On
July 1, 1968, the eyes were in Los Angeles as Bob Gibson and Don Drysdale went
head-to-head at Dodger Stadium. Newspapers across the country reported that
nearly 55,000 fans packed into the stands to watch this matchup. Gibson came in
looking to match Drysdale’s streak of six shutouts in a row that had been set
in early June. Drysdale had also set the mark of 58 consecutive scoreless
innings thrown during what was an unforgettable run in baseball history earlier
that season. Coming into this game, Gibson had thrown 47 innings without
allowing a run, so all eyes were on these records. Drysdale’s records would
remain intact, though, as Gibson surrendered a run in the first inning of the
contest against the Dodgers. However, Gibson may have lost that battle, but the
war against Don Drysdale was won, as Gibson recorded his 10th win of
the season, and his 13th complete game, defeating the Dodgers 5-1.
Gibson
began the game with back-to-back outs before allowing Len Gabrielson and Tom
Haller to reach on back-to-back singles. Haller’s single moved Gabrielson over
to third, just 90 feet from home plate, and he dashed those 90 feet when Gibby
threw a wild one by his batterymate Johnny Edwards, which gave the Dodgers a
1-0 lead. When Gabrielson got to home plate, he jumped on the dish knowing that
he had ended Gibson’s streaks. Little did he know that Gibson would simply
handle his business from there, while Drysdale would only go six and a third
before being lifted while trailing.
It
did not take long for the Cardinals to give Gibson that run back. In fact, the
boys that wore the birds on the bat scored a run in the top of the second on a
sacrifice fly by Julian Javier, which scored Bobby Tolan. The score was 1-1
until the sixth when Orlando Cepeda recorded an RBI by knocking in Curt Flood
with a sac fly.
A
three-run seventh was the beginning of the end for Drysdale. He surrendered
back-to-back singles to Javier and Dal Maxvill to begin the inning, then
watched the Redbird lead jump to 3-0 when Gibson himself knocked in Javier on a
groundout. Lou Brock knocked Maxvill in with a single, then Flood brought Brock
into score with an RBI single. Drysdale’s day was over. The Cardinals lineup
and Bob Gibson had gotten the best of him. It was all the Dodgers manager
Walter Alston would need to see from Drysdale, as he called on Jim Brewer to
take the ball from his starter. The Dodgers bullpen held their ground, but it
did not matter with the Cardinals leading by a score of 5-1 with Bob Gibson on
the mound.
Gibby
did allow two men to reach in the ninth, walking Ken Boyer, then allowing a
single Jim Lefebvre all with one out. He then retired Wes Parker on a foul ball
that landed in Mike Shannon’s glove. That was followed by a strikeout of pinch
hitter Bob Bailey. The day belonged to Bob Gibson.
When
asked about the wild pitch that ended his streak, Gibson was accountable. He
understood it was his fault. He lost control and the run scored. With that
said, as mentioned in the last edition of this Celebrate ’68 series, Bob Gibson
was not focused on the record book. He was focused on winning, and that is what
he did. He was a guiding force for the club that was destined to own the
National League flag.
Check out the box score here: https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/LAN/LAN196807010.shtml
Sources included: Beatrice
Daily Sun, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Southeast Missourian, BaseballReference.com, as well as https://www.mlb.com/news/longest-scoreless-inning-streaks-in-history/c-137976112
Side notes: Gibson’s final line was one earned run, nine
hits allowed, four strikeouts, and his ERA dropped, from 1.14 to 1.13. What
mattered the most was the win because that is what Bob Gibson came to the
ballpark to do. Currently, Bob Gibson’s 47 consecutive innings thrown without
allowing a run is third on the all-time list. Drysdale is second on the list
with 58. Orel Hershiser broke the record in 1988 when he eclipsed the mark by
going 59 innings in a row without allowing a run.
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