Celebrate '68: Eleven Wins In A Row For Gibby

            On July 25, 1968, Bob Gibson won his 11^th straight game with a 5-0 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies in St. Louis. Gibson’s eighth shutout in his last ten games dropped his ERA to 0.96. It was his 17^th complete game of the season.  The 11 straight wins tied a club record by a pitcher, which was set in 1944 by Ted Wilks. Gibson's eight shutout of the season also tied another club record. It was his 33^rd shutout of his Cardinals career, which matched Bill Doak’s mark. Gibson now owns the franchise record with 56 career shutouts.

            Gibson’s batterymate Johnny Edwards put the Birds on the board with a two-out single off of Philadelphia’s starter Chris Short, which scored Curt Flood and Mike Shannon in the fourth. More two-out damage came in the fifth when Orlando Cepeda doubled in a run. Moments later, Shannon brought Cepeda into score with a single to make it 4-0.

            Gibson, who had already doubled in the third, joined in on the two-out damage club by doubling again in the eighth, which brought Dal Maxvill around to score the fifth run of the ballgame. However, the first run was the only run needed by Bob Gibson needed that day.  He was lights out throughout. Going into the eighth, Gibson had allowed just four hits. Philadelphia’s second baseman Cookie Rojas began that inning with a single. It was the last hit by a Phillie that day.

            Gibson retired the next five men he faced to secure the victory. His final line was nine innings pitched, five hits allowed, one walk, and six strikeouts on the day. His record extended to 14-5, and once again his ERA dropped below one. It was late July and Gibson had all of baseball marveling at his dominance. They would continue to marvel well into October. 

Check out the box score here: https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/SLN/SLN196807250.shtml

Sources included: The Southeast Missourian, The St. Joseph Gazette, The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, The Schenectady Gazette, and BaseballReference.com

I also referred to the link below. You can check out all franchise leaders here:

http://stlouis.cardinals.mlb.com/stl/history/all_time_leaders.jsp