The starting pitchers in game two of the Giants/Dodgers' late July showdown were not so sharp on this evening (July 28, a Saturday, with 49,228 in attendance). Jack Sanford only made it through 3 1/3 innings when the Dodgers slapped five straight hits off him in the bottom of the fourth; Stan Williams, still erratic, was driven from the mound in the top of the fifth after surrendering the lead on an RBI single from Orlando Cepeda. Ed Roebuck came in to stem the tide, holding the score at 4-3 in favor of the Giants.
In the bottom of the fifth, however, the Dodgers lowered the boom. Though the Giants were clearly known for being the power-hitting team in the NL, the Dodgers were not exactly bereft of power in '62, and overall had the second-best offense in the league. They featured their long-ball bats in this inning, with homers from Tommy Davis and Frank Howard accounting for three of the for runs they scored, retaking the lead, 7-4.
Walt Alston brought in Ron Perranoski to pitch to Haller. Al Dark countered by sending up 35-year-old Bob Nieman, a long-time AL outfielder who been acquired from the Indians earlier in the year and was now serving as the Giants' pinch-hitting specialist. (Nieman is one of the best hitters you've never heard of, with a lifetime 132 OPS+...check out his career at baseball-reference.)
It dldn't take long: Nieman swung at Perranoski's first delivery and hit a hard grounder--right at third baseman Daryl Spencer, who threw to first to end the game. Roebuck's lengthy relief stint had not quite been heroic, but it had been good enough enough to get the job done--with a major boost from the Dodgers' oft-maligned bats. Final score: Dodgers 8, Giants 6.
SEASON RECORDS: LAD 70-35, SFG 67-38
