MAYS RESCUES GIANTS WITH 9TH INNING HOMER
No-Hit Into 7th, SF Rallies Late

HOUSTON, Sept. 21 (AP) - Willie Mays hit his league-leading 51st home run to give the San Francisco Giants a dramatic come-from-behind 3-1 win over Houston at Colt Stadium.  The victory moves the Giants to within a game of first place in the hotly contested National League, pending the outcome of first place Cincinnati's game at Philadelphia.

The Colt .45's took the lead off Giants starter Bob Bolin in the bottom of the first inning.  Al Spangler lined the first of his three hits on the day, a single to left-center field, to open the frame and moved to second when Rusty Staub walked two batters later.  Walt Bond then singled to left, scoring Spangler, and Houston held a 1-0 advantage.

Colt's starter Ken Johnson retired the first 11 batters he faced before walking Mays with two outs in the fourth, then retired nine in a row before finally surrendering his first hit of the game, a harmless two-out single off the bat of Jim Ray Hart with two outs in the seventh.

Johnson nursed his one-hitter--and the 1-0 lead--into the ninth.  Pinch hitter Jose Cardenal struck out to open the inning, but Harvey Kuenn grounded a single into left field to give the Giants hope.  Matty Alou's sharp grounder to the right side was smothered by second baseman Joe Morgan, but went for an infield hit, putting runners at first and second.  That brought Mays to the plate and on the very first pitch he deposited a Johnson fastball over the left field fence, giving San Francisco a 3-1 lead.  Gordon Jones replaced Johnson on the mound and retired Hart and Orlando Cepeda, but the damage had already been done.

In the bottom of the ninth, Masanori Murakami allowed a lead-off single to Aspromonte, but then retired Jimmy Wynn, Eddie Kasko and Johnny Bateman in order to preserve Bolin's victory.

9/21/1964, SF64-Hou64, Colt Stadium
 
                       1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9     R  H  E   LOB DP
1964 Giants            0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  3     3  4  0     2  1
1964 Colt .45's        1  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0     1  7  0     7  0
 
Giants               AB  R  H BI   AVG    Colt .45's           AB  R  H BI   AVG
Kuenn             lf  4  1  1  0  .259    Spangler          lf  4  1  3  0  .237
 Murakami         p   0  0  0  0  .000    Morgan,JL         2b  4  0  0  0  .091
Alou,M            rf  4  1  1  0  .219    Staub             rf  2  0  0  0  .204
Mays              cf  3  1  1  3  .296    Bond              1b  4  0  1  1  .204
Hart              3b  4  0  1  0  .288    Aspromonte        3b  4  0  2  0  .285
Cepeda            1b  4  0  0  0  .278    Wynn              cf  4  0  0  0  .145
Haller            c   3  0  0  0  .254    Kasko             ss  4  0  1  0  .232
Lanier            2b  3  0  0  0  .260    Bateman           c   4  0  0  0  .140
Davenport         ss  3  0  0  0  .211    Johnson,K         p   3  0  0  0  .189
Bolin             p   2  0  0  0  .125     Jones,G          p   0  0  0  0  .000
 Snider           ph  1  0  0  0  .179                         33  1  7  1
 Cardenal         lf  0  0  0  0  .000
                     31  3  4  3
 
Giants                           INN  H  R ER BB  K PCH STR   ERA
Bolin            W 10-5          8.0  6  1  1  2  6 110  71  2.84
Murakami         S 2             1.0  1  0  0  0  1  14  11  2.08
                                 9.0  7  1  1  2  7 124  82
 
Colt .45's                       INN  H  R ER BB  K PCH STR   ERA
Johnson,K        L 10-19         8.1  4  3  3  1  3  88  61  3.71
Jones,G                          0.2  0  0  0  0  0   9   4  4.37
                                 9.0  4  3  3  1  3  97  65
 
SF : Snider batted for Bolin in the 9th
     Cardenal inserted at lf in the 9th
 
HR-Mays(51). RBI-Mays 3(118), Bond(75). K-Mays, Davenport, Snider, Bond,
Aspromonte, Wynn 2, Bateman, Johnson,K 2. BB-Mays, Staub 2.
GWRBI: Mays
Temperature: 81, Sky: clear, Wind: right to left at 1 MPH.
Attendance: 4,837
Game Time: 2:01