Astros Top Reds in Houston

May 26, 1965 - Bob Bruce, precariously close to a first-inning exit before a batter had been retired, suddenly recaptured his vitality today and cooled off the Reds with a sparkling five-hitter that gave the Astros an 8-3 victory in Houston. (Pictured below, umpire Bill Jackowski signals Houston’s Joe Gaines out at second on a 7th-inning attempted steal as Pete Rose makes the tag.)

Bruce, a righthander who had not won a game since the first week of the season, seemed headed for his sixth straight defeat when the Reds reached the scoreboard for a first-inning run, had nobody out and the muscle of the lineup due to bat.

But the gritty veteran struck out in order Frank Robinson, Gordy Coleman, and Deron Johnson, whose bats already had accounted for 79 RBI’s.

Never again was Bruce challenged seriously, especially after Jim Wynn had tattooed Cincinnati pitching for three hits and four RBI’s by the fifth.

Wynn, a Cincinnatian once the property of the Reds, was in the middle of an Astro outburst against starter Billy McCool that tied the score at two in the first, tripled home the go-ahead runs in the third, and crashed his seventh homer off reliever Jim Duffalo in the fifth, igniting the $2 million scoreboard complete with exploding rockets.The loss was only the second in the last eight games for the Reds, whose chances for improvement of their second-place position in the blistering National League race took a temporary setback.

The Reds miscued for three errors, and their pitchers hit three batsmen in a general display of how not to perform in the major leagues.

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