Series preview here.
#Game One: Robin Roberts @ David Price
Philadelphia’s Robin Roberts is pitching for his roster spot, coming into the game at 4-5 (not bad) with a 6.69 ERA (very bad).
Indianapolis’ David Price‘s first pitch was sent into the seats by Willie Davis for his 12th homerun of the year and extending his hitting streak to 15 games. Despite loading the bases, Roberts escaped the bottom of the first, leaving the score 1-0 in favor of the Stars after 1 inning.
Sherry Magee launched a fastball from Price into the left field seats in the top of the 4th extending the lead to 3-0. Roberts allowed at least one base-runner in each inning, but had a 4-hit shutout through 5 innings.
Price was chased from the game when he gave up his third homerun of the day, another 2-run shot, this one by George Hendrick for a 5-0 lead for Philadelphia.
Roberts ran out of gas in the 6th, giving up a run on a double by Hal Morris, but got out of the inning without further damage. Larry Jackson replaced him in the bottom of the 7th, trying to preserve the 5-1 lead.
The ABC’s loaded the bases in the bottom of the 9th, but Jackson closed it out, and you have to imagine this performance keeps Roberts around a little longer.
Stars 7 (Roberts 5-5; Jackson 1 Sv) @ ABC’s 1 (Price 3-5)
HRs: PHI – Davis (12), Magee (5), Hendrick (8).
Box Score
#Game Two: Steve Carlton @ Rube Foster
Steve Carlton makes his return from the DL for the Stars in this one. He looked incredibly sharp, fanning four in 2 innings, until in the bottom of the 3rd, Edd Roush tripled home Joe Morgan to put Indianapolis up, 1-0. That was all Carlton gave up in his 5 innings of work, but Rube Foster was even better, allowing only 1 hit over that span.
Willie Davis would extend his hitting streak with a bloop double in the top of the 6th, and Sherm Lollar would plate the tying run with a single, scoring Mickey Doolin.
It stayed 1-1 from then on. With 2 outs in the bottom of the 9th, Ernie Lombardi singled, putting the winning run on first. Barry Larkin ran for the Schnozz, and Dave Henderson pinch hit for Davey Concepcíon, trying to win it for the ABC’s. Henderson delivered, with a hit through the right side moving Larkin to 3rd, bringing up the struggling Ed Charles. Dennis Menke pinch hit for Charles, but whiffed on a nice curveball from Rheal Cormier, sending us to extra innings in the rain.
The 9th was hard on Indianapolis in terms of their defense: the elected to surrender the DH, allowing Larkin to take the field.
Scott Rolen led off the top of the 12th with a double against Rob Dibble, who then walked Ted Kluszewski. Both runners advanced on a sacrifice from Buck Freeman, but Hendrick plated both runners with a base hit. Kluszewski was hurt on the slide, so the Stars went to the bottom of the 12th with Rolen in right and J.M. Ward at the hot corner.
Bob Howry gave up a hit to Bob Bescher and then a double to Morgan, putting the tying run on second with one out. Don Carman came in for Howry, and promptly balked in a run. But Carman was able to retire Edd Roush and Johnny Bench, ending a good game in the Stars’ favor.
Stars 3 (Howry 2-3; Carman 1 Sv) @ ABC’s 2 (Dibble 2-3)
HRs: None.
Box Score
#Game Three: Ray Collins @ Doc White
Indianapolis will try to get their first win of the season behind one of the hottest pitchers in the leagues, lefty Doc White. The Stars will counter with probably their most dependable arm so far this season, the 6-4 Ray Collins.
Two groundouts led to a run for Philadelphia in the top of the 2nd, with Buck Freeman scoring Scott Rolen, who had singled to leadoff the inning, giving the Stars an early 1-0 lead.
The ABC’s took the lead in the bottom of the frame, on RBIs from Barry Larkin (a groundout) and Bob Bescher (a single), making it 2-1 in favor of Indianapolis. The bottom of the ABC’s lineup added to the lead the next inning, with a double from Ernie Lombardi, and singles from Larkin, Bescher, and Ed Charles make it 6-1.
A leadoff single from Johnny Bench and a walk to Oscar Charleston chased Collins from the game, with the Stars bringing in Don Carman in a game that was quickly getting out of reach.
Meanwhile, White continued to pitch brilliantly, giving up only the 2 hits and 1 run through 5 innings. Sherry Magee would lead off the 6th with a homerun, but any immediate hopes of a Stars’ comeback were put to rest with a 2 run shot from Lombardi in the bottom of the frame.
White would leave the game after walking in a run in the 7th, but Willie Mitchell got Rico Carty to fly out to end the inning, leaving the score at 8-3, Indianapolis, which is how the contest would end.
Lombardi had 3 hits, 3 RBIs, and scored 3 times for the ABC’s, as they closed within a win of a series split.
PHI 3 (Collins 6-5) @ IND 8 (White 3-1; Mitchell 1 Sv)
HRs: PHI – Magee (6); IND – Lombardi (6)
Box Score
Game #4: John Montgomery Ward @ Dolf Luque
The ABC’s will look to Dolf Luque to manage a series split, while the Stars will counter with J.M. Ward. Both hurlers have been throwing excellently of late, so the potential for a well thrown game is there.
Indianapolis would score first, with Johnny Bench driving in Bob Bescher with a double in the bottom of the first. Meanwhile, Luque didn’t allow his first hit until José Ramírez singled to lead off the top of the fourth. In the bottom of that inning, Hal Morris blasted a 3-run homerun to increase the lead to 4-0.
With two outs in the 5th, Luque walked Mike Scioscia and gave up a double to Chase Utley, but Mickey Doolin struck out to end the inning and preserve the shutout.
Ward would escape a bases-loaded jam in the 5th, surrendering only 1 run to make it 5-0.
Bill Laskey relieved Ward, and promptly let the game get further out of hand, giving up Morris’ second longball of the game, another flurry of hits, and a homerun to Bench, making it 11-0.
That left the only suspense as whether Luque could complete the shutout. He had a 4-hitter through 8, but had thrown 124 pitches when he took the mound for the 9th. Doubles by Buck Freeman and pinch-hitter George Hendrick would end the shutout and Luque’s day.
Morris, Bench, and Oscar Charleston each had 3 hits for Indianpolis, combining for 8 runs scored, 10 RBIs, and 3 homeruns.
PHI 1 (Ward 3-4) @ IND 16 (Luque 6-5)
HRs: IND – Morris 2 (9), Bench (15), Charles (3)
Box Score
Series Stats
The blowout at the end skews a lot of the offensive numbers for Indianapolis, who were led by Hal Morris, who went 7-for-16 and Bob Bescher’s 6 hits.
For Philadelphia, George Hendrick was 5-for-14 and Willie Davis 6-for-18 to lead the offense.
