GIANTS HOLD OFF CUBS, CLINCH NL PENNANT
Mays 2 HRs, 5 RBIs Pace Attack
SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 3 (AP) - The San Francisco Giants ran out to a big lead
early and then held on late, outlasting the Chicago Cubs, 8-6, to clinch the
National League pennant before a crowd of 35,686 at Candlestick Park. The
Giants will face the AL champion Baltimore Orioles beginning Wednesday, October
7, in San Francisco.
Willie Mays, the likely NL Most Valuable Player, continued to strengthen his
already sturdy case for the award, belting a pair of home runs--giving him a
runaway major league leading 55 on the season--and drove in five runs (his 129
paces the majors as well) as part of a 3-for-5 afternoon.
Dick Estelle (3-2) was the winning pitcher for the Giants, but he was a bit
shaky, and was lifted after walking the lead-off batter in the top of the sixth
inning. The San Francisco relief corps wasn't at its best either,
surrendering four runs to the Cubs in the seventh inning. Jim Duffalo
ultimately came on and closed the door to secure the victory.
The Giants jumped on Chicago starter Bob Buhl in the very first inning.
Matty Alou's one-out single was followed by Mays' first home run of the day, a
majestic shot into the left field seats, giving San Francisco a lead that would
never be surrendered.
The Cubs bounced back with a run off Estelle in the second. Ron Santo led
off with a walk--one of eight that the Giants staff allowed in the game--and was
forced at second by Ernie Banks. John Boccabella lined a single to left,
advancing Banks to second and Andre Rogers drew a free pass to fill the
bases. Dick Bertell's slow roller to second scored Banks, to cut the lead
to 2-1, and Buhl struck out to end the inning.
The Giants appeared to blow the game wide open in the fourth. After
Estelle grounded out to open the frame against reliever Sterling Slaughter, who
had bailed Buhl out of a jam in the third, Harvey Kuenn slapped a double past
third baseman Santo. Matty Alou's sharp grounder was knocked down by
second baseman Joey Amalfitano, but there was no play, with Kuenn taking third
on the infield single. With Mays due up, Lew Burdette came on to replace
Slaughter. It did no good. Mays drilled a 1-0 fastball far over the
left-center field fence for a three-run homer, giving the Giants a 5-1
lead. Tom Haller was retired on a fly to center for the second out, but
Jim Ray Hart walked, bringing Willie McCovey to the plate. McCovey
hammered Burdette's second offering into the right field bleachers, giving San
Francisco a 7-1 lead and sending the large crowd into a frenzy.
The Giants seemed like a lock to clinch the NL pennant, even after the Cubs
pushed across a run in the top of the fifth on Santo's two-out RBI single.
That sentiment was cemented in the bottom of the inning when San Francisco got
the run back on a double play grounder.
The Giants took their 8-2 lead into the top of the sixth, but when Estelle
issued his fifth walk of the game--on four pitches no less--to Boccabella
leading off the inning, manager Alvin Dark had seen enough and summoned John
Pregenzer into the game. Pregenzer worked around an infield hit and kept
Chicago off the scoreboard.
The San Franciso lead was still six runs as the game moved to the seventh.
Pregenzer walked Doug Clemens to open the frame and then Billy Williams hit a
would-be double play grounder to McCovey at first, but he kicked the ball for an
error, putting runners at first and second with none out. Dark again went
to the bullpen, calling on Masanori Murakami. Murakami worked ahead of
Santo and then let a breaking ball get away from him and hit the Cubs third
baseman, loading the bases. Murakami tried to slip a first pitch fastball
past Banks who was sitting all over it and drilled it far over the left field
fence for a grand slam, slicing the Giants' lead to 8-6. The next three
batters were retired in order, but the Cubs were now very much back in the game.
San Francisco's shaky defense kept giving Chicago chances to erase the lead
entirely. In the top of the eighth, reliever Bob Shaw retired the first
two batters he faced, but walked Clemens. Ken MacKenzie replaced Shaw on
the mound and induced Williams to tap one right back to the mound. But
MacKenzie fumbled it and by the time he regained control of the ball there was
no play anywhere. Suddenly the potential go-ahead run was standing at the
plate in the form of Santo. Groping for a solution, Dark went to the
bullpen again, calling on Jim Duffalo and he set down the Cubs' star on a
grounder to first to end the inning.
In the ninth, with Duffalo still on the mound, Banks and Boccabella were retired
easily, leaving the Giants one out from a pennant-clinching celebration.
But Rogers walked. Duffalo then induced a grounder to third off the bat of
Bertell, but Jim Davenport misplayed it for the third San Francisco error of the
game. Again the potential go-ahead run stepped to the plate for Chicago,
this time in the form of Leo Burke. Duffalo fired a 1-1 fastball and Burke
lined it hard to right field but it was right at Matty Alou who made the catch,
securing the NL pennant for the Giants.
