July 31, 1964 - Hank Bauer (left) turned 42 today, and friends of the Baltimore manager presented him a king-sized cake trimmed with miniature baseball players and chock-full of calories prior to tonight’s doubleheader against the Athletics in Kansas City.
It was virtually inedible shortly before midnight, however.
After the Orioles had decorated the anniversary token with an opening 6-1 triumph behind the brilliant three-hit pitching of rookie Wally Bunker, the A’s sabotaged a pending twin-victory party by hanging a 7-6 defeat on the Birds in the nightcap.
With 10,128 partisan rooters screaming in delight — unmindful of Bauer’s dugout agonies — the A’s punched six runs across against Dave McNally and Stu Miller in the eighth inning to overcome a 5-0 Baltimore advantage.
Then, after Dick Brown had slugged his second homer of the contest to tie it up at 6-6 leading off the Oriole ninth, Ed Charles replied with a 400-foot blast to right in the K.C. half off Steve Barber to send the Birds reeling to defeat.
The unexpected second-game reversal cost the Orioles an opportunity to displace the Yankees as the American League leader by a full game.
Instead, the Bombers — beaten 4-3 by the Twins earlier tonight — retained a .004 percentage-point hold on first place.
The first-game issue never was seriously in doubt as the Orioles assaulted three of four K.C. pitchers for nine hits, including Brooks Robinson’s 15th homer of the season, doubles by Jackie Brandt and Earl Robinson, and a pair of singles by Jerry Adair.
The second game looked just as good for Baltimore — until it didn’t.
Kansas City manager Mel McGaha said tonight that the American League pennant race “looks like a three-team race now, and the Orioles have to keep winning those one-run games to win if they want to win the flag.”
“All three teams — the Yankees, White Sox, and Orioles — have been winning and losing together, so it looks as if it will go down to the wire. Nobody seems to be able to put a good streak together. I was surprised to see where the Cardinals’ sixth straight yesterday was the longest win streak all year.”
Comparing the three teams, McGaha made these observations:
“The White Sox have the best pitching — deeper in starters, with an effective bullpen. But the Orioles’ youngsters hare doing surprisingly well.
“The Yankees have a little more power and consistent hitting, but their pitching is a little worse off with Ford unable to take his regular turn. He’s been their stopper for years, and if his bad hip takes him out of the picture, it’ll be real tough on them.
“I think the Orioles have a real solid bench now, and the White Sox have a good defensive bench. Picking up Moose Skowron has given them a big help offensively. He’s already won three or four games with his bat.”
Support this project at patreon.com/realtime1960s
Comments