Cardinals pull a '60 Pirates on Redlegs

In a wild series where the 1956 Cincinnati Redlegs out homered the 1960 St. Louis Cardinals 7 to 2, and outscore them 20-16, the Cardinals managed to eeke (sp?) out two one-run victories to capture the series. The wins were not a complete fluke, as the Cardinals actually outhit Cincinnati in all three games, but the Reds had the stronger fire power. Both Cardinal homers came in the third game off the bat of the recently activated Leon "Daddy Wags" Wagner.

Game one featured a two out pinch hit double from the struggling Joe Cunningham, which sent home Daryl Spencer who had walked to start the inning, tying the game at 1. The Cardinals won it in the 10th on singles by Ellis Burton, Moose Moryn, and Bill White.

Game two featured 13 hits, including homers from Frank Robinson and Ed Bailey, and 11 runs in an 11-5 rout. Bailey drove in four runs and Robinson three backing Hal Jeffcoat, who improved to 3-0 on the season. The Cardinals had plenty of hits, 15, but there hits were not as timely as the Reds. Young flamethrower Bob Gibson made his first start of the year in this one. Gibson really throws hard and looks to be a promising pitcher if he can develop a little more command and perhaps add a breaking ball to his repertoire (sp again?).

Game three featured 3 homers off the bat of Ted Kluzweski as the Reds went to rout the

Cardinals.....wait a second, the Reds lost?? Yep, that is correct. Despite the 3 Kluszewski homers, and a 7-5 lead going in to the top of the ninth, the Reds were not able to hang on. This game featured the Reds consistently taking leads, but the Cardinals consistently answering back to narrow the margin, and on a couple of occasions tie it. The Cardinals never lead though until the ninth, when they turned a 7-5 deficit into an 8-7 lead.  

Don Gross started the ninth, and surrendered a lead off pinch hit double to Bob Nieman, followed by a pinch hit single by Daryl Spencer, Nieman stopping at third. Enter Hersh Freeman, who walked Ken Boyer loading the bases. Bill White then got his second big late inning hit of the series, doubling home Nieman and Spencer. After Hal Smith popped up, another pinch hitter, Moose Moryn, hit a ball deep enough to right to plate Boyer with the lead run.

Lindy McDaniel came on in the bottom of the ninth to save it, but walked lead off hitter Johnny Temple, then Smoky Burgess' potential double play grounder was booted by an over-anxious Spencer. But Spencer got another shot off the bat of Frank Robinson, and the Cardinals turned it, sending Temple to third. Up came the three home run man Big Klu, who manager Bike Mike considered walking, but with left Gus Bell on deck he had McDaniel go after him. McDaniel was up to the task, getting Klu to end the game on a grounder to Bill White.

--submitted by BikeMike--

Orioles took 2 of 3 from the A's.

game 1 Orioles behind Robin Roberts shut out the A's 6-0. Roberts pitched 8 innings holding the A's to 5 hits. Brandt, Powell and E. Robinson all homered for the Orioles.

game 2 In a slugfest, A's won 16-7 as Jose Canseco hit 2 homeruns and drove in 5 while Carney Lansford homered, doubled and drove in 4. 

game 3 Orioles 3 A's 2 ... Pappas, Hall and Miller held A's to 2 runs. Orioles scored 1 in first on double by Siebern and after A's took 2-1 lead, Brown's 2 run single in 4th plated 2 runs. Orioles pitching took over and shut the A's down the rest of the way. Stu Miller earned the save.

--submitted by Peter Winske--

Brew Crew takes 2 of 3 from Rays

GAME 1 - County Stadium
Cobb vs Sorensen
Brewers 7, Rays 1
The Brew Crew banged out 15 hits, which meant clear sailing for Lary Sorensen (4-0, 1.00) who needed just 87 pitches to complete the trip.  Every Brewer starter had at least 1 hit.  All 7 runs were scored by 7 different players.  Don Money and Sal Bando each had 3 hit games.  Gorman Thomas hit his league leading 9th roundtripper.

