BUCS GO BACK-TO-BACK-TO-BACK IN LOSING EFFORT
Fall to Mets in Opener; Gain Split in Nightcap
PITTSBURGH, Apr. 26 (AP) - Willie Stargell, Donn Clendenon and Bob Bailey hit
back-to-back-to-back home runs off New York Mets starter Jay Hook to overcome a
four-run deficit in the first inning, but ultimately the Pittsburgh Pirates fell
to New York, 8-7, in the first game of a doubleheader at Forbes Field. The
Pirates bounced back to gain the split by winning the nightcap, 4-1, behind a
strong effort from stater Don Schwall.
In game one, the Mets sent nine men to the plate and pounded Pittsburgh starter
Bob Friend for four runs in the top of the first on an RBI ground out off the
bat of Tim Harkness and run-scoring hits from Frank Thomas and Amado
Samuel. But the Pirates got the runs back immediately in the bottom half
of the inning. Roberto Clemente singled off Hook with two outs and
Stargell followed with his first home run of the year, over the center field
wall, to halve the New York lead. Clendenon then added his fourth longball
of the season, tying him with Ernie Banks of the Chicago Cubs, for the National
League lead. Bob Bailey made it three home runs in a row with a towering
shot over the left field wall to tie the game. The Pirates became the
first team in major league baseball this season to hit three home runs in
consecutive plate appearances.
The Mets immediately got two of the runs back, and chased Friend in the process,
in the second inning when Pirates catcher Orlando McFarlane dropped a perfect
throw to the plate for an error, allowing Ron Hunt to score on Thomas'
single. Harkness then scored on a base hit off the bat of Jesse Gonder,
putting the Mets on top 6-4 and ending the afternoon for Friend.
The Pirates knocked Hook out of the box in the third and took the lead, 7-6, on
Bill Mazeroski's three-run blast to left.
The bullpens took over, in the form of Joe Gibbon for Pittsburgh and Galen Cisco
for New York, and both pitchers righted the ship. Gibbon pitched through
the seventh, firing 5 1/3 innings of two-hit shutout ball. Cisco, for his
part, got the Mets through the seventh with 4 2/3 innings of hitless, scoreless
relief.
With the score still 7-6 in the eighth, and Gibbon out of the game, the Mets
regained the lead against Roy Face. Pinch hitter Jim Hickman led off the
frame with a double. Samuel attempted to sacrifice the runner to third,
but popped up the bunt for the first out. Face retired pinch hitter Joe
Christopher on a grounder to second, with Hickman advancing to third, for the
second out. But Charley Smith followed with his first home run since being
acquired by the Mets from the Chicago White Sox. The fly ball clipped the
foul pole down the left field line and New York had the lead.
Bill Wakefield came on in the eighth for the Mets and pitched around a leadoff
single by Clendenon and Face set the Mets down in order in the ninth. In
the bottom half of the inning, Wakefield walked Dick Schofield with one out,
with Rex Johnston taking over as the runner at first. Pinch hitter Jerry
Lynch fanned, but Clemente dropped a single into left-center field, chasing
Johnston to third. Julio Gotay came on to hit for Face and struck out,
closing out the New York win.
In the nightcap, Schwall and Tracy Stallard matched zeroes through the top of
the fifth, but the Pirates broke the scoreless deadlock in the bottom half of
the inning when Clendenon's two-out single plated Clemente, who had
walked. The Pirates extended their lead to 2-0 in the seventh when
Clendenon's base hit drove home Clemente again and, with two outs, when Schwall
plated two more runs off reliever Larry Bearnarth with a single.
The Mets finally got to Schwall in the eighth on a leadoff pinch hit home run
off the bat of Ed Kranepool, cutting the Pirates' lead to 4-1, but that was as
close as they would get. Frank Bork allowed the tying run to come to the
plate in the top of the ninth but retired pinch hitter Hawk Taylor on a foul pop
fly to close out the game.
