BRAVES WIN MARATHON ON OLIVER HR
Overcome Deficit in 18th
MILWAUKEE, Apr. 24 (AP) - Having fallen behind the Dodgers 4-3 in the top of the
18th inning, the Milwaukee Braves tied the game on Lee Maye's ground ball and
won it on Gene Oliver's two-run home run, in the longest contest in to date in
the young season. The heroics made a winner of Tony Cloninger (2-0), who
had thrown five innings of shutout relief before being nicked for what appeared
to be a decisive unearned run in the top of the 18th. Ron Perranoski, who
had been pushed into a fifth inning of work, absorbed the defeat.
Los Angeles Dodgers had tied the game at three with a run in the top of the
eighth. That tally had been followed by nine scoreless frames.
The Braves had seemed to be on their way to a comfortable win when they scored
twice in the fourth on Mike Bolling's two-run homer and upped their lead to
three runs in the fifth on Felipe Alou's solo shot. Milwaukee starter Hank
Fischer, meanwhile, held the Dodgers hitless until the fifth, when Johnny
Roseboro singled with one out, and shutout Los Angeles through five.
But the tide turned in the top of the sixth. Maury Wills led off the
inning with his first home run of the year to cut the Milwaukee lead to
3-1. Jim Gilliam and Tommy Davis followed with consecutive singles and Ron
Fairly sacrificed the runners to second and third with one out. Frank
Howard drew a walk to fill the bases and, with lefty swinging Willie Davis due,
that marked the end of Fischer's day. Billy Hoeft came on and retired
Davis on a pop to short but Roseboro reached on an infield single to cut the
Braves' lead to 3-2. Hoeft retired Johnny Werhas on ground ball to third,
but the sense of an inevitable Braves win was gone.
The score remained 3-2 into the eighth when the Dodgers knotted the score.
Phil Niekro was on the mound to start the inning and immediately surrendered a
double to Tommy Davis. Fairly drew a walk and Howard lined a single to
right to fill the bases. Bobby Tiefenauer was summoned to deal with a
messy situation and he rose to the occasion. Willie Davis lifted a fly
ball to right field that was deep enough to score Tommy Davis, but Tiefenauer
held the Dodgers right there, getting Roseboro to roll into a fielder's choice
and retiring pinch hitter Wally Moon on a ground all to end the inning.
Scoring opportunities thereafter were limited. Willie Davis slapped a
two-out double in the top of the 10th, but was stranded. The Braves
advanced Ty Cline to second base with two outs in the bottom of the 12th, but
couldn't bring him home. In the top of the 14th, Wills led off with a
single and was sacrificed to second by Gilliam. But pinch hitter Jeff
Torborg grounded out, Fairly was intentionally passed and Howard grounded out to
end the frame.
The best chance prior to the 18th belonged to Milwaukee. Cline led off the
bottom of the 15th with a triple to right-center field. The Dodgers had to
bring the infield and the outfield in, but Perranoski did the job, getting
Cloninger to roll out to the pulled in Werhas at third, and struck out Eddie
Mathews--who went 0-for-8. Henry Aaron was intentionally walked and Joe
Torre bounced back to Perranoski to end the inning.
The Dodgers finally broke through against Cloninger in the 18th. Willie
Davis doubled over Lee Maye's head in left field for a lead off double and took
third when Maye booted the ball for an error. Lee Walls followed with a
fly ball to left which scored Davis easily. Dick Tracewski singled, but
Cloninger recovered and retired Wes Parker and Wills to end the inning.
Backs to the wall, the Braves came to bat in the bottom of the 18th and Aaron
walked on a 3-2 pitch and immediately stole second base. Torre hit one
back to the mound but Perranoski bobbled it, allowing the batter to reach and
Aaron, as the tying run, to move to third. Maye followed with a slow
roller to short. Wills' only play was first base, which allowed Aaron to
score, tying the game, with Torre moving to second. That brought up Gene
Oliver, who had entered the contest in the eighth as a pinch hitter and remained
in the game. The count filled at 3-2 and Perranoski tried to slip a
breaking ball past Oliver. The ball landed in the left field bleachers and
the Braves had their win.
