O'S CLINCH AL CROWN WITH DH SWEEP OF NATS
Siebern's Pinch HR in Nightcap Is Key Blow
BALTIMORE, Sept. 30 (AP) The Baltimore Orioles swept a doubleheader from the
Washington Senators on a rainy day at Memorial Stadium and in so doing clinched
the American League title. Wally Bunker tossed 6 1/3 innings of shutout
ball in the opener before being lifted following a rain delay of an hour and 14
minutes en route to his 17th win--a 4-1 decision. In the nightcap, Norm
Siebern's two-out, three-run pinch hit home run in the bottom of the eighth gave
the Orioles a 4-2 lead and Stu Miller escaped a bases loaded, no outs jam in the
top of the ninth to close out the game.
The sweep extends Baltimore's winning streak to five and caps a tremendous run
by the Orioles down the stretch to lock up the pennant with four days remaining
on the regular season schedule. Beginning with action on Sept. 4, the
Orioles have won 20 of 25 games.
In the opener, the Orioles drew first blood with single runs in the second and
third innings. Brooks Robinson led off the former frame with a double and
Siebern's two-bagger, two outs later, gave the Birds a 1-0 lead. In the
third, Jerry Adair doubled and, with two outs, Robinson's second double of the
game put the Orioles on top, 2-0.
The Senators cut that lead in half after Bunker (17-6) was removed following the
rain delay in the seventh. Steve Barber relieved Bunker and Willie
Kirkland greeted him with a home run into the right field stands.
The Orioles picked up a pair of insurance runs in the eighth. Adair led
off with a walk and reliever Steve Kline wild pitched him to second. Boog
Powell singled sharply to right with Adair holding at third. Steve Rizdik
replaced Kline to face Robinson who promptly smacked his third hit of the the
game--a single--scoring Adair and moving Powell to second. Sam Bowens
flied to the warning track in left-center for the first out, with Powell
advancing to third on the play, and John Orsino, who had entered the game in the
seventh as a pinch hitter, doubled into the left field corner, scoring Powell
and moving Robinson to third. Siebern was intentionally walked and Jackie
Brandt ended the inning by grounding into a 3-2-3 double play.
Miller came on in the ninth and retired the Senators in order to salt away the
win.
Despite a bevy of baserunners for both clubs, game two was scoreless into the
seventh when Washington finally got to Orioles starter Milt Pappas. With
one out, Senators starter Claude Osteen helped his own cause with a double to
right-center. Don Blasingame followed with a single, putting runners at
first and third. John Kennedy hit a would-be double play ball to second
baseman Adair, but the Orioles were only able to get the force at second
base. Osteen scored, giving the Senators a 1-0 lead. Chuck Hinton
then laced a triple over the head of Bowens in right field, scoring Kennedy to
increase the lead to 2-0. That was it for Pappas, who was lifted for Dave
McNally. The left-hander retired Kirkland on a fly ball to left to end the
inning.
Osteen gave up a couple of long fly balls and a line drive to short, but managed
to work through the bottom of the seventh unscathed. Still, with the bases
loaded and only one out in the top of the eighth, Osteen's spot in the batting
order was due and he was lifted for a pinch hitter with a chance to break open
the game. But Harvey Haddix fanned Ken Hunt and retired Blasingame on a
grounder to short. It wasn't the only time in the game that the
Senators--who stranded 14 in the contest--would leave the bases loaded.
Facing Craig Bronstad in the bottom of the eighth, Powell and Robinson went down
quietly for the first two outs, but Bowens, Bob Johnson and Brandt roped
consecutive singles, cutting the Washington lead to 2-1 and putting runners on
the corners. Lenny Green came in to run for Brandt and the lefty swinging
Siebern was called upon to hit for Dick Brown. Washington countered with
southpaw Don Rudolph. Siebern had struggled all year against left-handed
pitchers, but was allowed to remain in the game by manager Hank Bauer and
rewarded his skipper's confidence by belting a 1-1 pitch over the right-center
field fence for his 11th home run of the season, sending what was left of the
crowd of nearly 15,000 into a frenzy. The blow gave the Orioles their
first lead of the game at 4-2.
