Cubs Down Dodgers, Get on Winning Track

Off to a stumbling start to the season, the Lovable Losers take their first series in a while, bouncing back from a Game 1 drubbing to win the next two from the pennant-contending Dodgers. The Cubs move to a still-miserable 10-16, while LA drops to 15-11. Ernie "Mr. Cub" Banks pounds two HRs in the series (2, 3), while Alfonso Phillips continues to place among the MLB RBI leaders with 25 on the season.

Game 1: LAD 14, CHIC 7
W: Grant (1-1)
L: Nye (1-4)

Neither LA starter Claude Osteen (GameScore 15) not Cubs hurler Rich Nye (21) have much to offer, but Jim "Mudcat" Grant and three other relievers bail out the Dodgers. LA first-bagger Wes Parker continues to rip for LA,  hitting for the cycle in this game.

Game 2: CHIC 7, LAD 3
W: J. Niekro (3-2)
L: Sutton (1-2)

Wes Parker hits for the cycle and is batting .347.

Don Sutton gives up the long ball to Banks and Ron Santo (4) and Joe Niekro does the rest with a nifty five-hitter under threatening weather conditions on the North Side.

Game 3: CHIC 6, LAD 3
W: Holtzman (2-1)
L: Singer (2-3)
S: Regan (2)

Three more Cubs' taters, including Phillip's fifth, doom Bill Singer and the Dodgers. 22-year-old Kenny Holtzman washes out the Dodger blue, while Phil Regan snuffs out a ninth-inning rally.

Reds Take 3 from Phillies; Reach .500

Game 1: Cin (Culver) vs Phi (Fryman)
George Culver pitched a strong game, allowing only 6 hits on 7 2/3 innings. The Reds were powered by Lee May and Vada Pinson, who each had 2 doubles in the game. The first 4 Reds batters in the game reached base, as Phil's starter Fryman struggled with his control. After yielding 2 runs in the first, Woodie settled down and held the Reds scoreless until May's second double chased him in the fifth. Bill Kelso picked up save 1 for the Reds as they won 3-0.

Game 2: Cin (Maloney) vs Phi (Wise)
The Phil's came out strong early, as they scored 4 in the second inning, getting 4 hits and 2 walks off Reds starter Jim Maloney. Cincinnati got back 2 in the bottom of the second, but trailed 6-2 going into the bottom of the sixth. The wheels came off for the Phillies then, as Cincinnati would score 7 in the inning. Reliever Gary Wagner came in with the Phils clinging to a 6-4 lead with 2 outs, but yielded 4 consecutive singles to Reds batters. Cincinnati went on to win 12-7, with Johnny Bench the offensive star on strength of 4 for 5, homer, and 3 RBI. Phillies starter Rick Wise hit a homer.

Game 3: Cin (Arrigo) vs Phi (Short)
Cincinnati OF Mack Jones hit a 3-run homer in the first as the Reds got to Short early. Phils made a game of it in the eight, as they closed the gap to 6-5 after a rain delay on the strength of a Dick Allen 3-run blast. Reds closer Ted Abernathy wasn't very effective, but pitched just well enough to close out the 6-5 Reds win. Red Lee May continued his torrid hitting, getting 2 hits for the third game in a row.

Game 4: Cin (Pappas) vs Phi (Jackson)
Phillies scored early and often on way to 11-2 victory to avoid the sweep. Starter Jackson scattered 9 hits while holding the Reds to only 1 run to pick up hit first win. Reds starter Milt Pappas was hammered for 6 runs in only 5 innings. When's that trade to the Braves?

Baltimore Gets Mauled by Tigers

Game 1: Detroit 7  Baltimore 1

Willie Horton hits his league leading 7th homer.

WP: Joe Sparma (2-3, 2.79 ERA)
S: John Hiller (1st)
LP: Dave Leonhard (0-3, 9.72 ERA)
MVP: Dick MacAuliffe

This game wasn't much of a contest as the Tigers smashed 5 home runs, to embarrass Baltimore pitching, in a 7-1 win.  Dick MacAuliffe(3), Willie Horton (7), Mickey Stanle(2), Al Kaline(2) and Bill Freehan (4) all hit solo shot homers for Detroit. The only bright spot for Baltimore was Dave Mays 2 for 3 at the plate to up his robust batting average to .114.

Game 2: Detroit 7 Baltimore 6


WP: Dennis Ribrant (2-0, 2.35 ERA)
S: Jon Warden (1st)
LP: Moe Drabowsky (0-2, 6.52 ERA)
MVP: Norm Cash

Game 2 saw the woeful "O's" having the World Champs on the ropes.  Leading 6-5 going into the ninth, Baltimore fans had high hopes of stealing game 2 from Detroit.  And then entered Moe Drabowsky.  A single, hit batter and a double would see the first three Tigers reach base and eventually end up scoring 2 runs to take the game.  Detroit received fine performances from Bill Freehan (.239 avg) going 2 for 3 and game MVP Norm Cash (.269avg) going 2 for 5 with a double.


