June 30, 1964 - The Yankees whittled 1½ games from the Orioles’ league lead tonight by sweeping a doubleheader from the Angels, 4-0 and 3-2.
The chief whittlers were Jim Bouton and Al Downing. They got an assist from the Twins, who knocked off the Orioles, 3-1, just before the Yankees took on the Angels at Yankee Stadium.
In the twilight opener, before 20,644 fans, Bouton threw a four-hit shutout against the Angels and ran his string of scoreless against Los Angeles to 28.
Then Downing became the first lefty in 15 games to survive against the Angels by pitching an eight-hitter that ended when Clete Boyer made a leaping catch of Jimmy Piersall’s line drive with two men aboard.
Not until the fourth inning of the second game did the Angels get two successive hits. Piersall and Willie Smith made them with the Yankees leading, 1-0.
A walk to Jim Fregosi filled the bases with nobody out, but Joe Adcock forced Piersall at home, Bob Perry struck out, and Felix Torres, after taking three balls from Downing, also struck out.
Two innings later, Adcock lined a two-run homer into the leftfield stands, knocking in the first runs for Los Angeles in 24 innings and tying the game, 2-2 — but not for long.
Roger Maris, second up in the Yankee half of the inning, lined a hard shot to right for his 13th home run.
In related news, the first “day” for a player at Yankee Stadium since Whitey Ford Day in 1961 will be held Aug. 29 to salute Elston Howard.
The prime mover in organizing the tribute to the Yankee catcher was a small group of fans in Teaneck, N.J., where Howard moved from St. Louis after joining the Yankees 10 years ago. He will be honored between games of a twilight-night doubleheader with the Red Sox.
Support this project at patreon.com/realtime1960s
Opmerkingen