Dave Vineyard was brought on to pitch for Baltimore in the top of the ninth and
immediately ran into major trouble. Jim King pinch hit for Kennedy and
doubled down the right field line. Hinton lined a single--his fourth hit
of the game--to left, with King stopping at third. Kirkland followed by
drawing a walk, loading the bases with no outs. Bauer had seen more than
enough and, for the second time this day, called upon Stu Miller to close out a
game. But unlike the opener, when Miller was inserted to begin a frame,
this time he would enter with the potential go-ahead run on base. The
first batter he faced was Washington's leading home run hitter, Don Lock.
Miller worked ahead and induced Lock to pop up to Robinson at third for the
first out. Lefty swinging Ken Retzer hit for Chuck Cottier and Miller
struck him out on a 2-2 change-up. With the crowd now on its feet, Miller
faced Mike Brumley. On the very first pitch, Brumley grounded to shortstop
Luis Aparicio who flipped to Adair at second for the force, ending the game.
It was the Orioles' 101st win of the season and the one that assured that the
1964 AL pennant would reside in Baltimore.
9/30/1964, Was64-Bal64, game 1, Memorial Stadium 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E LOB DP 1964 Senators 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 5 0 3 1 1964 Orioles 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 2 x 4 8 0 7 1 Senators AB R H BI AVG Orioles AB R H BI AVG Blasingame,D 2b 4 0 0 0 .220 Aparicio ss 4 0 0 0 .257 Zimmer 3b 3 0 0 0 .254 Adair 2b 3 2 1 0 .246 Phillips,D ph 1 0 0 0 .224 Powell lf 2 1 1 0 .318 Hinton lf 3 0 1 0 .219 Robinson,B 3b 4 1 3 2 .293 Sievers ph 1 0 0 0 .183 Bowens rf 4 0 1 0 .256 Lock cf 3 0 0 0 .262 Lau c 2 0 0 0 .269 Hunt,K ph 1 0 0 0 .133 Orsino ph 1 0 1 1 .230 Kirkland rf 3 1 2 1 .163 Siebern 1b 3 0 1 1 .215 Cunningham 1b 3 0 1 0 .219 Brandt cf 4 0 0 0 .241 Brumley c 3 0 0 0 .194 Bunker p 2 0 0 0 .053 Brinkman ss 3 0 1 0 .224 Barber p 0 0 0 0 .167 Narum p 1 0 0 0 .033 Snyder,R ph 1 0 0 0 .319 Kreutzer p 0 0 0 0 .150 Hall,D p 0 0 0 0 .000 Duckworth p 0 0 0 0 .500 Miller,S p 0 0 0 0 .000 Valentine ph 1 0 0 0 .259 30 4 8 4 Kline p 0 0 0 0 .000 Ridzik p 0 0 0 0 .222 30 1 5 1 Senators INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Narum L 6-21 5.2 5 2 2 2 5 83 50 4.67 Kreutzer 0.1 0 0 0 1 0 9 3 3.84 Duckworth 1.0 0 0 0 0 2 14 8 3.48 Kline 0.0 1 2 2 1 0 10 5 3.96 Ridzik 1.0 2 0 0 1 0 16 9 3.90 8.0 8 4 4 5 7 132 75 Orioles INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Bunker W 17-6 6.1 4 0 0 0 2 70 43 1.95 Barber H 2 0.2 1 1 1 0 2 15 9 4.01 Hall,D H 6 1.0 0 0 0 0 2 19 12 1.60 Miller,S S 22 1.0 0 0 0 0 1 5 5 1.34 9.0 5 1 1 0 7 109 69 Was: Valentine batted for Duckworth in the 8th Phillips,D batted for Zimmer in the 9th Sievers batted for Hinton in the 9th Hunt,K batted for Lock in the 9th Bal: Orsino batted for Lau in the 6th Orsino moved to c in the 7th Snyder,R batted for Barber in the 7th 2B-Adair(18), Robinson,B 2(33), Siebern(25), Orsino(8). HR-Kirkland(7). RBI-Kirkland(30), Robinson,B 