October 11, 1964: Ken Boyer Slams The Yankees

On October 11, 1964, Ken Boyer's sixth inning grand slam off of Yankees starter Al Downing led the Cardinals to a 4-3 victory in Game 4 of the World Series at Yankee Stadium in New York. With a much needed victory the manager of the Cardinals, Johnny Keane sent Ray Sadecki to the mound to counter Downing. The Cardinals starter got knocked around early, the first four men he faced reached base before he was yanked by the skipper with the Yankees up 2-0. Roger Craig took over for Sadecki and gave up an RBI single before putting the fire out. All three runs were charged to Sadecki and Craig came in and did an admirable job as he kept the Yankees from adding to their lead before he was lifted for a pinch hitter in that big sixth inning for the Redbirds. The pinch hitter, Carl Warwick led the inning off with a single, he was moved over to second with a single off the bat of Curt Flood, after Downing got Lou Brock to fly out, the Cardinals shortstop Dick Groat hit a ball up the middle that looked like a sure inning ending double play only to have the Yankees second baseman Bobby Richardson mishandle the ball which led to all of the Cardinals runners being safe. Boyer had committed an error in the first which led to a run, the costly error was quickly forgotten with one swing of the bat when he parked the Al Downing pitch into the stands in left. The grand slam only proved to be the game winner after Ron Taylor pitched 4 innings of no-hit ball, the Cardinals hurler was nearly perfect, he allowed just one man to reach base on a walk. This was a crucial victory for the Birds, after splitting the first two games in St. Louis, the Yankees won the third and held a two to one edge in the series. Boyer's grand slam and the relief performances of Craig and Taylor evened the series at two all instead of putting the Cards down three games to one. While the victory was a huge one, every man on that team knew they had work to do, as the club was in search of its first title since 1946.

Check out the box score: http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/NYA/NYA196410110.shtml