Thursday, July 30

With first place at stake, Ray Culp (8-7) faced Bob Hendley (9-5) in the series wrap-up.

Play Ball:

The game was scoreless until the bottom of the third:

• Gus Triandos led off with a home run (#3).
• One out later, Ray Culp drew a walk.
• Cookie Rojas singled and Culp moved to second.
• After Johnny Callison struck out, Culp scored on Tony Taylor’s single to make it 2-0 – Rojas moving to third and Taylor taking second on the throw to third.

After the poor start, Alvin Dark yanked Bob Hendley and replaced him with Ron Herbel (7-5) from the bullpen.

• Herbel walked Richie Allen intentionally to load the bases.

Gene Mauch sent Wes Covington up to pinch-hit for Alex Johnson.

But Al Dark countered by removing Herbel and replacing him with lefty Billy O’Dell (3-4) – coming back on short notice after starting and losing the first game of the current series. And O’Dell got Covington to ground out to end the inning.

Culp and O’Dell traded zeroes in the fourth.

The Giants hit the scoreboard in the fifth:

• Jesus Alou homered (#3).

From there, zeros until the Giants tied the game 2-2 in the top of the ninth:

• Willie McCovey homered (#14).

After reliever Gaylord Perry retired the Phillies in the bottom of the ninth, the game moved into extra innings.

Gene Mauch went outside the box by bringing Art Mahaffey in to pitch. Used primarily as a starter, this was his second outing in relief.

But he wasn’t as sharp:

• Mahaffey gave up a leadoff single to Harvey Kuenn – and then uncorked a wild pitch that sent Kuenn into scoring position at second.
• Hal Lanier sacrificed Kuenn to third.
• Willie Mays singled to score Kuenn and give the Giants a 3-2 lead.

Then Mahaffey got the next two batters.

The Phillies were down – but not out:

• Johnny Callison doubled.
• Gaylord Perry hit Tony Taylor.
• Richie Allen beat out an infield single to load the bases.

With nobody out and left-handed hitter Johnny Briggs due up, Al Dark called on lefty Billy Pierce (2-0) to face Briggs.

• Briggs came through with the biggest hit of his rookie season – a two-run double that chased home both the tying and winning runs of the 4-3 walk-off victory.

Art Mahaffey (10-5) picked up the win in relief – the ten wins tying him with Jim Bunning for most wins on the ball club.

Gaylord Perry (7-8) took the loss.

Around the League:

The win pushed the Phillies 1½ games ahead of the Giants.

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