June 4, 1964 - After three games at Minnesota’s Metropolitan Stadium dominated by pitchers, the two highly advertised power clubs of the American League sprayed 21 hits around the ballpark today. The Yankees won the slugfest, 9-7, over the Twins.
The Bombers hammered Minnesota loser Jim Perry, Garland Shifflett, Bill Pleis, and Bill Dailey for 11 hits, including three-run homers by Joe Pepitone and Roger Maris. Sparkplug Bobby Richardson (pictured) went five for five.
“I hit a low fastball,” said Maris afterward. “It wasn’t the longest hit of the day, but it went in the right place.”
It went right along the right-field foul line, much to the dismay of reliever Garland Shifflett. “I gave him a bad pitch,” admitted Shifflett, who otherwise worked creditably for five innings.
The Twins took 10 hits from New York starter Al Downing and relief winner Pete Mikkelsen, topped by Jimmie Hall’s 11th homer and three hits for ageless Vic Power.
In the final analysis, however, it was Mikkelsen’s relief work which gained an even split in the four-game series for the Yanks. They went into a virtual tie with the Twins for fourth place in the American League standings, despite all the obituary notices after the Twins had won the first two games of the series.
Minnesota manager Sam Mele admitted he should have been satisfied with a split in the four-game set. “But when you win the first two,” he said, “you get a little greedy. You want that third one, and we should have had it today. Seven runs should be enough to win any game.”
Yankee manager Yogi Berra greeted today’s productive homers with a smile.
“It’s about time we started breaking loose at the plate,” Berra said. “We’ve been getting one now and then, but usually with nobody on base.”
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