BUCS COMEBACK SENDS BRAVES TO 8TH STRAIGHT DEFEAT
23-Hit Attack Keys 11-Inning Victory
PITTSBURGH, July 9 (AP) - The Pittsburgh Pirates overcame deficits of six and
four runs and outlasted the Milwaukee Braves for a 12-11 victory in 11 innings
at Forbes Field. The loss was Milwaukee's eighth in a row.
It appeared on several occasions as though the Braves would break their losing
streak. They scored three times in the first inning off Pirates starter
Vernon Law, keyed by back-to-back home runs off the bats of Denis Menke and
Henry Aaron and a run-scoring double from Joe Torre.
Pittsburgh countered with two runs in the second on Bill Mazeroski's third home
run of the year, which drove home Jim Pagliaroni who had singled.
But Milwaukee got the runs back in the fourth. Eddie Mathews slashed a
two-out, two-run single to left field, giving the Braves a 5-2 advantage.
Milwaukee appeared to break the game open in the top of the fifth when Torre
belted a two-run double and Ed Bailey hit a sacrifice fly off of reliever Steve
Blass, giving the Braves an 8-2 lead.
It became clear that the Pirates wouldn't go quietly when they immediately
countered with two runs in the bottom of the fifth off of Braves starter Warren
Spahn. With two outs, pinch hitter Gene Freese doubled and Bob Bailey
drove Freese home with a two-bagger of his own. When Manny Mota singled
home Bailey to cut the Pittsburgh deficit to four, Spahn was pulled in favor of
Chi Chi Olivo, who walked Roberto Clemente before ending the inning by retiring
Willie Stargell on a fly to center.
The Pirates then got right back in the game in the sixth. With one out,
Stargell, Mazeroski, Gene Alley and pinch hitter Jerry Lynch all banged out
consecutive singles, scoring one run and leaving the bases loaded.
Bailey's sacrifice fly to left scored Mazeroski with the second run of the
inning and Mota drove home Alley with a third run. Bob Sadowski replaced
Olivo and retired Clemente on a grounder to short to end the inning, but three
Pittsburgh runs had cut the Milwaukee lead to 8-7.
The Braves appeared to seize control again in the seventh against reliever Tom
Butters. Aaron led off with a single--his fourth hit of the game--and took
second when Mota dropped Lee Maye's sinking liner for an error. Torre
worked the count to 3-2 and struck out, but Aaron and Maye pulled off a double
steal, leaving runners on second and third. With the infield in, Rico
Carty rolled a grounder to Mazeroski at second who threw to the plate too
late. Aaron scored and the Braves had a 9-7 lead and runners on the
corners. Ed Bailey then singled to left, scoring Maye and when Willie
Stargell misplayed the ball, Carty took third with Bailey advancing to
second. Frank Bolling's sacrifice fly to left brought home Carty with the
third run of the inning and put the Braves on top 11-7.
Once again the Pirates came back and this time--in the bottom of the
seventh--they tied the game. Donn Clendenon led off with a single and
Pagliaroni doubled to left. Clendenon came around to score and the relay
throw to the plate by Menke was wild, allowing Pagliaroni to take third.
Stargell then grounded to third, but Mathews booted the ball for another error,
scoring Pagliaroni. Mazeroski grounded to third for the first out, but
Gene Alley walked, leaving runners on first and second. Bill Virdon pinch
hit for Butters and singled to right, scoring Mazeroski and chasing Alley to
third. Bobby Tiefenauer replaced Sadowski on the mound but was greeted by
Bob Bailey's single which scored Alley with the tying run. Mota grounded
into an inning-ending double play, but Pittsburgh had come all the way back.
The game remained tied until the bottom of the 11th. Billy Hoeft was
working his second inning of relief for the Braves and fanned Stargell to start
off the frame but Mazeroski followed with a double. Alley then singled
sharply to right and Mazeroski held at third. Virdon, who had stayed in
the game as part of a double switch following his pinch hitting appearance in
the seventh, then completed the successful comeback by grounding a single into
right field, driving home Mazeroski with the game-winning run.
The 23 hits accumulated by the Pirates represents a team-high and tied the major
league mark for the season. The Phillies banged out 23 hits in a 15-0
victory over the Mets on April 15 at Connie Mack Stadium. The 38 hits the
Braves and Pirates combined for marks the big league high thus far this season
for two teams in a single game.
