DRYSDALE 1ST TO 15 WINS
L.A. RHP Cops Unlikely Win in Seesaw Affair
LOS ANGELES, July 17 (AP) - Don Drysdale became the major leagues' first 15-game
winner when the Los Angeles Dodgers rallied for two runs in the bottom of the
10th inning to defeat the Chicago Cubs, 4-3, at Dodger Stadium. The
right-hander's 13 complete games rank him second in the National League behind
Juan Marichal, who has 14.
The odds seemed stacked against Drysdale when the Cubs pushed across a run in
the top of the 10th but the Los Angeles rally rescued him.
In what was a tight, exciting--if not a particularly crisply played--game the
Dodgers dented the scoreboard first with a two-out third inning rally against
Chicago starter Bob Buhl. After Drysdale and Maury Wills were retired,
Darrell Griffith singled to right and stole second base. Willie Davis
reached safely on a swinging bunt to the left side of the infield, with Griffth
advancing to third. Ron Fairly then sprayed a single to left-center field,
scoring Griffith and giving the Dodgers the lead.
Los Angeles doubled its advantage in the sixth. Tommy Davis lined a
one-out single to right field and moved to third when Frank Howard grounded a
base hit up the middle. Nate Oliver followed by bouncing a single through
the left side of the infield, scoring Davis and moving Howard to second.
Drysdale grounded out, with both runners advancing 90 feet, and Buhl was
replaced on the mound by Bobby Shantz, who walked Wills but stranded the bases
loaded when he retired Griffith on a ground ball to second.
The Dodgers would regret their inability to expand their lead beyond 2-0.
The Cubs halved the deficit on an unearned run in the seventh inning. With
two outs, Dick Bertell's roller to the right side went for an infield hit.
Andre Rodgers' routine ground ball to first was booted by Ron Fairly for an
error, leaving runners on first and second. Jimmy Stewart pinch hit for
Shantz and drew a five-pitch walk from Drysdale to fill the bases. Billy
Cowan then looped a single to left field, in front of Tommy Davis. Bertell
scored easily but Davis gunned Rodgers down at the plate to preserve a 2-1 lead.
That advantage was short-lived, however. Billy Williams belted his 20th
home run of the season, a one-out solo shot, in the eighth, tying the game at
2-2.
The game remained tied until the top of the 10th. Joey Amalfitano opened
the frame with a single to center field. Williams flied out, but on the
first pitch to Ron Santo, Amalfitano stole second. Santo eventually
grounded weakly to short for the second out, with Amalfitano advancing to
third. Ernie Banks then drilled a double to left-center, scoring
Amalfitano and giving the Cubs their first lead of the game. Drysdale
appeared to be running out of gas, but induced a ground ball to short off the
bat of Len Gabrielson. Unfortunately for the Dodgers, Wills kicked it for
an error, the third miscue of the day for Los Angeles. After a meeting at
the mound, Dodgers manager Walter Alston decided to stay with Drysdale who
validated the move by striking out Bertell to end the inning.
As the Dodgers prepared to bat in the bottom of the tenth they hadn't moved a
runner past first base since they pushed across their second run in the sixth
inning. Lee Gregory was on for his second inning of work for the Cubs and
immediately walked Fairly to open the frame. Johnny Roseboro then punched
an opposite field single, putting runners on first and second. Lee Walls
pinch ran for Roseboro, representing the potential winning run. Lindy
McDaniel was called upon to replace Gregory on the hill, but on his first toss
to Tommy Davis uncorked a wild pitch, allowing the tying and winning runs to
advance into scoring position with no outs. Davis lifted a deep fly to
left that was caught on the warning track by a backpedaling Williams.
Fairly tagged and scored to tie the game and Davis moved to third. The
infield and outfield both crept in for Chicago as McDaniel readied himself to
face Howard. After a called strike, Howard grounded sharply to Amalfitano,
on the rim of the infield grass. The ball scooted right through his legs
for an error and Walls danced home with the winning run, giving Drysdale a
hard-fought 15th victory of the season.
7/17/1964, ChN64-LAN64, Dodger Stadium 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 R H E LOB DP 1964 Cubs 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 3 9 2 10 0 1964 Dodgers 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 2 4 11 3 11 0 Cubs AB R H BI AVG Dodgers AB R H BI AVG Cowan cf 5 0 3 1 .265 Wills ss 3 0 1 0 .276 Amalfitano 2b 4 1 1 0 .219 Griffith 3b 5 1 2 0 .282 Williams,B lf 5 1 1 1 .301 Davis,W cf 5 0 1 0 .279 Santo 3b 4 0 0 0 .287 Fairly 1b 4 1 1 1 .238 Banks,E 1b 5 0 1 1 .274 Roseboro c 5 0 1 0 .248 Gabrielson rf 5 0 0 0 .224 Walls pr 0 1 0 0 .167 McDaniel p 0 0 0 0 .000 Davis,T lf 3 1 2 1 .274 Bertell c 5 1 1 0 .205 Howard,F rf 5 0 1 0 .230 Rodgers,A ss 4 0 2 0 .246 Oliver,N 2b 4 0 2 1 .245 Buhl p 2 0 0 0 .209 Drysdale p 4 0 0 0 .119 Shantz p 0 0 0 0 .000 38 4 11 3 Stewart ph 0 0 0 0 .240 Schurr p 0 0 0 0 .000 Ott ph 1 0 0 0 .063 Gregory p 0 0 0 0 .000 Burke rf 0 0 0 0 .318 40 3 9 3 Cubs INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Buhl 5.2 9 2 2 1 2 76 50 3.44 Shantz 0.1 0 0 0 1 0 7 3 3.46 Schurr 2.0 0 0 0 0 2 26 19 3.32 Gregory L 0-1 1.0 2 2 1 1 1 12 7 8.44 McDaniel BS 1 0.1 0 0 0 0 0 5 4 2.18 9.1 11 4 3 3 5 126 83 Dodgers INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Drysdale W 15-4 10.0 9 3 2 2 8 149 103 1.73 10.0 9 3 2 2 8 149 103 ChN: Stewart batted for Shantz in the 7th Ott batted for Schurr in the 9th Burke inserted at rf in the 10th LAN: Walls ran for Roseboro in the 10th E-Amalfitano, Santo, Wills, Fairly 2. 2B-Banks,E(12). HR-Williams,B(20). RBI-Cowan(40), Williams,B(55), Banks,E(69), Fairly(29), Davis,T(42), Oliver,N(5). SB-Amalfitano(1), Griffith(2). CS-Wills, Davis,W. K-Cowan, Amalfitano, Williams,B, Santo, Banks,E, Gabrielson, Bertell 2, Griffith, Howard,F, Oliver,N, Drysdale 2. BB-Santo, Stewart, Wills, Fairly, Davis,T. SH-Amalfitano. SF-Davis,T. HBP-Wills. HB-Buhl. WP-McDaniel, Drysdale. Temperature: 65, Sky: clear, Wind: left to right at 4 MPH. Attendance: 27,684 Game Time: 2:39