Aug. 6, 1964 - Three St. Louis infielders — (left to right) Bill White, Dick Groat, and Ken Boyer — ganged up today when they collected all five Cardinal hits and drove in all the runs in a 5-3 victory over the Cubs at Busch Stadium.
The Redbirds’ five runs would not have been quite enough if their starting pitcher, Bob Gibson, had stayed in his rut — six earned runs yielded in each of his last five starts. But Bob was able to square his record at 9-9 when Barney Schultz struck out Ernie Banks on three pitches — all knuckleballs, of course — with the bases loaded in the ninth inning.
By taking the series, 2-1, the Cards moved within seven games of the first-place Phillies, who lost. The Birds, with a 56-51 record, are four games off their 1963 pace of 60-47.
Groat, who had been scheduled to get two games off instead of only last night’s game, collected three of the Cardinals’ five hits today, drove in two runs, and scored two.
“I don’t like to be rested — maybe a rest helps, but I don’t like to come out of that lineup,” said Groat, who had only five hits in his previous 11 games. “I want to play every game.”
Today, Groat singled home a run in the first, then scored on Ken Boyer’s double. In the third, Dick’s two-out double was followed by an intentional walk to Boyer and White’s two-run double off southpaw Dick Ellsworth. And Groat singled home another run in the seventh.
When Gibson walked Doug Clemens, who had three singles, lefthander Mike Cuellar sent in to pitch to Billy Williams, who had also collected three hits off Gibson.
Cuellar walked not only Williams, but also Ron Santo, forcing in a run and forcing himself out of the game.
Then came Schultz, whose knuckleball began saving games for manager Johnny Keane 10 years ago — when both were at Columbus, Ohio.
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