GAME 2
Shields vs Travers
Brewers 5, Rays 3
Once again young lefty Bill Travers surprised the baseball world by going the distance and allowing just 3 runs.  Two of those 3 runs occurred in the 9th when he was obviously out of gas, but trying to get to the finish line.  Carlos Pena, who is hitting just .167, surprised everyone as well by going yard twice against a lefty while knocking in all 3 of Tampa's runs.  Larry Hisle (2-3, 2 RBI) upped his average to .262 while anchoring the 4 hole.  He also stole his first sack of the season.

GAME 3
Augustine vs Price
Rays 4, Brewers 1
On paper the pitching matchup heavily favored the Rays and the result on the field was just what the paper predicted.  2012 AL Cy Young winner David Price (4-0, 2.25) gave up just 1 run on 3 hit, while fanning 8 in 8 innings on the hill.  Fernando Rodney gave up just 1 hit in the 9th en route to his 9th save of the season.  The bottom of the Rays lineup did most of the damage with Jeff Keppinger going 3 for 3 out of the 8 hole and Pena going 2 for 4 while hitting 9th.  Gorman Thomas (2-3) had half of Milwaukee's hits including his league leading 10th homer.

Padres take 2 of 3 from Amazin's

Game 1,

The Mets outlast the Padres 4-3. New York erased a 3-0 Padre lead as they collected 4 runs of Padre starter Andy Benes to send him to the showers and make a victor out of Jae Seo. Baden Looper earned his 3rd save.

Game 2,

The second game of the series it took 12 innings to decide it. Fred McGriff hit a 2-run homerun to knot the game up at four apiece in the 5th inning. No scoring took place until the bottom half of the 12th when "the crime dog" Fred McGriff hit a solo homerun to send the Padre faithful home happy.  Padres 5...Mets 4 12 innings.

Game 3,

Another game that took extra innings to resolve matters.  San Diego held a 4-0 lead into the 6th inning. Matters changed when Marlon Anderson pinch hit for Matsui. The sacks were full and Anderson slammed a homerun to center to plate 4 runs and tie the game.  No team was able to post a threat until the 15th when the Padres sent nine batters to the plate and scored 5 runs. The Mets pushed across a run off Craig Lefferts in the bottom of the inning but that was it as San Diego took their second extra inning affair in as many games. The winning pitcher was Larry Anderson and emergency reliever, Tom Glavine was hung with the loss. Padres 9...Mets 5 15 innings.

--submitted by Joey Scigliano--

Redbirds take 2 of 3 from Friars

Game 1,

The first game of the series was a hum dinger as St. Louis got out to a quick lead by plating three runs in the first. San Diego rallied and pushed across three of their own in the sixth. Both teams were tied at the end of nine and therefore had to go into extra innings to decide the affair.  Ken Boyer smacked a 2 run homer in the 10 to send the Cardinals to victory. Cardinals 6....Padres 5(10 innings)

Game 2,

Bob Nieman was the star of the second game with a four hit performance and Alex Grammas added a homerun to lead St. Louis passed the Padres in San Diego.  Broglio earned his first victory for the Cardinals with Ron Kline notching the save. The loss went to Bruce Hurst (3-1). Cardinals 6...Padres 3.

Game 3,

San Diego was able to salvage the last game of the series despite only 3 hits off Cardinal pitching.  One of the hits was a 2 RBI single by Thomas Howard in the fifth inning.  Lefty Dennis Rasmussen was too much for the red bird batters, as the crafty lefty had them off balance all day.  Padres 2....Cardinals 1.