7/9/1964, Mil64-Pit64, Forbes Field
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
11 R H E LOB DP
1964 Braves
3 0 0 2 3 0 3 0 0 0
0 11 15 2 7 2
1964 Pirates 0
2 0 0 2 3 4 0 0 0
1 12 23 4 11 2
Braves
AB R H BI AVG
Pirates
AB R H BI AVG
Mathews,E 3b 6
0 2 2 .248 Bailey,B
3b 4 1 2 3 .282
Menke ss
5 1 1 1 .311 Mota
cf 5 0 3 2 .221
Aaron rf
6 3 4 1 .287
Sisk
p 0 0 0 0 .000
Maye
cf 6 3 2 0 .322
Burgess ph 1
0 0 0 .194
Torre
1b 5 1 2 3 .325
Face
p 0 0 0 0 .000
Carty
lf 6 1 0 1 .323 Clemente
rf 5 0 2 0 .305
Bailey,E c
4 1 3 2 .238 Clendenon
1b 6 1 2 0 .285
Bolling 2b
3 1 1 1 .183 Pagliaroni
c 6 1 3 1 .264
de la Hoz ph 1
0 0 0 .329 Stargell
lf 6 3 1 0 .260
Spahn
p 1 0 0 0 .268 Mazeroski
2b 6 3 4 2 .265
Olivo
p 1 0 0 0 .000
Alley ss
5 2 2 1 .186
Sadowski p
1 0 0 0 .130
Law
p 1 0 0 0 .425
Tiefenauer p 0
0 0 0 .000 Blass
p 0 0 0 0 .182
Ranew
ph 1 0 0 0 .093 Freese
ph 1 1 1 0 .190
Hoeft
p 0 0 0 0 .667
Priddy p
0 0 0 0 .000
46 11 15 11
Lynch ph
1 0 1 0 .243
Butters p
0 0 0 0 .500
Virdon ph
3 0 2 2 .211
50 12 23 11
Braves
INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA
Spahn
4.2 8 4 4 0 3 71 50 3.85
Olivo
1.0 5 3 3 1 0 36 19 9.35
Sadowski H
1
0.2 3 4 3 1 0 24 13 4.84
Tiefenauer BS
3 2.2
3 0 0 1 2 33 24 2.39
Hoeft L
1-3 1.1
4 1 1 0 3 27 22 4.50
10.1 23 12 11 3 8 191 128
Pirates
INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA
Law
3.2 7 5 4 0 2 57 44 4.15
Blass
1.1 3 3 3 0 1 24 14 2.61
Priddy
1.0 1 0 0 0 0 9 5
3.00
Butters
1.0 2 3 0 0 1 25 15 5.04
Sisk
2.0 1 0 0 2 1 27 16 10.80
Face W
1-4 2.0
1 0 0 0 1 17 12 5.23
11.0 15 11 7 2 6 159 106
Mil: de la Hoz batted for Bolling in the 9th
de la Hoz moved to 2b in the 9th
Ranew batted for Tiefenauer in the 10th
Pit: Freese batted for Blass in the 5th
Lynch batted for Priddy in the 6th
Virdon batted for Butters in the 7th
Virdon moved to cf in the 8th
Burgess batted for Sisk in the 9th
E-Mathews,E, Menke, Bailey,B, Mota, Stargell 2. 2B-Aaron(14), Torre(20),
Bailey,E(3), Bailey,B(13), Clendenon(7), Pagliaroni 2(10), Mazeroski(10),
Freese(8). HR-Menke(13), Aaron(10), Mazeroski(3). RBI-Mathews,E 2(34),
Menke(47), Aaron(31), Torre 3(57), Carty(24), Bailey,E 2(15), Bolling(21),
Bailey,B 3(26), Mota 2(8), Pagliaroni(14), Mazeroski 2(28), Alley(7),
Virdon 2(20). SB-Aaron(13), Maye(4). CS-Clemente. K-Menke, Maye 2, Torre 2,
Ranew, Clendenon, Pagliaroni, Stargell 2, Alley 2, Law, Burgess. BB-Menke,
Torre, Bailey,B, Clemente, Alley. SH-Spahn. SF-Bailey,E, Bolling, Bailey,B.
WP-Tiefenauer.
GWRBI: Virdon
Temperature: 78, Sky: partly cloudy, Wind: right to left at 16 MPH.
Attendance: 8,784
Game Time: 3:36