4/24/1964, LAN64-Mil64, County Stadium 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 1964 Dodgers 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 1964 Braves 0 0 0 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 13 14 15 16 17 18 R H E LOB DP 1964 Dodgers 0 0 0 0 0 1 4 14 2 15 1 1964 Braves 0 0 0 0 0 3 6 12 1 11 2 Dodgers AB R H BI AVG Braves AB R H BI AVG Wills ss 8 1 3 1 .255 Alou,F cf 4 1 2 1 .256 Gilliam 2b 6 1 2 0 .293 Niekro p 0 0 0 0 .000 Davis,T lf 5 1 2 0 .326 Tiefenauer p 0 0 0 0 .000 Brewer p 0 0 0 0 .000 de la Hoz ph 1 0 0 0 .000 McMullen ph 1 0 0 0 .333 Smith,J p 0 0 0 0 .000 Miller,B p 0 0 0 0 .333 Gabrielson ph 1 0 0 0 .000 Torborg ph 2 0 0 0 .000 Cloninger p 2 0 0 0 .000 Fairly 1b 5 0 0 0 .184 Mathews,E 3b 8 0 0 0 .111 Howard,F rf 6 0 1 0 .231 Aaron rf 6 1 2 0 .233 Perranoski p 1 0 0 0 .000 Torre 1b 8 1 0 0 .250 Davis,W cf 7 1 3 1 .370 Maye lf 8 0 1 1 .372 Roseboro c 4 0 2 1 .289 Bailey,E c 3 1 1 0 .292 Walls rf 1 0 0 1 .333 Oliver,G ph 5 1 1 2 .313 Werhas 3b 3 0 0 0 .194 Bolling 2b 7 1 2 2 .235 Moon ph 1 0 0 0 .000 Menke ss 5 0 0 0 .167 Tracewski 2b 3 0 1 0 .333 Fischer,H p 2 0 0 0 .000 Moeller p 3 0 0 0 .000 Hoeft p 0 0 0 0 .000 Richert p 0 0 0 0 .000 Carty ph 1 0 1 0 .400 Parker ph 5 0 0 0 .143 Cline pr 4 0 2 0 .429 61 4 14 4 65 6 12 6 Dodgers INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Moeller 6.1 7 3 3 1 2 69 52 4.32 Richert 1.2 0 0 0 0 2 21 14 1.04 Brewer 3.0 0 0 0 1 4 43 29 0.00 Miller,B 2.0 2 0 0 0 1 18 13 2.84 Perranoski L 2-1 4.1 3 3 2 2 4 76 49 3.00 17.1 12 6 5 4 13 227 157 Braves INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Fischer,H 5.1 5 2 2 3 7 96 58 1.88 Hoeft H 1 1.2 2 0 0 0 0 17 16 3.00 Niekro 0.0 2 1 1 1 0 13 6 6.00 Tiefenauer BS 1 2.0 1 0 0 0 0 23 17 1.80 Smith,J 3.0 1 0 0 1 2 28 19 1.23 Cloninger W 2-0 6.0 3 1 0 3 1 67 39 1.23 18.0 14 4 3 8 10 244 155 LAN: Moon batted for Werhas in the 8th Gilliam moved to 3b in the 8th Tracewski inserted at 2b in the 8th Parker batted for Richert in the 9th Parker moved to lf in the 9th McMullen batted for Brewer in the 12th Torborg batted for Miller,B in the 14th Torborg moved to c in the 14th Walls inserted at rf in the 14th Mil: Carty batted for Hoeft in the 7th Cline ran for Carty in the 7th Cline moved to cf in the 8th Oliver,G batted for Bailey,E in the 8th Torre moved to c in the 9th Oliver,G moved to 1b in the 9th de la Hoz batted for Tiefenauer in the 9th Gabrielson batted for Smith,J in the 12th E-Gilliam, Perranoski, Maye. 2B-Davis,T(2), Davis,W 2(4). 3B-Cline(1). HR-Wills(2), Alou,F(2), Bolling(1), Oliver,G(2). RBI-Wills(4), Davis,W(6), Roseboro(4), Walls(2), Alou,F(3), Maye(3), Bolling 2(5), Oliver,G 2(3). SB-Wills(4), Aaron(1). CS-Tracewski. K-Wills, Gilliam, Davis,T, Fairly, Howard,F 2, Werhas, Moeller, Parker, McMullen, Mathews,E 4, Aaron 2, Torre 2, Maye, Bolling, Menke, Cline, Oliver,G. BB-Wills, Gilliam, Fairly 2, Howard,F, Roseboro 2, Tracewski, Aaron 2, Menke 2. SH-Gilliam, Fairly. SF-Davis,W, Walls. GWRBI: Oliver,G Temperature: 72, Sky: clear, Wind: right to left at 8 MPH. Attendance: 11,115 Game Time: 4:35