4/26/1964, NYN64-Pit64, game 1, Forbes Field 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E LOB DP 1964 Mets 4 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 8 13 0 7 0 1964 Pirates 4 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 7 9 3 6 1 Mets AB R H BI AVG Pirates AB R H BI AVG Smith,C 3b 5 2 2 2 .267 Schofield ss 3 0 0 0 .325 Hunt,R 2b 4 1 3 0 .405 Johnston pr 0 0 0 0 .000 Harkness 1b 4 2 0 1 .174 Virdon cf 3 0 0 0 .300 Altman rf 5 1 1 0 .333 Lynch ph 1 0 0 0 .200 Thomas,F lf 5 1 2 1 .353 Clemente rf 5 1 2 0 .400 Gonder c 5 0 1 1 .263 Stargell lf 4 1 1 2 .152 Elliot cf 2 0 0 0 .154 Face p 0 0 0 0 .000 Hickman ph 1 1 1 0 .300 Gotay ph 1 0 0 0 .500 Samuel ss 4 0 3 1 .240 Clendenon 1b 4 2 3 1 .350 Hook p 1 0 0 0 .000 Bailey,B 3b 3 2 1 1 .237 Cisco p 1 0 0 0 .000 Mazeroski 2b 4 1 1 3 .270 Christopher ph 1 0 0 0 .176 McFarlane c 3 0 0 0 .000 Wakefield p 0 0 0 0 .000 Burgess ph 1 0 0 0 .000 38 8 13 6 Law p 0 0 0 0 .600 Gibbon p 3 0 1 0 .500 Mota lf 1 0 0 0 .000 36 7 9 7 Mets INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Hook 2.1 7 7 7 2 2 62 35 27.00 Cisco W 1-0 4.2 0 0 0 1 1 37 25 2.16 Wakefield S 2 2.0 2 0 0 1 2 31 17 4.91 9.0 9 7 7 4 5 130 77 Pirates INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Law 1.2 8 6 3 2 1 53 32 5.84 Gibbon 5.1 2 0 0 1 4 64 39 2.75 Face BS 2, L 0-2 2.0 3 2 2 0 1 28 19 7.11 9.0 13 8 5 3 6 145 90 NYN: Hickman batted for Elliot in the 8th Christopher batted for Cisco in the 8th Hickman moved to cf in the 8th Pit: Mota inserted at lf in the 8th Burgess batted for McFarlane in the 8th Burgess moved to c in the 9th Johnston ran for Schofield in the 9th Lynch batted for Virdon in the 9th Gotay batted for Face in the 9th E-Clemente, Stargell, McFarlane. 2B-Smith,C(1), Hickman(1). HR-Smith,C(1), Stargell(1), Clendenon(4), Bailey,B(1), Mazeroski(1). RBI-Smith,C 2(2), Harkness(1), Thomas,F(5), Gonder(5), Samuel(2), Stargell 2(6), Clendenon(7), Bailey,B(2), Mazeroski 3(9). K-Thomas,F, Gonder 3, Elliot 2, Virdon, McFarlane 2, Lynch, Gotay. BB-Hunt,R, Harkness, Elliot, Schofield 2, Virdon, Bailey,B. SH-Hook. GWRBI: Smith,C Temperature: 56, Sky: clear, Wind: left to right at 3 MPH. Attendance: N/A Game Time: 2:42 4/26/1964, NYN64-Pit64, game 2, Forbes Field 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E LOB DP 1964 Mets 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 6 2 6 1 1964 Pirates 0 0 0 0 1 0 3 0 x 4 13 0 15 1 Mets AB R H BI AVG Pirates AB R H BI AVG Smith,C 3b 4 0 0 0 .211 Schofield ss 4 0 1 0 .318 Hunt,R 2b 4 0 1 0 .390 Virdon cf 5 0 1 0 .289 Harkness 1b 3 0 1 0 .192 Clemente rf 4 2 1 0 .386 Hickman ph 1 0 0 0 .286 Stargell lf 5 0 1 0 .158 Altman rf 3 0 2 0 .389 Bork p 0 0 0 0 .000 Thomas,F lf 4 0 0 0 .316 Clendenon 1b 4 1 3 2 .386 Gonder c 3 0 0 0 .227 Bailey,B 3b 4 0 1 0 .238 Bearnarth p 0 0 0 0 .000 Mazeroski 2b 5 1 1 0 .262 Christopher ph 0 0 0 0 .176 Pagliaroni c 3 0 2 0 .353 Elliot cf 3 0 0 0 .125 Schwall p 4 0 2 2 .429 Taylor,H ph 1 0 0 0 .231 Mota lf 0 0 0 0 .000 Samuel ss 2 0 0 0 .222 38 4 13 4 Kranepool ph 1 1 1 1 .400 Moran,A ss 0 0 0 0 .231 Stallard p 2 0 1 0 .400 Cannizzaro c 1 0 0 0 .000 32 1 6 1 Mets INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Stallard L 0-3 6.2 10 4 4 4 4 114 71 7.88 Bearnarth 1.1 3 0 0 1 2 34 20 5.00 8.0 13 4 4 5 6 148 91 Pirates INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Schwall W 2-0 8.0 5 1 1 1 6 97 63 2.57 Bork S 1 1.0 1 0 0 1 0 17 9 2.70 9.0 6 1 1 2 6 114 72 NYN: Cannizzaro inserted at c in the 7th Kranepool batted for Samuel in the 8th Moran,A inserted at ss in the 8th Hickman batted for Harkness in the 9th Christopher batted for Bearnarth in the 9th Taylor,H batted for Elliot in the 9th Pit: Mota inserted at lf in the 9th E-Hunt,R, Samuel. HR-Kranepool(1). RBI-Kranepool(3), Clendenon 2(9), Schwall 2(2). K-Smith,C, Hunt,R, Harkness, Samuel, Stallard, Cannizzaro, Schofield, Virdon, Stargell 2, Clendenon, Schwall. BB-Altman, Christopher, Schofield, Clemente, Clendenon, Bailey,B, Pagliaroni. WP-Bork. GWRBI: Clendenon Temperature: 56, Sky: clear, Wind: left to right at 3 MPH. Attendance: 9,559 Game Time: 2:22