Game 7 would see a rematch of both teams� aces as Tim Hudson and Carlos Zambrano squared off for a third time. The Twins won game 1 while Zambrano and the Orioles won game 4.
Carlos Zambrano opened the game by getting Brian Roberts to fly out, but Larry Walker stroked a double and put some immediate pressure on the Zambrano and the Orioles. Scott Rolen grounded out, but advanced Walker to third base with two outs in the inning. J.D. Drew came up with a clutch single to silence the Baltimore crowd and give the Twins their first first-inning run of the series. A walk to Richie Sexson put runners on first and second, but Zamrbano came back and struck out Milton Bradley to end the inning.
Not to be outdone, Tim Hudson opened the game by getting Brian Giles to fly out, before Edgar Renteria stroked a double of his own to put some pressure on Hudson and the Twins. Carlos Delgado came up and quickly tied the score with a run-scoring double to drive home Renteria. The Twins intentionally walked cleanup hitter Lew Ford and the move paid off as Hudson got ground outs from Geoff Jenkins and Vinny Castilla, to keep the score tied 1-1 after the first inning.
In the second inning, the Twins got their second one-out double of the game as Keith Osik lumbered into second base. Facing Raffy Furcal, Carlos Zamrbano got a tough strike out. After a walk to Brian Roberts, Zambrano ended the threat by getting Larry Walker to ground out.
The top of the third saw the Curse of the Walk briefly rear it�s ugly head for the Orioles. Rolen grounded out to start the inning. Zambrano proceeded to walk J.D. Drew, strike out Richie Sexson and then walk Milton Bradley and Vernon Wells to load the bases. Hoping to take advantage, the Twins sent up pinch-hitter Howie Clark to face Zambrano in the clutch. Zambrano got Clark on a weak grounder to end the inning and keep the score tied at 1.
Edgar Renteria and Carlos Delgado opened the bottom of the third inning with consecutive singles to put runners on first and second. Tim Hudson battled back to strand the runners on first and second by getting Lew Ford and Geoff Jenkins to fly out and Vinny Castilla on a pop out
In the top of the fourth, the Twins put together a 2-out rally when Larry Walker walked and Scott Rolen hit a single to put runners on first and second for J.D. Drew. Drew hit a single off of Zambrano, but Geoff Jenkins came up with a perfect throw and Walker, who had a 90% chance of scoring, was dead on arrival at the plate. In the bottom of the fourth, the O�s got runners on first and second with one out, but Brian Giles hit into an inning-ending double-play to end the threat.
The starting pitchers got better as the game wore on and continued to duel. From the fifth through the eighth inning, there were no extra-base hits and neither team managed to send up more than four batters in an inning. In the top of the ninth, Raffy Furcal hit a lead-off single off of Zambrano. Manager Todd Decker pulled Zambrano�s who finished the game with 8 innings of one-run baseball on 7 hits, 6 walks, 7 strikeouts. Baltimore brought in long-time closer John Smoltz to face the top of the Twins order. Playing for a run, Brian Roberts made the sac bunt to move Furcal over to 2B. Larry Walker stepped up to the plate and hit a long fly ball, but it was only deep enough to move Roberts over to third base. Scott Rolen stepped up to the plate, but Smoltz struck him out to end the inning and strand the go-ahead run at 3B.
In the bottom of the ninth, Tim Hudson got a fly out from Mark Kotsay and he completed his work for the night by striking out Luis Rivas and Damien Miller. Hudson ended the night with 9 innings of 1-run baseball, with 9 hits, 4 walks and 4 strikeouts.
The teams went into extra innings with the score tied at 1. Smoltz came on for his second inning of work and got a groundout from J.D. Drew to open the inning. Richie Sexson then hit a single and Milton Bradley worked a walk to give the Twins runners on first and second with one out. Smoltz got the second out of the inning by getting Vernon Wells to hit a shallow fly ball and hold the runners. The Twins brought in Adam Melhuse to pinch-hit in the clutch, but Smoltz struck him out and Baltimore entered the bottom of the 10th needing only a run to win the game and the Fastball World Series.
Twins� manager Alex Semerjian went for the hot hand and brought in Latroy Hawkins, who already had 7 2/3 shutout innings to his credit in this World Series. Brian Giles hit a lead-off single off of Hawkins and then advanced to second base on a ground out by Edgar Renteria. The Twins walked Carlos Delgado, to bring up cleanup hitter Lew Ford with runners on first and second and only one out. The Twins breathed a sigh of relief as Hawkins induced a double-play to end the inning.
With his fatigue level at 0, Smoltz sat down the Twins in order in the top of the 11th inning. Hawkins got the first two outs of the 11th inning, setting down Geoff Jenkins and Vinny Castilla. Mark Kotsay drew a walk and a Luis Rivas single put the winning run on second base. The Orioles brought in Shannon Stewart, who hit .371 in 35 ABs as a pinch-hitter during the regular season, to hit for Damien Miller. The Twins brought in their semi-closer Brendan Donnelly, who had converted 28 of 30 save opportunities during the regular season, but blew the save in game 2. Donnelly won this battle striking out Stewart and sending the game into the 12th inning, with the score still tied 1-1 since the end of the first inning.
In the bottom of the 12th, Joe Nathan came on to pitch for John Smoltz and got Scott Rolen to pop out. LOOGY Dan Plesac came in to face the always-dangerous J.D. Drew and struck him out. The Orioles brought in game 3 hero Matt Morris to face Richie Sexson. Sexson, with only one hit in the first six games, but two hits and a BB in game 7, smashed a solo HR to LF and gave the Twins a 2-1 lead in the 12th inning. Milton Bradley followed up with a triple, but Morris got Vernon Wells to ground out and end the inning.
Needing a run to prolong the game, the Orioles had the top of the order up. Donnelly got Giles to line out and struck out Renteria to bring Carlos Delgado up with the Orioles down to their final out of the season. Delgado hit a liner down the first base line, but Richie Sexson speared the ball and the Twins captured their first ever Fastball World Series.