Friday, May 4, 1962 was a cold day in Chicago--41 degrees at game time--but it did not prevent either the Giants or the Cubs from swinging the bats with abandon. Two lefties--Billy Pierce for San Francisco, Dick Ellsworth for Chicago--gave up solo homers in the early going (Billy Williams off Pierce in the first, Orlando Cepeda off Ellsworth in the second) but the real action started to happen in the top of the third, when the young Cubs lefty simply came unglued: double-walk-walk-single-walk-showers.
Cepeda greeted reliever Tony Balsamo with a double, making it 4-1 Giants, but Tony managed to keep things from going out of hand--at least until the next inning (top of 4), when after retiring the first two batters, he went single-double-triple (Willie Mays)-walk-single and it was quickly 7-1.
But not for long, because in the top of the eighth, struggling starter Glen Hobbie once again struggled in relief: after getting reserve Ernie Bowman to ground out, the sequence became quite familiar: single-single-single-strikeout (Willie Mays!)-single-double (Felipe Alou) for a total of four more runs (11-4 Giants). All that running on the basepaths clearly kept Al Dark's boys nice and warm...
The Cubs pushed across two runs in the bottom of the ninth against Larsen, but it was too late and (yes...) too little. Cepeda had led the charge with three hits and five RBI; the Giants' winning streak reached double figures. Final score: Giants 11, Cubs 6.
In Pittsburgh, the Dodgers and Pirates played at night, but we don't have info handy on just how cold it was. The Bucs did a good job of knocking Johnny Podres around, reaching the veteran Dodger lefty for ten hits and four runs, thanks in part to the hot hitting of Johnny Logan (3-for-4 with 2 RBI, hitting .571 for the season). They led, 4-0.
The Dodgers finally started to solve Bob Friend in the eighth inning, putting together four hits (including run-scoring hits from Duke Snider and Tommy Davis, cutting the lead to 4-3. The Ancient Buccaneer (aka Diomedes Olivo, the 43-year old rookie) was summoned from the pen and fanned Frank Howard to end the threat.
Thus inspired, the Dodgers tied the game in the ninth thanks to yeoman work from their reserves: with one out, the unsinkable Doug Camilli tripled (3-for-3 on the year), followed by a Lee Walls sacrifice fly. As the wags like to say, it was a brand new ballgame.
But, alas, not for long. Joe Moeller was given his first relief assignment and immediately went walk-single (Roberto Clemente!)-walk, leaving a big mess for Ron Perranoski. The Dodgers' lefty closer didn't mess around, giving up a single to future manager Bob Skinner (this would be Skinner's best year: 20 HRs, .302 BA, 139 OPS+). After the game manager Walt Alston was quoted by the press as follows: "We though it was meant to be, but...it wasn't." Final score: Pirates 5, Dodgers 4.
SEASON RECORDS: SFG 19-5, LAD 14-10
