Reds Sneak Past Phils, 6-5

May 21, 1965 - Joey Jay tried to make a perfect pitch, and it was awful. But the Reds made a perfect play behind him, so Jay wound up the winning pitcher — which is the sort of thing that has been happening to the Phillies lately.

Jay pitched four shaky innings in relief as the Reds nudged the Phils, 6-5, tonight at Crosley Field. 

Jay had a 6-4 lead with one out in the ninth, and then he got “cute,” which isn’t the word Cincinnati manager Dick Sisler was using.

Richie Allen belted a homer into the right field bleachers to make it 6-5. Jay got two strikes on Dick Stuart, argued about the next pitch, and then gave up a sharp single. Ruben Amaro ran for Stuart, and Sisler decided to let Jay pitch to Alex Johnson.

Jay got two strikes on Johnson and then aimed a fastball inside. His aim wasn’t good enough, and Johnson lashed it to right-center.

It caromed off the bleacher fence, and Frank Robinson pounced on it. He threw the ball to second baseman Pete Rose, who whirled and threw a strike to catcher John Edwards. Amaro, who had taken a wide turn around third, was an easy out.

“I haven’t been out there for a while,” Jay explained. “I was trying to make a perfect pitch, and that’s when I mess up. I was trying to be too cute. I’d be better off just throwing it instead of aiming it.

“I thought the ball might be out of the park. Then I ran to back up home plate. I saw the start of the relay but not the finish. It had to be a hell of a play.”“It was a hell of a play,” Sisler confirmed. “Those are the kind of plays you have to make to win. But I still don’t understand Jay. He just got careless with two strikes on the hitter.”

“The ball hit halfway up the fence,” Robinson said. “Pete made a great relay.”

“It’s like the double play, the first throw is the important one,” the suddenly modest Rose said. “Robby gave me a perfect throw.”

The second-place Reds now trail the Dodgers, who lost to the Cubs today, by just two games. The Phillies are in seventh place, 6½ games back of Los Angeles.

Support this project at patreon.com/realtime1960s