WILD VEALE ENDS BUCS' SKID WITH NO-HIT EFFORT
Feat Accomplished Despite 7 BBs
PITTSBURGH, Sept. 4 (AP) - Bob Veale overcame a rash of control problems to fire
a complete game no-hitter as the Pittsburgh Pirates defeated the Houston Colt
.45's, 2-0, at Forbes Field. The victory snapped a three-game losing
streak for the Pirates, who had also dropped nine of their last 12
contests. Pittsburgh remains in fifth place, 4 1/2 games out of first.
Veale walked seven batters, while striking out eight, but was assisted by a pair
of double plays turned by his teammates.
The Pirates struggled to find runs against Houston starter Bob Bruce, but
finally broke a scoreless deadlock in the bottom of the fifth inning. Donn
Clendenon led off with a double into the right-center field gap and was
sacrificed to third by Bill Mazeroski. Jim Pagliaroni was walked
intentionally to set up a possible double play, but Gene Alley lifted a fly ball
to center that was just deep enough to score Clendenon. The sacrifice fly
gave Pittsburgh a 1-0 lead.
The Pirates picked up a welcome insurance run in the eighth. Facing
reliever Gordon Jones, Veale led off and reached on an error committed by
shortstop Eddie Kasko. Bob Bailey then laid down a fine sacrifice bunt,
advancing Veale to second. Bill Virdon fouled out to third, but Roberto
Clemente lined a single to left-center--his third hit of the game--scoring Veale
with the unearned run to make it 2-0.
Veale struggled to consistently throw strikes throughout the entire game.
He walked two batters in both the first and fifth innings, but was aided in the
former when Kasko was thrown out trying to steal second and in the latter when
Bruce grounded into an inning-ending double play.
In the ninth inning, the crowd of 11,640 was on its feet and watched as Kasko
hit a ground ball that deflected off of Veale's glove to shortstop Alley who
threw out Kasko. Lillis was retired on a fly ball to Manny Mota in left
field, but Veale--possibly feeling the tension--proceeded to walk Mike White on
four pitches to prolong the game. Walt Bond was next and he worked the
count to 3-2 before grounding to Alley for the final out of the game, sealing
the no-hitter.
Veale had four previous complete games in which he had surrendered two hits (2)
or three hits (2), but had never carried a no-hitter past the fifth inning in
any of his previous 31 starts this year. He is the first National League
pitcher to throw a no-hitter this season and the third in all of the major
leagues. Al Downing of the New York Yankees no-hit the Washington Senators
at Yankee Stadium on May 3. Juan Pizarro of the Chicago White Sox turned
the trick on August 11 against the Yankees--also at Yankee Stadium.
9/4/1964, Hou64-Pit64, Forbes Field 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E LOB DP 1964 Colt .45's 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 4 0 1964 Pirates 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 x 2 6 0 6 2 Colt .45's AB R H BI AVG Pirates AB R H BI AVG Kasko ss 3 0 0 0 .231 Bailey,B 3b 3 0 0 0 .292 Lillis 2b 2 0 0 0 .293 Virdon cf 4 0 1 0 .225 White,M lf 3 0 0 0 .285 Clemente rf 4 0 3 1 .320 Bond 1b 3 0 0 0 .208 Lynch lf 2 0 0 0 .242 Aspromonte 3b 3 0 0 0 .279 Mota lf 1 0 1 0 .231 Gaines rf 2 0 0 0 .250 Clendenon 1b 3 1 1 0 .262 Hardy cf 3 0 0 0 .172 Stargell ph 1 0 0 0 .266 Grote c 2 0 0 0 .188 Mazeroski 2b 2 0 0 0 .259 Bruce p 2 0 0 0 .103 Pagliaroni c 1 0 0 0 .287 Fox,N ph 1 0 0 0 .275 Burgess ph 1 0 0 0 .221 Jones,G p 0 0 0 0 .000 Alley ss 2 0 0 1 .213 24 0 0 0 Veale p 3 1 0 0 .132 27 2 6 2 Colt .45's INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Bruce L 9-12 7.0 4 1 1 1 2 84 56 3.08 Jones,G 1.0 2 1 0 0 0 21 14 5.19 8.0 6 2 1 1 2 105 70 Pirates INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Veale W 17-9 9.0 0 0 0 7 8 141 79 2.36 9.0 0 0 0 7 8 141 79 Hou: Fox,N batted for Bruce in the 8th Pit: Mota inserted at lf in the 7th Burgess batted for Pagliaroni in the 7th Burgess moved to c in the 8th Stargell batted for Clendenon in the 8th Stargell moved to 1b in the 9th E-Kasko. 2B-Clendenon(9). RBI-Clemente(47), Alley(13). SB-Lillis(4). CS-Kasko, Virdon. K-Kasko, White,M, Bond, Aspromonte, Gaines, Hardy, Grote, Bruce, Mazeroski, Alley. BB-Kasko, Lillis 2, White,M, Bond, Gaines, Grote, Pagliaroni. SH-Bailey,B, Mazeroski. SF-Alley. HBP-Lynch. HB-Bruce. GWRBI: Alley Temperature: 69, Sky: clear, Wind: right to left at 10 MPH. Attendance: 11,640 Game Time: 2:10