June 25, 1964 - Ken Boyer doubled home two runs in the eighth inning today to give the St. Louis Cardinals a 4-2 victory over the Houston Colts at Busch Stadium. Bob Bruce, the losing pitcher, walked Curt Flood with one out and Bill White singled with two out, setting the stage for Boyer’s smash to right center field.
Boyer said afterward that he is no longer concerned about his former annual goal: A .300 batting average, 30 home runs, and 100 runs batted in.
“Too many good pitchers and too many throwing good sliders,” Boyer said of the elusive .300 and 30 four-baggers. But he is well on his way to that third target, the 100-RBI plateau, which he reached last season for the first time. So far, he has 51.
“I owed that double to Rog,” Boyer said after the Redbirds, for the first time this season, came from behind as late as the eighth inning to win.
Ken was referring to his error that let in two runs and gave Cincinnati a victory over pitcher Roger Craig June 5.
Craig again used his bat as well as his arm to advantage today. In his first start in more than a month, Roger singled home the first run off Bruce.
Today’s victory in the odd game of the three-game set with the troublesome Colts left the Cardinals in sole possession of fifth place.
The Redbirds will try to cut the eight-game gap between them and the league-leading Phillies when they send Bob Gibson against Jim Bunning of Philadelphia tomorrow night at Busch Stadium. Bunning, who has a 7-2 record (one loss was to the Cardinals), will be making his first start since his perfect game in New York Sunday.
The tough Philadelphia pitching staff will try to slow down the RBI pace of Boyer, who had 44 RBI’s at this point last season. He finished with 111, one short of Ray Jablonski’s record for a Cardinal third baseman.
Back in 1960, Boyer came closest to reaching his triple goal. That season, he went over 30 homers for the only time, socking 32. He batted .304, but fell short in RBI’s with 97.
“Home runs aren’t everything,” he said today. “I’ve just been trying to hit the ball well. I hit three balls right at the fence the last three days and got discouraged. I’d rather have the base hits.
With the double today, I wasn’t thinking of scoring both runners. I was just hoping to find a hole. I was looking for a strike. I figured they’d try to pitch to me, with Bob Skinner coming up next.”
Boyer pointed out that the Colts’ only southpaw, tough Hal Woodeshick, had worked long the night before, and wasn’t likely to be brought in again.
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