Game Five of the 1968 World Series was held at Tiger Stadium on October 7. The Cardinals had just won Game Four behind another dominant performance by Bob Gibson to take a 3-1 Series lead. The Cards sent Nelson Briles (19-11, 2.81) to the mound. Detroit had Mickey Lolich (17-9, 3.19) as the starting pitcher who would try to keep their season alive.
The Cardinals looked like they wanted to end the World Series in the first inning. Lou Brock doubled, the first of his three hits in the game, to start the game. Curt Flood's one-out single drove in Brock. Orlando Cepeda was next and he drilled a home run for a 3-0 St. Louis lead.
From that point on, though, Lolich shutdown the Cardinals.
Briles cruised through the first three innings, but a fourth inning triple by Mickey Stanley was followed by a sacrifice fly by Norm Cash. Willie Horton tripled with two out and scored on a Jim Northrup single and the Tigers were within 3-2.
Horton kept the score that way by throwing out Brock at the plate in the top of the fifth. Brock doubled with one out. He tried to score on a Julian Javier single to left, but Horton threw out Brock and Lolich recovered to get Flood to flyout.
The Tigers loaded the bases with two out in the bottom of the sixth only to have Briles escape by getting Bill Freehan to ground into a force out.
Lolich hit Briles with a pitch with two out in the seventh, but retire Brock. In the Tiger half of the seventh Briles got the first out, but Lolich singled to knock him from the game.
Joe Hoerner was the reliever and he got into trouble immediately. Dick McAuliffe and Stanley singled to load the bases again. Al Kaline stepped to the plate and delivered a two-run single to give the Tigers a 4-3 lead. Cash followed with an RBI single that ended Hoerner's day and put the Tigers up 5-3.
Lolich worked a scorless ninth, but got into some trouble in the ninth. Tim McCarver singled to start the inning. A one out single by Ed Spezio put the tying runs aboard for St. Lous. But, Lolich struck out pinch-hitter Roger Maris and got Brock to ground out. The Series would be headed to St. Louis for Game Six with the Cardinals still leading 3-2 in games.
Complete Game Five Boxscore is HERE. Complete Game Five play-by-play is HERE.
Denny McLain was the scheduled starter for Detroit in that Game Six. Ray Washburn would try to get the clincher for St. Louis on October 9. Not to spoil the ending, but McLain was not pitching against Bob Gibson in Game Six.
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