June 9, 1964 | BARRY BOWE

After an off-day on Monday, the Phillies were ready to begin the most hectic portion of their schedule. They would play 22 games over the next 19 days ─ including six doubleheaders.

By now, Gene Mauch’s starting rotation had evolved into Jim Bunning, Chris Short, Dennis Bennett, and Art Mahaffey. With the profusion of upcoming doubleheaders, Mauch was going to juggle Ray Culp and Rick Wise into the mix.

First up were the Pittsburgh Pirates, who were coming to town for three games in two days. The Pirates were now tied for third place ─ 3½ games behind the Giants and two games behind the Phillies. The Pirates and Phillies had split their four games so far this season.

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

It was Art Mahaffey (4-2) in the first game versus Joe Gibbon (2-2).

Gibbon, who had a no-decision against the Phillies back in April, won his last two starts over the Cubs and Mets, respectively.

Mahaffey won his last two decisions, including a four-hit, 2-0 shutout over these same Pirates on May 27th in Pittsburgh.

There was no score through an inning-and-a-half.

In the bottom of the second, Richie Allen and Danny Cater opened the inning with back-to-back singles – with Allen advancing to third to put runners on first and third with nobody out.

After Roy Sievers popped out to first, Gus Triandos hit a sacrifice fly to put the Phillies ahead 1-0.

No change through the top of the fourth.

Johnny Callison led off the bottom of the fourth with a single. Richie Allen followed with his 11th home run to make it 3-0 Phillies ─ giving Allen 31 RBIs on the season.

Mahaffey kept the Pirates off the board in the top of the fifth.

In the bottom half, Tony Taylor led off with a walk and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Cookie Rojas. Johnny Callison doubled, Taylor scored, and it was 4-0 Phillies.

Nothing in the sixth for either team.

In the Pirates seventh, Roberto Clemente walked. Willie Stargell singled to right and Clemente advanced to third.

Jerry Lynch broke up Mahaffey’s shutout bid with a three-run homer to cut the Phillies lead to 4-3. It was the third home run of the season for Lynch.

Gene Mauch went to the bullpen and made a triple-switch:

• Ed Roebuck (1-2) came in to pitch, replacing Bobby Wine at shortstop.

• Ruben Amaro, who’d already come in as a defensive replacement at first base, moved from first to shortstop.

• John Herrnstein came in to play first, batting in the pitcher’s spot in the order.

Roebuck had pitched in the last five games and picked up losses in the last two; yet his ERA was still a solid 1.29.

Roebuck gave up a double to Smoky Burgess to put the tying run on second with nobody out. But Roebuck then retired the next three batters to end the seventh with the Phils still on top 4-3.

Ed Roebuck pitched scoreless eighth and ninth innings to notch his eighth save – accomplishing a three-inning save in the porces.

Art Mahaffey (5-2) got the win and Joe Gibbon (3-2) was the loser.

In the second game, it was Ray Culp (1-4) for the Phillies versus Steve Blass (2-2) for the Pirates – Blass is featured in the header photo.

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

Ray Culp was struggling with control problems and a 5.30 ERA. He hadn’t won since beating the Cubs in April.

Dick Schofield and Bill Virdon led off with back-to-back singles. Roberto Clemente hit into a force at second to put runners on first and third with one out. Willie Stargell singled to score Schofield with the game’s first run to put the Pirates ahead 1-0.

No more scoring during the first three innings.

In the top of the fourth, Bob Bailey led off with his third home run of the season to make it 2-0 Pirates.

Blass shut the Phillies down in the fourth.

In the top of the fifth, Bill Virdon and Roberto Clemente led off with back-to-back singles. After Willie Stargell popped 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.

Steve Blass (3-2) held the Phillies to just four hits. It was his third complete game in his first five starts in the big leagues ─ and his first big-league shutout.

Ray Culp (1-5) took the loss.

While the Phillies were splitting the doubleheader, the Giants lost 1-0 when the Cardinals Ray Sadecki (6-4) out-dueled Juan Marichal (8-2). The game’s lone run scored on a two-out single by Chris James in the top of the ninth.

The net result was that the Phillies picked up ½ game in the standings to trail the Giants by one game.