--submitted by Joey Scigliano--

Brooklyn reaches .500 by taking 2 of 3 from LA

GAME 1 - Ebbets Field

Ishii vs Podres

Brooklyn 5, LA 1

1955 World Series MVP Johnny Podres went the distance allowing just 1 run on 6 its, to get his 1st win of the season.  Brooklyn broke a 1-1 tie in the bottom of the 6th with a 4 run outburst.  RBI's from Hodges, Cimoli and Campanella did the trick.

GAME 2

Perez vs Koufax

Brooklyn 6, LA 3

Young Sandy Koufax fanned 7 in 8 stellar innings of work in his first start on the hill this season.  Blessed with a golden left arm, Brooklyn's bonus baby needs to harness his control and trust his stuff like today.  Brooklyn countered an LA 1-0 lead with another 4 run outburst.  "Skoonj" (Carl Furillo) was bold with the bat going 3 for 4 with 2 runs scored and a run knocked in to raise his season average to .452.  Hodges had 2 RBI's.  Jordan and Beltre had homers in a losing effort.

GAME 3 - Dodger Stadium

Craig vs Nomo

LA 8, Brooklyn 4

The stagnant LA offense finally got on track and teed off on Roger Craig to double up Brooklyn 8-4.  Heading into the bottom of the 6th LA held a tenuous 2-1 lead before Craig served up hits like Nathan's serves up Hot Dogs in Coney Island.  Shawn Green (2 homers) and Adrian Beltre (3 RBI's) combined to do the damage.  Cimoli went 3-4 for Brooklyn, but did not knock in or score a run.

Brew Crew sweeps Tigers

GAME 1 - County Stadium
Aguirre vs Augustine
Brewers 7, Tigers 4
Don Wert's RBI single with 2 out in the 7th tied the score at 4-4 and erased Jerry Augustine's chances for a win.  Larry Hisle led off the bottom of the 7th with a blast to put the Brew crew back up by 1.  Dick Davis' 2 run shot in the 8th gave Milwaukee a 3 run margin that they would take to the bank.  Eduardo Rodriguez, who blew the save by giving up an unearned run (Wert's single) got the win and Randy Stein, who pitched a perfect 9th got the save.

GAME 2
McLain vs Haas
Brewers 9, Tigers 4
Spot starter Moose Haas stunned even his manager by allowing just 1 run in 6 2/3 innings on the hill Haas fanned 7, while walking 2 and allowing just 4 hits.  Milwaukee had the long ball going once again as Gorman Thomas hit both his 7th and 8th of the season to knock in 4.  Oglivie and Molitor each had homers.  Molitor's 2 run shot in the 6th made it 7-1 and the Brewers were fastened to cruise to victory until Haas' replacement Bob McClure gave up 3 in the 8th to make it a 7-4 game.  Milwaukee answered right back with 2 more insurance tallies in the bottom of the 8th.  Dick Davis' pinch hit RBI single plated Thomas and Buck Martinez scored on a Molitor groundout.  Randy Stein loaded the bases in the 9th and Bill Castro, who earned his second save, had to come in for the final 2 outs to close it out.

GAME 3 - Tiger Stadium
Caldwell vs Lolich
Brewers 5, Tigers 2
Dick McAuliffe led off the bottom of the 1st with his 3rd roundtripper of the season and his second of the series.  McAuliffe's blast tied the game a 1 all.  Both teams exchanged runs in the 5th to keep the game knotted.  Both crafty lefties (Mike Caldwell and Mickey Lolich) were matching each other inning for inning with the pressure squarely on "the fat man" to be his team's stopper.  With 2 out and runners on 1st and 2nd Sexto Lezcano delivered a clutch RBI single to score Don Money and put Milwaukee up 3-1.  An RBI single by Lezcano in the 9th and a sac fly by Charlie Moore gave Caldwell a 3 run cushion, which made it easy for him to go the distance after being very economical with only 100 pitches thrown in anger.  Milwaukee moves to 11-3 and sits atop the AL West.  Detroit drops to 5-9 as manager Davis awaits their dormant lumber to come alive.