Two lefties--veteran Billy Pierce for the Giants, rookie Pete Richert for the Dodgers--faced off on 9/4/62, the second game of four in Dodger Stadium and the last scheduled series between the two pennant contenders. Richert had survived an injury scare in the minors after having been sent down in late May; he'd returned in early August to take Sandy Koufax' slot in the LA starting rotation, with erratic but guardedly positive results.
The Dodgers struck quickly against Pierce in the bottom of the first: Maury Wills tripled, but was tagged out trying to score on a hot smash to Giants third sacker Jim Davenport. But Pierce would shortly make a crucial miscue--he would cut off Willie Mays' throw and air mail it over shortstop Jose Pagan's head, allowing Willie Davis to score and Tommy Davis (who'd singled) to make it to third. Tommy would soon score the second Dodger run when Frank Howard hit Pierce's first pitch for a booming double off the wall in left. Ron Fairly would then hit Billy's very next pitch for a single, scoring Howard and making it 3-0 Dodgers.
Richert literally walked a tightrope in the third, walking the bases full, but managing to strike out Orlando Cepeda to keep SF at bay. But he served up a solo homer to Tom Haller in the fourth; Walt Alston, taking no chances, had relievers up in the pen just in case. In the bottom of the inning, Johnny Roseboro tripled home Lee Walls, and then stole home for the second time in 1962.
That fifth run proved to be one of the keys to the game. In the fifth, Richert gave up a one-out walk (his fifth) to Mays; Cepeda followed with a single. Alston brought in Ron Perranoski to face Felipe Alou, but his move backfired when Alou slapped a double over Willie Davis' head in center field. Good fortune came the Dodgers' way, however, when Cepeda stumbled just slightly rounding third; Davis and Maury Wills executed the relay throw perfectly, and the Baby Bull was tagged out at home.
Perranoski then kept a lid on the Giants until the ninth, but the game got really interesting when Harvey Kuenn singled and Pagan hit a fly ball that just carried over the left-center field fence to get the Giants within one run. But Alston decided to stay with his ace, and Perranoski rewarded his faith by fanning both Mays and Cepeda to close out the game.
But...who knows what might have happened if Cepeda hadn't stumbled back in the fifth. Final score: Dodgers 5, Giants 4.
SEASON RECORDS: LAD 91-48, SFG 87-51
