Thursday, July 23

Hoping to sweep the series, Jim Bunning (9-4) was taking the mound versus Denny Lemaster (10-6) – but Bunning’s been stuck on nine wins since the Fourth of July.

Play Ball:

No score thru an inning-and-a-half, but then the Braves jumped on Bunning in the bottom of the second:

• Ed Bailey singled and Gene Oliver homered (#7).
• Bunning walked Gary Kolb and hit Frank Bolling.
• One out later, Denis Menke hit a three-run homer (#9) to give the Braves a 5-0 lead.

Before retiring the side, Bunning gave up back-to-back singles to Lee Maye and Hank Aaron.

Gene Mauch had seen enough and sent Ruben Amaro up to bat for Bunning. He singled – but was stranded on first. And Rick Wise (1-1) replaced Bunning in the third.

The Phillies got on the scoreboard in the fourth:

• Cookie Rojas and Costen Shockley singled. Rojas advanced to third with a throw that allowed Shockley to move to second.
• Rojas scored when Clay Dalrymple grounded to first.

Down 5-1, the Phillies rallied in the fifth:

• Tony Gonzalez doubled and Johnny Callison homered (#16).
• Gus Triandos pinch-hit for Rick Wise and doubled – Chris Short coming in to pinch-run for Triandos.
• One out later, Cookie Rojas singled to score Short and trim the deficit to 5-4.

Billy Hoeft (3-0) replaced Denny Lemaster and retired the side.

Ed Roebuck (#2-2) replaced Rick Wise in the bottom of the fifth – but the Braves padded the lead to 6-4 against him:

• Roebuck hit Ed Bailey.
• After Gene Oliver bounced into a force-out, Roebuck walked Gary Kolb to put runners on first and second.
• Batting for himself, Billy Hoeft singled to score Oliver.

Dallas Green (2-1) replaced Roebuck and ended the threat. And then the Phillies nibbled at the lead in the top of the seventh:

• With one out, John Herrnstein batted for Dallas Green. Batting .444 as a pinch-hitter, Herrnstein picked up his tenth pinch-hit with a single to right
• Richie Allen doubled to score Herrnstein and trim the deficit to 6-5.

Herrnstein stayed in the game to play left in the bottom of the seventh and John Boozer (1-0) came in to pitch. And after Boozer got the Braves 1-2-3 in the bottom of the seventh, the Phillies took the lead in the top of the eighth:

• Clay Dalrymple singled.
• One out later, Tony Gonzalez singled.

Bobby Bragan replaced Billy Hoeft with Wade Blasingame (2-2).

• Johnny Callison greeted Blasingame with a three-run homer (#17) to put the Phillies ahead 8-6. It was Callison’s second home run in the game – giving him five RBIs on the day and 56 on the season.

But the Braves took the lead right back in the bottom of the eighth:

• Batting for himself, Wade Blasingame doubled – but was replaced at second by pinch-runner Ty Cline.
• John Boozer walked Denis Menke.

Gene Mauch then made another double-switch:

1. Johnny Briggs replaced John Herrnstein in left.
2. Jack Baldschun (3-4) replaced Boozer on the mound.

This was Baldschun’s third appearance in the three-game series and he’d already saved the first two games.

• Baldschun retired Lee Maye, but he walked Hank Aaron to load the bases.
• With Rico Carty batting, Baldschun uncorked a wild pitch to move the runners up a base – Ty Cline scoring to close to 8-7.
• Carty then hit a ground ball to short. Bobby Wine gloved the ball and threw home – but Denis Menke slid under the tag to tie the game 8-8.
• After Carty stole second to put runners on second and third, Baldschun walked Ed Bailey intentionally to load the bases.
• Gene Oliver hit a ground ball to third, but Richie Allen fumbled the pickup and Aaron scored to put the Braves on top 9-8.

After Baldschun finally retired the side, the Phillies reclaimed the led in the top of the ninth off of Bob Sadowski (4-6):

• Sadowski walked Richie Allen.
• With Allen taking a big lead, Ed Bailey tried to pick him off with a snap-throw – but the throw was wild and Allen took second.
• Cookie Rojas bunted. But Bailey pounced won it like a cat and threw Allen out at third.
• Sadowski walked Johnny Briggs to put runners on first and second.

Bragan replaced Sadowski with Chi-Chi Olivo (0-0) and Gene Mauch sent lefty Wes Covington up to pinch-hit for Bobby Wine.

• When Covington bounced into a force at second, Rojas moved up to third – making it first and third with two outs.
• Olivo walked Clay Dalrymple to load the bases.
• Ruben Amaro drilled a two-run single to right to put the Phillies on top 10-9.

But the Braves sent the game into extra innings in the bottom of the ninth:

• Denis Menke doubled.
• Batting for Chi-Chi Olivo, Mike de la Hoz singled and sent Menke to third.
• Hank Aaron hit a ground ball to third. Allen fielded the ball and threw Menke out at the plate – leaving runners on first and second.
• Rico Carty hit a ground ball to third – But Allen botched this one and de la Hoz scored to tie it up 10-10.

Bobby Bragan sent Bobby Tiefenauer (3-4) in to pitch the top of the tenth – and the Phillies jumped on him for three runs:

• With two outs, Jack Baldschun batted for himself because the Phillies were down a man – Alex Johnson was still in-transit from Arkansas. But Baldschun came thru with a single.
• Richie Allen singled.
• Cookie Rojas cleared the bases to take a 12-10 lead.
• With Johnny Briggs batting, Ed Bailey allowed two straight passed balls and Rojas scored to up the lead to 13-10.

When Gene Oliver started the bottom of the tenth with a single, Gene Mauch replaced Jack Baldschun and replaced him with Dennis Bennett (9-7) – Bennett’s fifth relief appearance to go along with twenty starts.

Bennett retired the next three batters to earn the save (#2).

Jack Baldschun (4-4) got the win and Bobby Tiefenauer (3-5) took the loss.

Gene Mauch used 21 of the 24 players at his disposal to coax the wild win:

• The Phillies scored 13 runs on 18 hits.
• The Braves scored 10 runs on 15 hits.
• The Phillies used seven pitchers.
• The Braves used six pitchers.
• Both teams committed three errors.

Around the League:

The Giants lost to the Cubs 13-4 to drop two games behind the Phillies.

In addition to being the official Eagles Outsider for BlameMyFather.com – Barry Bowe is also the author of:

• Born to Be Wild
• 1964 – The Year the Phillies Blew the Pennant
• 12 Best Eagles QBs
• Birth of the Birds
• Soon-to-be-published sexy, police procedural Caribbean Queen
• Soon-to-be-published novel Stosh Wadzinski
• Soon-to-be-published novel Polish Widow
• Work-in-Progress A Fuckin All-American