July 12, 1964 | BARRY BOWE

Sunday Double-header

The Milwaukee Braves were coming to town for a Sunday double-header, followed by a single game on Monday. The Braves were a game under .500 at 40-41, in seventh place, and ten games out of first place. But they’d just taken 2-of-3 in Pittsburgh.

The Phillies led the season series with the Braves three games to two.

First Game

It was a pair of lefties in the first game:

Chris Short (7-4)
Wade Blasingame (1-1)

Blasingame was making his third career start and coming off a complete-game 7-1 victory over the Cubs.

Short won his last two starts prior to the All-Star Game. Against the Braves, he made two relief appearances back in May ─ giving up no hits and no runs. This was his first start against them.

The first two innings were scoreless with each pitcher giving up just one hit.

With one out in the top of the third, Wade Blasingame, Mike de la Hoz, and Frank Bolling hit back-to-back-to-back singles to load the bases. Hank Aaron then made it 2-0 Braves by roping a two-run single to right-center. Bolling stopped at second.

Joe Torre forced Aaron at second for the second out – with Bolling moving to third to put runners on first and third with two outs.

Gene Oliver doubled to deep left and two more runs scored to put the Braves ahead 4-0.

Nothing in the bottom of the third or top of the fourth.

In the bottom of the fourth, Johnny Callison got the Phillies on the scoreboard 4-1 with his 13th home run of the season – giving him 44 RBIs.

No more scoring through the top of the eighth.

In the bottom of the eighth, Wade Blasingame issued back-to-back walks to Tony Taylor and Cookie Rojas to put runners on first and second with nobody out.

Braves manager Bobby Bragan then replaced Blasingame with Bobby Tiefenauer (3-4). Tiefenauer pitched three innings in relief against the Phils on May 6th, giving up two runs on two hits in three innings.

Tiefenauer wild-pitched the runners to second and third.

Johnny Callison hit a ground ball to second. Frank Bolling checked Rojas back to second before throwing Callison out at first, but Tony Taylor scored on the play to cut the Braves lead to 4-2.

With Rojas on second and two outs, Richie Allen drove Rojas home with a double off the scoreboard. That gave Allen 50 RBIs on the season and cut the deficit to 4-3.

Bragan replaced Tiefenauer with Chi-Chi Olivo (0-0).

Olivo, a 36-year-old rookie from the Dominican Republic, was making his sixth big-league appearance. Against the Pirates the day before, he picked up his first save.

Olivo was sharp. He got Danny Cater on a fly to left-center and retired Ruben Amaro on a come-backer to the mound to end the threat.

In the bottom of the ninth, Olivo gave up a one-out walk to pinch-hitter John Herrnstein, but kept the Phillies off the board to pick up his second save in two games.

Wade Blasingame (2-1) recorded the win and Chris Short (7-5) took the loss.

In between games, Art Mahaffey rejoined the Phillies after a 15-day stint on the DL ─ and the Phillies wasted no time putting him to work.

Second Game

Art Mahaffey (7-3) took the mound in the nightcap versus Hank Fischer (6-5).

Fischer was 1-1 against the Phillies:Tossing a 1-0 two-hitter on May 3rd at home.Losing 9-6 in Philadelphia four days later.

Mahaffey faced Fischer in both of those games, losing the first and winning the second.

Art Mahaffey retired the Braves in the top of the first.

In the bottom of the first, John Herrnstein doubled with one out and moved to third when Johnny Callison grounded out for the second out.

Hank Fischer walked Richie Allen to put runners on first and third with two outs. Then Wes Covington singled, Herrnstein scored, and the Phillies took a 1-0 lead.

Mahaffey shut the Braves down in the top of the second.

In the bottom of the second, Ruben Amaro led off with an infield single. Mahaffey tried to sacrifice Amaro to second, but bunted foul with two strikes for the first out.

Tony Gonzalez singled to put runners on first and second. After John Herrnstein struck out, Johnny Callison doubled and Amaro scored to make it 2-0 Phillies.

Fischer got Richie Allen on a fly to right to end the inning, but he tweaked something in his pitching arm.

Mahaffey retired the Braves in the top of the third.

To start the bottom of the third, Bobby Bragan replaced Fischer with lefty Billy Hoeft (2-0). Hoeft pitched five innings of relief against the Phillies in May, giving up one run on four hits.

Hoeft shut the Phils down in the third and fourth.

In the top of the fourth, Hank Aaron doubled to right and, one out later, he stole third base.

After Joe Torre popped to the third for the second out, Ed Bailey singled Aaron across the plate to cut the Phillies lead to 2-1.

Nothing for the Phillies in the bottom of the fourth.

In the top of the fifth, Woody Woodward got an infield single and moved to second when Billy Hoeft sacrificed. One out later, Frank Bolling homered into the leftfield bleachers to put the Braves on top 3-2. It was Bolling’s fifth home run of the year.

Two more scoreless innings for Hoeft.

In the bottom of the sixth, Gene Mauch pinch-hit for Mahaffey, and he sent Jack Baldschun (3-3) to the mound to replace Mahaffey in the top of the seventh.

This was Baldschun’s 33rd relief appearance. He hadn’t given up an earned run in his last seven outings – but that was about to change.

In the top of the seventh, Woody Woodward singled and moved to second on a Billy Hoeft sacrifice ─ Hoeft’s second successful sacrifice in two at-bats in this game.

Eddie Mathews doubled and Woodward scored to make it 4-2 Braves.

After Mathews moved to third on a ground out, Hank Aaron singled and Eddie Mathews scored to make it 5-2.

Hoeft threw scoreless frames in the seventh and eighth.

With one out in the top of the ninth, Eddie Mathews homered over the scoreboard to up the count to 6-2. It was his 11th home run of the year and his 40th RBI.

Billy Hoeft had surrendered just three hits since entering the game to start the third and the bottom of the ninth was no different. Hoeft (3-0) retired the Phillies on three ground balls to finish in strong fashion to pick up the win. Mahaffey (7-4) took the loss.

So the Phillies were swept in the double-header – and that made it four straight losses for the Phils.

Walk-Off in Houston

Fortunately for the Phillies, Nellie Fox singled with runners on first and second with two outs in the bottom of the ninth to send Eddie Kasko home with the winning run in a 5-4 win over the Giants at Colt Stadium in Houston.

That loss for the Giants meant they only picked up ½ game on the Phillies and hold first place by just one full game over the Phils.