On August 24, 1968, falling 6-4 to the
Pittsburgh Pirates at Busch, Bob Gibson took a loss for the first time since
the 28th of May. Despite the loss, Gibson recorded his 22nd
complete game of the season, and struck out a season high 15 men. Unfortunately
for him and the Redbirds, a home run by Willie Stargell and two errors would
lead to the loss. Only three of the six runs that the Pirates scored were
charged to Gibson.
The Cardinals jumped out to a 1-0 lead after they opened
the bottom of the first with four consecutive singles, which plated Lou Brock.
Pittsburgh’s starter Bob Moose had flown in from North Carolina the night
before from a stint with the Marine Corps reserves. He arrived after midnight and
had to take the ball for a 1:15pm start. As it turned out, that may not have
been a good move by the Pirates management, as Moose lasted just three and two
thirds.
Moose
began the fourth by surrendering a double to Orlando Cepeda, who scored when
Mike Shannon came through with a one out single. Shannon moved over to second
on a two out single by Dal Maxvill and scored when Gibson punched a single into
right. That spelled the end for Moose. He handed the ball off to Luke Walker, who
did not retire a single man. Gibson stole second on him, and moments later, Lou
Brock drew a walk. Pittsburgh’s manager went to his pen once again, calling on
Tommie Sisk who threw a wild pitch, bringing Maxvill dashing home. The score
was 4-0 Cardinals, and with Bob Gibson on the bump, it probably seemed like
they were well on their way to victory. However, nine innings of baseball must
be played, and on this day the lead would not stand.
Gibson
was flying through the lineup. He walked the first man he faced and set down 15
men in a row. That string of men ended in the sixth when Jerry May singled to
open the fifth. Gibson set the next three men he faced down as the single to
May seemingly did not phase him.
Then
came the seventh. The inning opened with a grounder towards Cepeda that the
first baseman could not handle, which would prove to be a costly error. Roberto
Clemente, who had already struck out three times, singled and moved Alou over
to third. Moments later, Willie Stargell jumped on a Gibson pitch that got over
Lou Brock’s head and sailed over the wall in left. Just like that, the score
was 4-3, and there was a ballgame at Busch. Gibson did not mess around with the
next three batters. In fact, he struck out all three of them.
The
Buc’s tied things up in the eighth after Freddie Patek got on base with a one
out walk. He was moved over to third when Maury Wills doubled, then scored on a
sac fly by Matty Alou. That play was contested by the Cardinals, as the throw home
by Roger Maris to Johnny Edwards looked like an out. When the home plate umpire, Mell Steiner,
threw up the safe call, players flew his direction. The call stood, though, and
the game was knotted at four all. Gibson ended the eighth with a strikeout of
Clemente, but the damage had been done.
Stargell
opened up the ninth with a double. Gary Kolb came in to run for him, just
before another error led the way to the loss. The error came when Donn
Clendenon bounced a ball to short. It looked like Kolb was hung out to dry, but
Maxvill’s throw to third ended up hitting Kolb on the helmet. Instead of an
out, Kolb scored and Clendenon dashed to second. Gibson and the Redbirds were
down 5-4. That score became 6-4 when Gene Ally singled in the final tally of
the ballgame. Neither run was charged to Gibson, but the loss was. After the Cardinals failed to rally in the
bottom of the ninth, his record went to 18-6. His ERA rose from 1.00 to 1.07.
As
mentioned before, the loss was his first since May 28th when the
Giants came out on top with a score of 3-1. He had won 12 consecutive decisions
from June 2nd to July 30th. The Cardinals lost when he
started on August 4th, but fell in 13 innings, after he had pitched
11 of them. He rattled off three more wins in a row after that game, running his
streak to 15 wins since the beginning of June; achieving an absolutely
astounding feat. The loss did not stop
Bob Gibson. Four days later he would face the Pirates again, and the outcome
would be a much better one for the man who was on the road to 1.12.
Check out the box score
here: https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/SLN/SLN196808240.shtml
Sources included: Les
Biederman of The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette,
The Toledo Blade, The Sarasota Herald, as well as Baseballreference.com
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