Game 3: Detroit 4 Baltimore 5, 12 innings

Dave McNally

WP: Pete Richart (1-2, 4.50 ERA)
LP: Dennis Ribrant (2-1, 2.89 ERA)
MVP: Eddie Watt

Baltimore came to brawl in game three, literally, as Dave McNally would plunk Willie Horton square in the shoulders sending Horton to first.  Horton, who had received some chin music by McNally earlier in the 2nd inning, would turn and charge the mound.  A brew ha ha would evolve resulting in only Horton being tossed from the game.  That type of action would ensue for the rest of the game as both teams slugged back and forth, going into extra frames, before it could be decided.  In the bottom of the 12th Dave Johnson was hit by a pitch, and trotted to first without incident.  Johnson would become the eventual winning run saving an opportunity of a Tiger sweep from happening.  Detroit finishes the series at 15-10 and Baltimore at 11-13.

Braves Split a Pair with Bucos

Game 1 at Atlanta,

Hank Aaron smacked a homerun off veteran Jim Bunning. Both teams fought hard to a 3-3 tie until the game was won in the home half of the ninth when hero of the day, Hammerin' Hank drilled a line drive single to left field to plate Marty Martinez.....Braves 4...Pirates 3.

Game 2 at Atlanta

Brave lefty hurler Dick Kelley had a fine performance as he was able to hold the hard swinging Pirates scoreless through 8 innings. Kelley became fatigued and need pen assistance from Claude Raymond. Raymond earned his first save which preserved Kelley's his first win of the season.  The only run scored when Francona grounded a single to left field as Felipe Alou raced around for the game's lone run.  Braves 1...Pirates 0.

Game 3 at Atlanta,

Steve Blass proved to be a tough egg to crack when he went the distance to remain perfect at 3-0 on the season.  Blass allowed three runs in the complete game victory.  Gene Alley crushed a 2-run homerun to lead the Pirates past the Braves.  Pirates 4....Braves 3.






 Game 4 at Atlanta,

Another strong pitching performance by both clubs. Donn Clendenon singled in Maury Wills, who lead off the inning with a bunt single. then swiped second base. Wills said it felt like old times back in Los Angeles when the Dodgers had to scrap and claw for runs.  Bob Moose(1-0) pitched eight innings of no run, four hit ball.  Brave starter, Ron Reed(1-2) got hung with the loss.  Pirates 1...Braves 0.

submitted by Joey Scigliano

Pirates Win Battle of Pennsylvania

May 3, 1968
Blass vs Wise
Pittsburgh 7 Philadelphia 1

Steve Blass gave up a run in the first and scattered 8 hits as he tossed a complete game in beating the Phillies 7-1.   Pittsburgh jumped to an early lead in the first on RBI singles by Manny Mota and Matty Alou.  The Pirates added single runs in the 5th and 6th innings before putting up a 3 spot in the 7th on another Alou single and a Bill Mazoroski single that plated 2 runners.  Meanwhile, Blass continued to pitch well. After allowing the only run he would give up on the day on a SF from Johnny Callison, Blass shut Philadelphia out over the next 8 innings to earn his 2nd victory of the season.


May 4, 1968
Sisk vs Short
Pittsburgh 5 Philadelphia 2

Game two proved to be a hard fought game for both teams as the starting pitchers, Tommie Sisk for the Pirates and Chris Short for the Phillies, locked into a pitching duel for the first 5 innings.  After sitting the potent Pirate bats down in the 6th, Philadelphia finally got to Sisk in the bottom of the inning when Tony Taylor doubled home the first run of the game and Cookie Rojas followed with a double of his own to give the Phils a 2-0 lead.  The lead didn't last long as Short tired in the 7th and gave up a one out single to Manny Mota followed by a rare Bill Mazeroski homerun down the left field line that just cleared the wall to tie the game at 2.  John Boozer came on in the 8th to try to keep the game tied but was unsuccessful as he gave up singles to Gene Alley and Roberto Clemente before Donn Clendenon put the game out of reach with a 3 run dinger.  Elroy Face came on to pitch the last 2 innings and earn his third save of the year.

