Sanford is very close to the top of the group--one in which pitchers from the Dodgers are conspicuously absent. (Don Drysdale had four such games in 1962; Sandy Koufax had one.)
And the game of August 4, 1962 was one of those six games in which Sanford didn't pitch particularly well (7 IP, 10 H, 5 R, a Game Score of 40) but received a win because his team scored enough runs--as we'll see, just enough--to win.
Sanford was hit hard in the second, allowing five hits and three runs as his opponents, the Pittsburgh Pirates, took a 3-1 lead. The Giants stole a run in the fourth that proved to be crucial to the game's outcome--or, should we say, Willie Mays stole it. After reaching on a single, Mays pulled one of his patented base-running coups: running on the pitch, he forced Bill Mazeroski to throw to first on Orlando Cepeda's grounder--but then he just kept on going to third, beating Jim Marshall's throw. Shortly thereafter, Pirates starter Harvey Haddix threw a wild pitch, and Mays scored. (In the sixth, however, Mays would be cut down trying to take the extra base, attempting to advance from first to third on Cepeda's single to left. The Giants still managed to take a 4-3 lead in that inning, however.)
But not for long, as Sanford allowed a two-run homer to Bob Skinner in the top of the seventh. When Jack left the game for a pinch-hitter, his team was trailing, 5-4--in order to receive a win, he'd need the Giants to score twice in the inning and never again relinquish the lead.
And that's just what they did: Harvey Kuenn singled in the go-ahead run, Bobby Bolin pitched two scoreless innings in relief, and Sanford got what the folks at Forman et fils call a "cheap win." Final score: Giants 6, Pirates 5.
DOWN in LA, Stan Williams, who'd been knocked out early three days earlier, made it through six fraught innings on short rest thanks to the Chicago Cubs' epic inability to hit with RISP on that evening (1-for-15). Willie Davis, moved up to the #2 slot for this game, homered, drove in two runs, and stole two bases as the primary catalyst for the Dodgers' offense. Ron Perranoski held off the Cubs in the final three innings to cement the win for Los Angeles. Final score: Dodgers 5, Cubs 3.
SEASON RECORDS: LAD 74-36, SFG 69-41
