A Shot in the Dark became a box-office smash during the week of June 23, 1964.

Directed by Blake Edwards, the comedy was the second episode of “The Pink Panther” series starring Peter Sellers as bumbling Inspector Jacques Clouseau of the French Sûreté.

The film co-starred Elke Sommer and introduced both Herbert Lom as the twitchy Commissioner Dreyfus and Burt Kwouk as Clouseau’s faithful man-servant Cato.

Twi-Nighter

After an off-day on Monday, the Phillies were home for three games in two days against the Chicago Cubs – a twi-nighter tonight and a singleton on Wednesday night.

The Cubs were mired in mediocrity in fifth place with a record of 30-30.

The Cubs and Phillies already played nine games with the Phillies winning six and the Cubs winning three.

First Game

It was a rematch of prime lefties in the first game. Chris Short (5-3) and Dick Ellsworth (8-6) faced each other five days earlier at Wrigley Field. Short won that first battle 6-3. Ellsworth had also lost a 10-8 barnburner to the Phillies on April 17th in Chicago.

In addition to his victory over the Cubs five days earlier, Short made two appearances against the Cubs in relief without giving up any runs or hits.

In the top of the first, Joey Amalfitano led off with a double and moved to third on a wild pitch. After Andre Rodgers struck out, Billy Williams hit a ground ball to second with the infield drawn in. Tony Taylor checked Amalfitano back to third and then threw Williams out at first for the second out.

Ron Santo walked to put runners on first and third with two outs.

Ernie Banks singled and Williams scored to give the Cubs a 1-0 lead.

The score remained 1-0 through the bottom of the third.

In the top of the fourth, Ernie Banks and Billy Cowan led off with back-to-back singles. Billy Ott then followed with a double and Banks scored to make it 2-0 Cubs. Cowan held third.

With runners on second and third and still nobody out, Chris Short bore down. He struck out Dick Bertell and Dick Ellsworth and retired Amalfitano on a popup to halt the scoring at 2-0.

But that was the ballgame.

Dick Ellsworth (9-6) pitched a five-hit shutout to pick up the win and Chris Short (5-4) took the loss.

Second Game

Ray Culp (3-5) took the mound in the second game against 22-year-old rookie right-hander Sterling Slaughter (2-1).

Slaughter was making the fourth start of his career. His best outing was a 5-2 complete-game victory over the Braves on June 5th.

Ray Culp was coming off a 7-2 complete-game win over the Mets four days earlier. He’d made two starts against the Cubs in April, splitting the decisions.

Culp retired the Cubs in the first.

In the bottom of the first, Tony Taylor led off with a single. John Herrnstein then walked to put runners on first and second with nobody out.

Johnny Callison singled and Taylor scored to make it 1-0 Phillies – with Herrnstein stopping at second.

After Richie Allen struck out, Wes Covington singled and Herrnstein scored to put the Phillies ahead 2-0. Callison advanced to third to make it first and third with two outs.

With left-handed hitters Tony Gonzalez and Clay Dalrymple on deck, Cubs manager Bob Kennedy replaced Slaughter with lefty Bobby Shantz (1-3).

Shantz made two prior relief appearances against the Phillies ─ one with the Cardinals and one after being traded to the Cubs at the trade deadline. He’d given up no runs or hits in 1 2/3 innings against the Phils.

Tony Gonzalez greeted Shantz with a single. Callison scored to make it 3-0 Phillies.

Culp retired the Cubs in the top of the second.

In the bottom of the second, with two outs, John Herrnstein doubled to center. Johnny Callison singled and Herrnstein scored to make it 4-0.

Richie Allen doubled and Callison scored to make it 5-0.

Meanwhile, Culp was working on a no-hitter through the first five innings.

In the bottom of the fifth, Richie Allen doubled. Wes Covington homered to make it 7-0 ─ his seventh of the season.

Gene Mauch made some defensive changes for the top of the sixth:

• Bobby Wine came in at shortstop.
• Cookie Rojas moved from short to leftfield replacing Covington.

With one out, Ray Culp lost the no-hitter when Len Gabrielson singled to center – but his shutout remained intact.

In the bottom of the six, Tony Taylor led off with a single. John Herrnstein doubled and Taylor scored to make it 8-0 Phillies. It was the third hit for Herrnstein – who would go 4-for-4 in the game.

One out later, Richie Allen doubled and Herrnstein scored to make it 9-0.

Ray Culp (4-5) retired the last nine batters to complete a one-hit, complete-game shutout. Sterling Slaughter (2-2) took the loss.

Giants Play Two

At Crosley Field in Cincinnati, the San Francisco Giants played a twi-nighter against the Reds.

Juan Marichal (9-3) pitched a seven-hitter in shutting out Jim Maloney (5-8) and the Reds 4-0 in the first game.

Duke Snider and Jose Pagan each drove in two runs for the Giants.

In the second game, Marty Keough hit a walk-off homer in the bottom of the 11th to give the Reds a 5-4 win and a split of the doubleheader. It was Keough’s third of the season.

Jim Ray Hart hit a pair of homers – numbers seven and eight – in a losing effort.

Sammy Ellis (4-2) picked up the win in relief and Gaylord Perry (4-3) took the loss, also in relief.

With both the Phillies and Giants splitting doubleheaders, the standings remained unchanged – the Phillies led the Giants by 1½ games.

(Excerpted from 1964 – The Year the Phillies Blew the Pennant by Barry Bowe.)