a triple past a diving Willie Davis in center. Battey showed no outward ill-effects of his collision with the railing in Game 3, diving headfirst into third base on the play. Osteen promptly struck out Allison and Quilici, however, to quell the threat. Battey continued his fine play in the fourth by hustling to first when Tracewski booted his groundball, and Allison followed with a home run. Grant pitched solidly and the Twins tied the series at 3–3. In this game, Mudcat Grant became just the seventh pitcher to homer in a World Series game. Game 7 Dodger manager Walt Alston was torn between starting Drysdale on normal rest or Koufax with only two days' rest. He decided on the left-handed Koufax, figuring if needed he would use the right-handed Drysdale in relief, then go back to his left-handed relief ace Ron Perranoski. Koufax told announcer Vin Scully in a post-game interview that he and Drysdale had come to the ballpark not knowing which one would be on the mound (though other sources indicated that Alston had informed Koufax the day before but asked him to keep it a secret). According to Koufax, the manager announced the decision purely in strategic terms regarding lefty vs. righty, saying he worded his announcement without even using the pitchers' names, saying only that he thought he'd "like to start the left-hander." The Twins went with Kaat, also starting on two days' rest. Both managers had relief pitchers warming up as their starters began the game. Koufax had trouble throwing his curveball for strikes but escaped a couple of early jams, including one in the third inning when Zoilo Versalles stole second base with one out, but was called back after batter Joe Nossek was ruled out for