May 5, 1968
Walker vs Jackson
Philadelphia 3 Pittsburgh 2

The Phillies turned to right hander Larry Jackson to try and salvage the get-away game of the series while Pittsburgh offered up southpaw, Luke Walker, to try and get the sweep.  Both pitchers looked sharp through three innings before the Pirates nicked Jackson for a run in the 4th with small ball.  Speedster Maury Wills lead off the inning with a bunt base hit and then immediately stole 2nd.  One out later, Roberto Clement singled him home and the Pirates were up 1-0.  The score remained like that until the 7th when the Pirates added an insurance run on a Donn Clendenon blast to left center field.  Elroy Face came on in the 8th to try and duplicate a 2 inning save like he had done the previous day but it was not to be.  After getting through the 8th unscathed Face had trouble in the 9th.  Dick Allen lead off the inning with a hard single to center and Bill White did the same one out later.  Allen moved to 3rd on a long out by Callison.  Down to their last out, Tony Gonzalez pinched hit for Mike Ryan and lined a single between third and short to score Allen and make it a 2-1 ballgame.  Gary Sutherland, who had pinched hit in the 8th and remained in the game at shortstop, singled to left field scoring White from second and tying the game at 2-2.  The game moved to the 10th and after Matty Alou reached base on an error he was sacrificed to second and stole 3rd.  With Alou on 3rd and only one out the Pirates had an excellent chance to retake the lead but Jerry May lined out to Sutherland at short and PH Willie Stargell flied to deep left center field for the third out.  LH'er Juan Pizzaro came on in the bottom of the 10th and quickly got the first two batters out before Dick Allen hit a walk off homerun.

Dodgers take 2 of 3 from Cincy

5/3/1968 - Dodger Stadium

Maloney vs Sutton

Dodgers 4, Reds 1

A 3 run shot by 3-Dog, Willie Davis in the bottom of the 3rd gave Don Sutton all the runs he would need.  Sutton (1-1, 0.51) typically doesn't get much in the way of run support.  His opposing number Jim Maloney (0-2, 3.97) fanned 9 in 5 innings, but was a victim of the long ball.  LA added a solo run in the 5th and Cincy finally got on the board in the top of the 9th with their lone run of the game.  Sutton went the distance and allowed just 4 hits, no walks and 1 run, while striking out 3.

5/4/1968

Arrigo vs Singer

Reds 5, Dodgers 1 (13 inn)

Cincy victimized LA's 3rd pitcher on the day, Jack Billingham, for 4 runs in the top of the 13th to break a 1-1 tie and eventually win the game.  Tommy Helms doubled off the left field wall to lead off.  After Leo Cardenas grounded to third, pinch hitter Don Pavletich walked to put runners on 1st and 2nd with 1 out.  "Charlie Hustle", Pete Rose laced a hard opposite field grounder through the hole to score Helms.  Alex Johnnson, Vada Pinson and Tony Perez followed with RBI knocks of their own to break the game open.  Mel Queen came on board to pitch an uneventful 9th.

5/5/1968

Drysdale vs Pappas

Dodgers 3, Reds 1

The Dodgers got 7 superb innings out of Don Drysdale (1 unearned run), who was pitching on short rest.  Jim Brewer posted his 3rd save with 2 scoreless innings of relief.  LA would score all of their runs off of Milt Pappas in the bottom of the first when they scored 3 all with 2 out.  After Jim Fairey struck out and Zollio Versalles grounded out, Willie Davis worked out a 5 pitch walk.  3-Dog then stole second and scored easily when Alex Johnson booted Ron Fairly's seeing eye single.  Tom Haller knocked in the second run with a 2-2 single and Wes Parker followed suit with a full count bleeder that sliced between third and short.  Cincy scored their lone run in the top of the 5th when Whitfield scampered home on a Tommy Helms ground out.

Senators Take 2 from Struggling ChiSox

Will the White Sox win another game? That's what the pessimists are saying, as the struggling team just dropped its 11th game in a row to start the month of May. The White Sox had a veritable run explosion in Game 1 of the series, scoring 6 runs after only scoring 5 in the previous 6 games. Unfortunately normally stalwart hurler Wilbur Wood failed to hold the 1-run lead he inherited in the 7th, and the Senators scored a total of 8 runs to take Game 1. Washington 3B Ken McMullen went 2 for 5 with a pair of dingers to pace the Senators.

In Game 2, Senators' Chuck Bertaina out dueled Sox Tommy John to win a close 2-1 affair. The Senators rode a 4 for 4 performance from RF Bowens to a 2-0 lead through 8. The White Sox got to reliever Darold Knowles in the 8th, as c Duane Josephson tripled and scored on a Buddy Bradford ground out. Dick Bosman came on in relief to yield a single to White Sox 2b Sandy Alomar Sr, who promptly stole 2nd. Bosman got Jerry McNertney to ground out, and reliever Dave Baldwin came on in the 9th to stymie Sox hitters and pick up his first save of the season.