July 24, 1964 | BARRY BOWE

Great Pitching Match-up

After a lackluster 6-5 road trip, the Phillies were coming home for a 16-game home stand.

The Cardinals were first on the agenda for a four-game weekend series. The Cards were in eighth place, playing .500 ball at 47-47. That said, the Cards held a 6-3 advantage in the season series with the Phils thus far, but they’d just been swept three straight at home by the Pirates.

It was Chris Short (8-5) versus Bob Gibson (8-7) kicking off the series.

Gibson was 0-1 in two prior starts against the Phillies. One May 4th, he was hit by a pitch in the fourth inning and removed while he was leading, from a game the Cards won 9-2. Gibson recorded nine complete games and one shutout thus far.

Short faced the Cardinals four times ─ three times as a reliever in May and once as a starter. On June 28th, he pitched a five-hit, 5-0 shutout. Overall, he recorded three shutouts and five complete games.

Chris Short retired the Cards in order in the top of the first.

Curt Flood led off with a hit – but was thrown out trying to stretch it into a double.

In the bottom of the first, Bob Gibson retired the first two batters he faced before walking Johnny Callison. Then while Callison was stealing second, Tim McCarver’s throw sailed into centerfield and allowed Callison to advance to third with two outs.

Richie Allen walked to put runners on first and third, and Wes Covington followed with a single to send Callison across the plate to put the Phillies on the scoreboard 1-0.

With runners on first and second, Clay Dalrymple singled and Richie Allen scored to make it 2-0 Phils.

Chris Short kept the Cards off the scoreboard in the top of the second.

In the bottom of the second, Cookie Rojas led off with an infield single and moved to second when Chris Short bunted. Rojas then advanced to third on shortstop Dick Groat’s error and scored on Costen Shockley’s sacrifice fly to make it 3-0 Phillies.

With two outs in the top of the third, Bob Gibson, Curt Flood, and Lou Brock packaged back-to-back-to back singles with Gibson scoring to trim their deficit to 3-1.

With Short tossing zeroes in the fourth, fifth, and sixth innings, the Phillies then padded the lead.

With one out in the bottom of the sixth, Wes Covington doubled ─ and Bobby Wine came in to run for him. When Clay Dalrymple singled, Wine rounded third, but stopped and held third when rightfielder Mike Shannon came up throwing. But Tim McCarver bobbled the throw and the ball rolled far enough away to allow Dalrymple to advance to second but not far enough to allow Wine to score.

With runners on second and third and still one out, the Cards drew the infield in for a plate at the plate.

Tony Taylor hit a ground ball to short. Groat went to the plate and nipped Wine for the second out. Dalrymple moved to third to put runners on first and third.

Cookie Rojas then cleared the bases with his third triple of the season to push the Phillies ahead 5-1.

Chris Short retired the Cards in the top of the seventh.

In the bottom of the seventh, Tony Gonzalez and Costen Shockley hit back-to-back singles – with Gonzalez taking third.

After Johnny Callison walked to load the bases, Richie Allen popped out for the first out.

Gene Mauch called for the suicide squeeze.

Bobby Wine got the bunt down and the runners moved up a base. Gonzalez scored to make it 6-1 Phillies ─ and Wine beat it out for a hit to keep the bases loaded with one out.

Clay Dalrymple bounced into a force at second while Shockley scored to make it 7-1 Phillies.

Chris Short retired the Cards in the top of the eighth.

In the bottom of the eighth, Bob Humphreys (0-0) came in to pitch.

Cookie Rojas greeted Humphreys with a single to center ─ his third hit of the day, upping his team-leading average to .318 ─ .009 points higher than Richie Allen.

Chris Short walked to put runners at first and second with nobody out.

When Tony Gonzalez hit a come-backer to the mound, Humphreys fielded it on one hop, wheeled and threw to second to start a double-play. But Humphrey’s throw sailed into centerfield and Rojas scored to make it 8-1 Phils. Short advanced to third and Gonzalez was safe at first – and still nobody out.

Costen Shockley grounded into a 3-6-3 double-play, but Short scored to make it 9-1 Phillies.

Chris Short (9-5) finished the game to pick up the win and Bob Gibson (8-8) took the loss.

Giants Explode

With Joe Moeller and Juan Marichal locked up in a scoreless pitcher’s duel after five innings, the Giants exploded in the top of the sixth for nine runs on seven hits – none of them home runs. From there, Marichal (14-5) cruised home to an 11-3 complete-game victory over the L.A. Dodgers – his 12th CG of the season.

Moeller (5-9) took the loss.

The victory allowed the Giants to keep pace two games behind the first-place Phillies.

The Cardinals loss dropped them ten games behind the Phillies and seemingly out of the pennant chase.