1964 June 9 | BARRY BOWE

Tuesday – June 9 – First Game

The Pirates came to town for three games in two days. They were tied for third place ─ 3½ games behind the Giants and two games behind the Phillies.

The series would start with a twinight doubleheader in front of the largest crowd of the year at Connie Mack Stadium ─ 32,155 fans.

Back to the Action – Art Mahaffey took a three-hit shutout into the top of the seventh before he ran into trouble.

The Phillies staked him to a 4-0 lead with single runs in the second and fifth, and a pair of runs in the fourth.

Phillies Second:

Richie Allen singled, moved to third on Danny Cater’s single, and scored on a sacrifice fly by Gus Triandos.

Phillies Fourth:

Johnny Callison led off with a single and Richie Allen followed with a home run (#11) – RBI’s #30 and #31.

Phillies Fifth:

Tony Taylor walked, moved to second on a bunt by Cookie Rojas, and scored on Johnny Callison’s double.

But Mahaffey ran out of gas in the top of the seventh:

He walked Roberto Clemente.
Willie Stargell singled and sent Clemente to third.
Jerry Lynch hit a three-run homer (#3) to cut the deficit to 4-3.

Gene Mauch made a triple-switch:

John Herrnstein came in to play first – batting ninth.
Ruben Amaro – who’d already come in as a defensive replacement at first base – moved from first to shortstop.
Ed Roebuck came in to pitch – replacing Bobby Wine at shortstop and batting eighth.

Roebuck gave up a double to Smoky Burgess that put the tying run on second with nobody out – but he retired the next three batters to end the seventh. And then he pitched scoreless eighth and ninth innings to notch the save (#8).

Art Mahaffey (5-2) got the win and Joe Gibbon (3-2) took the loss.

Tuesday – June 9 – Second Game

Steve Blass (2-2) pitched a four-hit, 4-0 shutout to split the doubleheader with the Phils.

Blass was a 22-year-old rookie right-hander. This was his sixth big-league start since a May 9 call-up from AAA Columbus. He beat the Giants in his last start five days earlier.

Back to the Action – The Pirates scored single runs in the first and fourth.

Pirates Fourth:

Bob Bailey hit a solo shot (#3) in the fourth.

And added two runs in the fifth:

Bill Virdon and Roberto Clemente led off with back-to-back singles.
After Willie Stargell popped out to short for the first out, Jerry Lynch cleared the bases with a double to center to up the Pirates lead to 4-0.

And that was it. Ray Culp (1-5) – who was struggling with control problems – took the loss.

Around the League – While the Phillies were splitting the doubleheader, Ray Sadecki and the Cardinals shut out Juan Marichal the Giants 1-0. Net result – the Phillies picked up ½ game in the standings to trail the Giants by one game.

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