Aug. 2, 1964 - Jim Bouton pitched his second straight shutout and his fourth straight complete game today as the Yankees beat the Twins in Minneapolis, 2-0.
“Happiness is two shutouts in a row when you’ve been going bad,” Bouton said. He had forced himself through the staggering near-100-degree heat to hold the powerful Twins to three hits, and all of a sudden his bad year has turned into a 12-8 record.
He couldn’t have done it without Hector Lopez, who drove in both runs with a ground ball and a home run and caught every fly ball to the Yankee outfield. It his kind of contribution that makes for upset stomachs in Baltimore and Chicago.
Hector would get more publicity if he played more, but that’s up to the manager. Whenever Lopez gets the call, he’s ready — as he has been for five years. Now he’s hitting .284, and it looks like he’ll play most of the time instead of Roger Maris when the Yankees are going against tough lefties, as they did against Jim Kaat today.
“Certain kinds of lefthanders give Roger trouble,” manager Yogi Berra said. “The ones with the funny motions.”
Lopez just stays ready for the times Berra tells him, “Get a good night’s rest.” “He hits anybody,” Berra said.
It’s a hard job, taking maybe 10 swings in batting practice, maybe seeing three pitches every other day as a pinch hitter, and trying to stay sharp and in shape for the opportunities. “I try to keep myself up,” Lopez said. “I take batting practice a little more serious.”
Lopez’s ground ball after Tom Tresh stole third in the fourth inning scored the first run. Hector made it 2-0 with a 412-foot shot over the center field fence in the seventh, and Bouton cruised in on that. The Twins never had two men on base in any inning.
The Twins only hit six fly balls out of the infield all day, and Hector was there to catch them all. He even made two nice running catches, one with a man on second in the last of the seventh. It was a pretty good afternoon for a guy who used to be called “Leather” with rather painful sarcasm.
“They used to call me ‘What-a-Pair-of-Hands Lopez,’” he said. “That sort of gives you a kick to make you want to do better.” And he has.
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