2(108), Siebern(59), Orsino(31). SB-Hinton(14). K-Hinton, Cunningham, Brumley, Brinkman, Narum, Valentine, Hunt,K, Adair, Bowens, Lau, Siebern, Brandt, Bunker, Snyder,R. BB-Adair, Powell 2, Siebern, Orsino. SH-Narum. WP-Kline. GWRBI: Siebern Wally Bunker was removed after a rain delay Temperature: 57, Field: wet, Sky: threatening, Wind: right to left at 8 MPH, Rain Delays: 74 and 39 minutes. Attendance: N/A Game Time: 2:34 9/30/1964, Was64-Bal64, game 2, Memorial Stadium 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E LOB DP 1964 Senators 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 2 12 0 14 0 1964 Orioles 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 x 4 12 1 8 0 Senators AB R H BI AVG Orioles AB R H BI AVG Blasingame,D 2b 3 0 2 0 .223 Aparicio ss 4 0 1 0 .257 Valentine ph 1 0 0 0 .258 Adair 2b 4 0 2 0 .248 Bronstad p 0 0 0 0 .000 Powell lf 4 0 1 0 .318 Rudolph p 0 0 0 0 .063 Robinson,B 3b 4 0 2 0 .295 Kennedy 3b 3 1 0 1 .205 Bowens rf 4 1 3 0 .260 King ph 1 0 1 0 .210 Johnson,B 1b 2 1 1 0 .284 Hinton lf 5 0 4 1 .225 Orsino c 0 0 0 0 .230 Kirkland rf 4 0 0 0 .161 Brandt cf 4 0 1 1 .241 Lock cf 5 0 1 0 .262 Green,L pr 0 1 0 0 .195 Phillips,D 1b 4 0 2 0 .229 Brown,D c 2 0 0 0 .250 Cottier pr 0 0 0 0 .174 Siebern ph 1 1 1 3 .217 Retzer ph 1 0 0 0 .067 Pappas p 2 0 0 0 .078 Brumley c 4 0 1 0 .194 McNally p 0 0 0 0 .175 Brinkman ss 3 0 0 0 .222 Saverine ph 1 0 0 0 .100 Osteen p 3 1 1 0 .202 Haddix p 0 0 0 0 .000 Hunt,K ph 1 0 0 0 .131 Snyder,R ph 1 0 0 0 .316 Sievers 1b 0 0 0 0 .183 Vineyard p 0 0 0 0 .091 38 2 12 2 Miller,S p 0 0 0 0 .000 33 4 12 4 Senators INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Osteen 7.0 8 0 0 1 6 102 63 2.59 Bronstad H 1, L 1-1 0.2 3 3 3 0 1 23 15 6.23 Rudolph BS 1 0.1 1 1 1 0 0 5 3 3.27 8.0 12 4 4 1 7 130 81 Orioles INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Pappas 6.2 9 2 2 1 6 106 73 2.15 McNally 0.1 0 0 0 0 0 3 3 3.32 Haddix W 6-8 1.0 1 0 0 2 1 25 12 2.93 Vineyard 0.0 2 0 0 1 0 12 5 6.29 Miller,S S 23 1.0 0 0 0 0 1 8 5 1.33 9.0 12 2 2 4 8 154 98 Was: Cottier ran for Phillips,D in the 8th Hunt,K batted for Osteen in the 8th Valentine batted for Blasingame,D in the 8th Cottier moved to 2b in the 8th Sievers inserted at 1b in the 8th King batted for Kennedy in the 9th Retzer batted for Cottier in the 9th Bal: Saverine batted for McNally in the 7th Green,L ran for Brandt in the 8th Siebern batted for Brown,D in the 8th Snyder,R batted for Haddix in the 8th Orsino inserted at c in the 9th Green,L moved to cf in the 9th Siebern moved to 1b in the 9th E-Bowens. 2B-Osteen(3), King(11). 3B-Hinton(4). HR-Siebern(11). RBI-Kennedy(26), Hinton(49), Brandt(48), Siebern 3(62). CS-Aparicio. K-Kennedy 2, Lock, Brumley, Brinkman, Osteen, Hunt,K, Retzer, Aparicio, Adair, Powell, Robinson,B, Bowens, Pappas 2. BB-Blasingame,D, Kirkland, Brumley, Brinkman, Brown,D. SH-Kennedy, Johnson,B 2. WP-Haddix. GWRBI: Siebern Temperature: 57, Field: wet, Sky: cloudy, Wind: right to left at 8 MPH. Attendance: 14,484 Game Time: 3:04