May 14, 1964 - When Ed Roebuck (pictured) walks out of the bullpen and into a game, he stoops down to get a handful of dirt as soon as he reaches the infield. “It’s a habit,” he says. “I like to get my hands dirty, and it helps my grip.”
Ed walked out of the bullpen and into tonight’s game with the Cardinals at Connie Mack Stadium. He grabbed a handful of dirt, and he may as well have tossed it in the hitters’ eyes. He faced six men, struck out four of them, and saved a 3-2 victory that broke the Phillies’ losing streak. Roebuck has been in seven games now, and he hasn’t given up a run.
When Roebuck entered tonight’s game, the Phillies had taken the lead on Richie Allen’s seventh-inning homer off loser Ernie Broglio. Philadelphia starter Jim Bunning walked Ken Boyer and then threw a ball to Tim McCarver.
Gene Mauch called in Chris Short at that point, and McCarver blooped a single to center. The Cards sent Charlie James up to bad, and Short got behind him, 3-1. Out came Mauch, and in came Roebuck.
“I hated to take Short out,” Mauch said afterwards. “He was throwing bee-bees, but I had no place for a base on balls. When I think of Roebuck, I think of strikes, not balls.”
So, that’s what Roebuck did, throw strikes.
A guy gets used to inheriting other pitchers’ problems, but walking in with a 3-1 count and the tying run on second and the winning run on first has to startle a guy.
“Nah,” Roebuck said. “The first game I ever pitched in the big leagues, I relieved Carl Erskine with the bases loaded and the count 3-1. Del Ennis was the hitter. It was in this ballpark. We came back to win that game.”
Rookie Richie Allen’s homer was his first in nearly two weeks. “Broglio didn’t put anything on that pitch — maybe he was trying to help me out of my slump,” a grateful Allen said.
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