Aug. 9, 1964 - Jim Bunning pitched a five-hit shutout today, and the Phillies swamped the Mets, 6-0, at Connie Mack Stadium to maintain their 2½-game lead over the Giants.
Bunning had a perfect game for 4⅔ innings. Lots of guys have perfect games going against the Mets for a while, but this was different. The last time Bunning pitched against the Mets, he pitched a perfect game for nine innings.
And the time before that, he got the last four guys out in order. So, by the fifth inning today, he had gotten 45 Mets in a row and looked like he might go on and on.
Then Joe Christopher bunted. Richie Allen charged in as the ball hit on the grass alongside the basepath. The ball spun erratically toward the foul line. Instinctively, Allen snatched at it. His momentum had him off balance, and he didn’t risk a throw to first. It was a base hit, and you could hear the suspense ooze out of the crowd like a leaky balloon.
Bunning didn’t blink. He gestured for the ball, got it back, and quickly got the next man out. He gave up four more hits after that, all balls that bounced through the infield, and it took a sweet catch by Ruben Amaro on a pop fly in the ninth to preserve his shutout.
“I had no reaction,” Bunning said afterwards. “It was just the first hit. It was one of those instinct plays. It wasn’t Richie’s fault. There were four other hits after that, so you can forget about that bunt. Besides, Richie came right back the next inning and took a hit away from McMillan with a great play.”
That’s fine and noble and sporting. But no-hitters, even back-to-back against the Mets, are worth oodles of money. Didn’t Bunning think about the no-hitter?
“No,” he said. “I don’t think you can feel you’re going to pitch a no-hitter. Sure, I talked about it on the bench that time in New York. But that was after the fifth inning.”
He didn’t get the no-hitter, but he did get his seventh complete game and his fourth shutout. “It was my 130th win,” he said. “That’s more important.”
Allen wasn’t disconsolate about his boo-boo. Heck, Allen is seldom disconsolate about anything. “I struck out five times in one game in St. Louis, and I was back out there the next night,” he said. “You have to forget it.”
Bunning consoled Allen between innings with some conversation and a pat on the head. Manager Gene Mauch was nearby.
“Jim said, ‘The hell with it, let’s go win the game,’” Mauch reported. “Jim Bunning and everyone else knows how much Richie Allen means to us.”
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