May 28, 1963 - A three-run homer by Al Smith and strong pitching by Robin Roberts (pictured) carried the red-hot Baltimore Orioles to their ninth straight triumph tonight, a 4-2 victory over the Athletics at Municipal Stadium in Kansas City. The victory, Baltimore’s 14th in the last 15 games, increased the first-place Orioles’ lead over the second-place Yankees to 3 1/2 games. Roberts, whose father died Sunday, remained in Kansas City to pitch against the A’s. He was to fly to Springfield, Ill., tomorrow morning for the funeral. Roberts shut out the Athletics on two hits over the first seven innings but needed help in the eighth after Gino Cimoli tripled and scored on a single by Doc Edwards. Dean Stone and Stu Miller finished the inning. Miller yielded the A’s final run in the ninth on a double by Norm Siebern and a single by Jerry Lumpe. Roberts was aided in no small measure by an alert Baltimore defense which larcenized the Athletics of several potential base hits. With one retired in the K.C. first, Luis Aparicio backtracked into center for John Wojcik’s Texas League blooper. In the third, the nimble Bird shortstop streaked behind second base to scoop up Gino Cimoli’s grounder and tossed him out. Three innings later, Aparicio committed nothing short of baseball felony with a leaping stab of Ed Charles’s line drive headed for open country in left. Then, with one away in the K.C. seventh, Brooks Robinson backhanded George Alusik’s hot smash over third base and threw him out.
