CLEVELAND -- After throwing a pair of complete games for Detroit in the 1968 World Series, Mickey Lolich remembered Detroit manager Mayo Smith turning to him during the Tigers' 10-run third inning in Game 6.
"Can you start Game 7? I only want you pitch five innings," Lolich recalled the manager asking.
"Sure, that wouldn't bother me at all," the pitcher remembered responding, then quickly added: "Well, you know the rest of the story."
Lolich pitched a five-hitter, throwing shutout ball into the ninth inning to beat Bob Gibson and the St. Louis Cardinals 4-1.