Cubs Shuffle the Cards By Taking Four Straight

The Cubbies, off to a horrible start to the 1969 season, sweep four from St. Louis at Wrigley, bolstering their confidence by defeating the defending champs.

Game One: Cubs 3, Cards 0

Kenny Holtzman pitches his best game of the year, improving to 6-9, by going 8 innings with 10 strikeouts and shutting down the Cards' offense on six hits. Don Kessinger leads the charge in a game featuring no extra base hits, going three for five and driving in a run.

Game Two: Cubs 2, Cards 1

Bill Hands keeps up the dominating pitching for Chicago, allowing only a triple by St. Louis's Vada Pinson as the only Cardinal hit. His complete game masterpiece (with a gamescore of 84) is helped by an RBI single in the 8th by Randy Hundley that breaks a 1-1 tie and makes a loser of the Cardinals' Dave Guisti, who is now 6-3.

Game Three: Cubs 2, Cards 1 (11 innings)

Another low scoring game, this one features overpowering performances from the Cards' Bob Gibson and the Cubs' Fergie Jenkins. Gibson strikes out 10 and Jenkins 11 in 11 innings of work. But Gibson finally tires in the 11th, loading the bases for Chicago with two outs. Cards' reliever Joe Hoerner comes in and uncorks a wild pitch to win it for Chicago. Jenkins wins his 8th, but Gibson drops to an ugly 3-11 despite pitching well this year.

Game Four: Cubs 6, Cards 4

The Cardinals take an early 3-0 lead off Chicago's Dick Selma, and St. Louis spot starter Mudcat Grant is cruising along by striking out nine with only one walk. But the Cubs bats wake up in the eighth inning as they score five times on six hits in the inning, including back to back doubles by Ron Santo and Ernie Banks that knock out Grant. Phil Regan again has a rocky outing but only allows one Chicago run to gain the win in relief.