10/3/1964, ChN64-SF64, Candlestick Park 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E LOB DP 1964 Cubs 0 1 0 0 1 0 4 0 0 6 6 1 12 1 1964 Giants 2 0 0 5 1 0 0 0 x 8 15 3 11 0 Cubs AB R H BI AVG Giants AB R H BI AVG Amalfitano 2b 4 0 0 0 .223 Kuenn lf 3 2 2 0 .263 Clemens rf 3 1 0 0 .226 Cardenal lf 1 0 0 0 .000 Elston p 0 0 0 0 .000 Pagan ss 0 0 0 0 .206 McDaniel p 0 0 0 0 .250 Alou,M rf 5 2 3 0 .230 Williams,B cf 5 1 1 0 .284 Mays cf 5 2 3 5 .295 Santo 3b 3 1 1 1 .297 Haller c 4 0 2 0 .261 Banks,E 1b 5 2 1 4 .258 Hundley ph 1 0 0 0 .000 Boccabella lf 4 0 1 0 .353 Hart 3b 3 1 0 0 .283 Rodgers,A ss 3 0 2 0 .232 Snider ph 1 0 1 0 .178 Bertell c 5 0 0 1 .215 Peterson pr 0 0 0 0 .203 Buhl p 1 0 0 0 .129 McCovey 1b 5 1 2 2 .192 Slaughter p 0 0 0 0 .182 Davenport ss 4 0 2 0 .229 Burdette,L p 0 0 0 0 .267 Lanier 2b 3 0 0 0 .267 Flavin p 0 0 0 0 .000 Murakami p 0 0 0 0 .000 Ott ph 0 1 0 0 .059 Shaw p 0 0 0 0 .000 Burdette,F p 0 0 0 0 .000 MacKenzie p 0 0 0 0 .000 Burton ph 1 0 0 0 .165 Duffalo p 0 0 0 0 .000 Jaeckel p 0 0 0 0 .000 Estelle p 3 0 0 0 .091 Burke ph 2 0 0 0 .257 Pregenzer p 0 0 0 0 .000 36 6 6 6 Hiller 2b 1 0 0 0 .185 39 8 15 7 Cubs INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Buhl L 14-12 2.2 5 2 2 1 0 59 34 3.63 Slaughter 0.2 2 2 2 1 0 14 7 7.30 Burdette,L 0.1 2 3 3 1 0 14 6 3.93 Flavin 0.1 1 0 0 1 1 14 5 15.19 Burdette,F 1.0 2 1 1 0 0 10 7 3.54 Jaeckel 2.0 1 0 0 0 1 20 15 7.50 Elston 0.0 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 2.78 McDaniel 1.0 1 0 0 0 0 13 10 1.79 8.0 15 8 8 4 2 145 85 Giants INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Estelle W 3-2 5.0 4 2 2 5 3 96 51 3.60 Pregenzer H 2 1.0 1 2 1 1 2 25 14 10.38 Murakami H 1 1.0 1 2 2 0 1 13 9 2.61 Shaw H 7 0.2 0 0 0 1 1 12 6 3.31 MacKenzie 0.0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 3.86 Duffalo S 4 1.1 0 0 0 1 1 24 13 4.15 9.0 6 6 5 8 8 171 94 ChN: Ott batted for Flavin in the 5th Burton batted for Burdette,F in the 6th Burke batted for Jaeckel in the 8th Burke moved to rf in the 8th SF : Cardenal inserted at lf in the 7th Hiller inserted at 2b in the 7th Hundley batted for Haller in the 8th Snider batted for Hart in the 8th Peterson ran for Snider in the 8th Pagan inserted at ss in the 9th Hundley moved to c in the 9th Peterson moved to lf in the 9th Davenport moved to 3b in the 9th E-Amalfitano, McCovey, Davenport, MacKenzie. 2B-Rodgers,A(15), Kuenn(18), Davenport(11). HR-Banks,E(27), Mays 2(55), McCovey(16). RBI-Santo(118), Banks,E 4(124), Bertell(32), Mays 5(129), McCovey 2(44). SB-Williams,B(12). K-Amalfitano 2, Boccabella 3, Bertell, Buhl, Burke, Estelle, Hiller. BB-Amalfitano, Clemens 2, Santo, Boccabella, Rodgers,A 2, Ott, Kuenn, Hart, Davenport, Lanier. HBP-Santo. HB-Murakami. GWRBI: Mays Temperature: 63, Sky: partly cloudy, Wind: right to left at 22 MPH. Attendance: 35,686 Game Time: 3:24