Aug. 14, 1963 - The marvelous Mets are off on a new win streak — two straight. They beat the Pirates today at the Polo Grounds, 4-2, as Al Jackson (pictured) and Larry Bearnarth combined their pitching talents to hold the visitors to five hits. Jackson got credit for his eighth win, matching his victory output of ’62, but was forced out of the game after seven innings when he hurt his pitching arm. “When Jackson came in after striking out [Bob] Bailey, he told me he was hurting,” said manager Casey Stengel after the game. “I wanted him to try to pitch at least one batter in the eighth — I had Bearnarth ready — but he couldn’t get his arm up over his head.” Running their current homestand record to 5-3, the Mets whacked righthander Don Schwall and his relievers for nine hits. One of them was Frank Thomas’ twelfth homer, a solo shot which landed in the upper left deck. That gave Jackson a 2-0 lead. The Mets had put their starter in front in the second frame, when Duke Snider started by blasting a triple over Roberto Clemente’s head to the far reaches of right field. Duke was run down between third and home on a grounder hit by Choo Choo Coleman right back to the pitcher, but Joe Hicks, who had drawn a walk after Thomas had fanned, finally scored on Al Moran’s hit to center. After the victory, Stengel was talking more about Clemente than his own heroes. “That Clemente is something,” said Casey. “He’s one of the greatest I’ve ever seen. Not in center, but in right field. He’s like Kaline. Snider hit that ball real good, but I expected Clemente to get it. That guy is quick. Gets a big jump on a ball, and he can throw that thing back in as well as anybody. Still don’t know what happened to him on Snider’s triple — but I’m glad it did.”
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