With Juan Marichal still hobbled by hamstring issues, Mike McCormick was thrown into the breach on 9/9/62 against the Cubs. He did not pitch particularly well, but Felipe Alou went 4-for-4 (including homer #23) and drove in three runs to give the Giants enough juice to win.
Don Larsen helped make it close by permitting two bequeathed runners to score in the eighth, but he induced a game-ending double play from Ron Santo to bring the roller-coaster ride to a safe ending. Ernie Banks hit his 33rd homer of the year in a losing cause for Chicago. Final score: Giants 5, Cubs 4.
DOWN in LA, Maury Wills continued his blistering late-season assault on Ty Cobb's stolen base record, swiping three more bases to bring his year-to-date total up to 86. Johnny Podres gave up eleven hits in 7 1/3 innings, but ten of them were singles and he kept the Pirates' myriad scoring threats at bay until the eighth inning.
Doug Camilli, given another start behind the plate after a good day with the bat, delivered again with two doubles; Frank Howard hit his 26th home run. Ron Perranoski tossed 1 1/3 innings of hitless relief (his 17th save) to nail things down. Final score: Dodgers 5, Pirates 3.
SEASON RECORDS: LAD 93-51, SFG 92-51
