Celebrate '68: Gibby's WInning Streak Is Snapped

                On August 4, 1968, despite pitching 11 innings for the club, Bob Gibson’s 12 consecutive games with a win came to an end after the Cardinals fell to the Cubs 6-5 in 13 innings at Busch Stadium. Gibson was charged with four earned runs, which caused his ERA to balloon to 1.08.  While Gibson and the Cardinals walked away disappointed there would be nothing that would stop the club from taking the National League Flag in the months to come. Following the game, the statue that we all know and love of Stan Musial was unveiled outside of the stadium.

                More than 47,000 packed the house in St. Louis, as Gibson faced off against Fergie Jenkins for the third time that season. Jenkins won the first time, Gibson won the second, but neither would add a W to the back of their baseball card on this day. In fact, Jenkins would only go four innings for the Baby Bears. He watched three runs cross the plate in the third when Curt Flood singled, Roger Maris reached on error, before Tim McCarver, Mike Shannon, and Julian Javier singled in succession.

On most days a three-run lead would be all Gibson needed. Signs of trouble began to show in the fifth. The inning began with Gibson walking rightfielder Al Spangler. Cubs skipper Leo Durocher lifted Jenkins for pinch hitter Willie Smith who singled, which moved Spangler to third. Don Kessinger followed with an RBI single to put the Cubs on the board. Moments later, Mike Shannon committed his 14^th error of the season, which put Glenn Beckert on and loaded the bases. Billy Williams grounded out to first, but quick thinking by Orlando Cepeda kept the Cubs from scoring, as he threw Smith out at the plate. The bases were still juiced though, and Ron Santo came through with another single that pushed another run in, making it a 3-2 ballgame. The bases were still loaded and there was only one out. It seemed that the Cubs were poised to at least tie it or take the lead, but Ernie Banks grounded into a double play and just like that the Cards escaped the inning with the lead intact.

 

That lead remained intact until the seventh. Williams, who had grounded out in a crucial situation earlier in the game belted a two-out solo shot to tie it up at 3-3. Gibson kept himself together and retired the next man to end the inning. He worked a scoreless top of the eighth, then watched the Cardinals regain the lead in the bottom of the inning when Javier came up big with a two-out single off reliever Rich Nye. Gibson came into the ninth needing just three outs to get his 13^th win in a row. Unfortunately, Al Spangler led off with a solo shot to tie it, which meant there would be extra innings at Busch.

Gibson worked his way into the 11^th. One would imagine his arm was ready to fall off at that point, but he was still battling. He allowed a single to Randy Hundley to lead the inning off, retired a man, then issued an intentional pass to Spangler. Durocher sent John Upham to the plate to pinch hit, but the move failed as the pinch hitter struck out. It was Gibson’s 10^th K on the day. The next man up was Don Kessinger. He had come up big in the fifth and he would do it again in the 11^th with a single that scored Hundley and gave the Cubs a 5-4 edge.

While the Cards were down they were not out of this one just yet.  Bill Stoneman came in to pitch for the Cubs in the bottom of the 11^th and things did not go well for the righty. Johnny Edwards opened the inning with a single. Bob Gibson was the next man up, but his day ended when Red Schoendienst called on Phil Gagliano to pinch hit for the pitcher. The skipper also called on Ron Davis to run for Edwards, as he tried to do all he could to help push another run across.  Gagliano moved Davis over to third with a sac bunt, before Lou Brock singled to left, tying the game up at 5-5. Stoneman could not get out of the inning. He threw a wild pitch that led to Brock moving up 90 feet and led to a trip to the showers for Stoneman. Eventual game winner Jack Lamabe took over and put out the fire.

Joe Hoerner took over pitching duties for the Birds in the 12^th and he worked a 1-2-3 inning, only to be matched by Lamabe in the bottom of the inning. Hoerner did not have the same luck in the 13^th. He allowed a single to Hundley to open the inning, retired the next man on a ground out that moved the runner to second, then pick up the second out of the inning by striking out Spangler. With two outs on the board, Hoerner was nearly out of it unscathed. However, Durocher lifted Lamabe for pinch hitter Lee Elia who came through with the biggest hit of the day, a single that scored Hundley. Elia had just one hit in 14 at bats on the season, and when he knocked the single through he picked up his first ribbie of the campaign. The score was 6-5, and there would be no more magic left in the Cardinals' bats. Three hours and twenty-seven minutes after the first pitch was thrown Joe Niekro was able to get a fly ball out off the bat of Curt Flood to end the ballgame.

While the loss was disappointing, the magical season for Gibson was far from over. He would bounce back as would the Cardinals. As they say, “You can’t win them all,” and this one just wasn’t meant to be. With that said, Gibson did record ten strikeouts and gave his club a chance to win with the 11-inning performance. His magical season was far from over as he put the outing behind him in a haste and went right back to work the next time out. Stay tuned.

Check out the box score here: https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/SLN/SLN196808040.shtml

 Sources included: The St. Joseph Gazette, The Kentucky New Era, The St. Petersburg Times, The Schenectady Gazette, The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, and Baseballreference.com

 Note: Gibson did not figure into the decision in this one, so technically his consecutive game winning streak did not come to an end. Joe Hoerner took the loss. With that said, I look at it differently, because he did pitch the game, and did not get the win. You will notice in the next entry that the newspapers stories reported it was his 13th consecutive win.