[jksander]

JULY 12, 1956 . . . Camilo Pascual (5-7, 2.83 ERA, 101.2 IP, 75 K’s, 1.12 WHIP) got his 17th start of the season in game one of today’s doubleheader against Pittsburgh, facing Hank Aguirre (7-4, 2.10 ERA, 103.0 IP, 65 K”s, 1.00 WHIP). Virdon hit a solo blast to left that just barely stayed right of the foul pole, putting Pittsburgh up 1-0 in the top of the third. Poppell got himself a single in the bottom of the sixth, and then stole second and, with one out, third, setting up Jackie Robinson nicely. Robinson flew out to center, but Poppell had plenty of time to get into home safely and tie things up 1-1. Pascual got us into the stretch still tied, and three quick outs in the eighth kept us positioned well in this one. But we weren’t able to get anything past them in the bottom of the inning, so Larry Jansen came in to pitch in the top of the ninth. He pitched very well to contact, getting a pair of pop-ups with just his first three pitches, getting us out of the inning with fewer than ten thrown. But we couldn’t get a hit either, and this one was quickly sent into extra innings still tied 1-1. Jansen stayed out and gave up a solo homer to Leon Wagner on his first pitch of the inning, putting the Pirates back up 2-1, but he got three quick outs from there, putting the onus on the bottom of our order to get something done. Al Kaline got a great hit into right field to start the frame with a double, and then Roger Maris said to hell with it, let’s win this one now, hitting his 12th homer of the season to walk this one off, giving us a 3-1 victory!

Pascual had a great night, giving us eight innings with just four hits and an earned run, striking out three and walking one. Jansen gave up a run as well, but lasted two innings with just a walk through 19 pitches, earning his third win as he improved to 3-1 with a 4.06 ERA. Each team had five hits -- we were led by Rosen with a pair of hits, but it was Poppell who made sure we scored the run that kept us in this one late. He hit once to score a run, stealing two bases to give him 17 through his first 21 starts, tied for fifth in the majors with Milwaukee’s Bill Bruton!

Tom Acker (3-2, 3.08 ERA, 61.1 IP, 45 K’s, 1.17 WHIP) started our second game of the day, up against Pittsburgh’s Bob Friend (5-9, 4.07 ERA, 132.2 IP, 53 K’s, 1.28 WHIP). Jackie Robinson hit his 17th homer of the year to put us up 1-0 in the bottom of the first, and in the top of the second Al Kaline hit his 13th of the year to put us up 2-0. And Ernie Banks kept the hit-parade going, slugging one into the left field bleachers to score three more runs in the bottom of the third, giving us a 5-0 lead with his 17th blast of the year. Acker had a no-hitter going into the fourth inning, and we gave him plenty of run support, adding three more in the bottom of the fourth off a double by Rosen, who tried to make it to third and was picked off. Robinson tripled with two outs but wasn’t able to scure -- still sending us into the top of the fifth leading 8-0! We loaded the bases again in the bottom of the fifth, Poppell walking in a ninth run with two outs. Al Rosen then walked in our 10th of the game before a Robinson popout to right ended the inning with us shutting them out by 10 runs. The Pirates got on the board with a homer by Johnny Romano in the top of the sixth, but Mays hit his 32nd homer of the year to make it 11-1 in the bottom of the inning, negating theirs. We loaded the bases yet again in the bottom of the seventh, Willie Mays walking in a run to make it 12-1. Acker made it through the eighth inning for just the second time this season, staying out to complete the game in the ninth as we won this one 12-1!

In nine innings, Acker allowed only five hits, striking out three with only the one earned run, giving him a 4-2 record and a 2.82 ERA through 70.1 innings. We out-hit them 16-5 in the second game of the afternoon, led by Rosen (two hits, one run, four RBIs), Mays (two hits, two runs, two RBIs) and Banks (two hits, two runs, three RBIs). Maris added two hits and a run, Les Moss hit three times and scored as well, and lead-off man Poppell got himself two hits and three walks, scoring a run and driving in another. In 22 games he’s now hit .245 with an on base percentage of .333, batting in five runs to go with his 17 steals, giving him 0.8 WAR in an incredibly short amount of time. Who says power bats are everything?

JULY 13, 1956 . . . Saul Rogovin (12-2, 1.78 ERA, 151.1 IP, 196 K’s, 0.76 WHIP) got the start today, with Cohen only on three days’ rest since starting in the All Star game. Pittsburgh brought out Gene Conley (7-9, 2.62 ERA, 158.0 IP, 107 K’s, 1.04 WHIP) who has been red-hot for the Pirates this year, pitching to a decision in all but three starts, only once failing to get into at least the eighth inning. The Pirates took a 1-0 lead in the top of the third when Rip Repulski hit an RBI single, and they added a run off an RBI double by Ken Boyer just moments later, though Rogovin got us out of the inning with a strikeout. Rogovin struck out his 200th batter of the season in the top of the fourth, but we struggled to get baserunners into position, and still trailed by the two runs heading into the fifth. Repulski hit an RBI double in the top of the fifth to extend the Pirates’ lead to 3-0, But with the bases loaded in the bottom of the inning, Jackie Robinson hit a triple and drove in three runs to tie it up! Rogovin struck out the side in the top of the ninth to keep it knotted at 3-3, but we batted ourselves out three times straight to send this one into extras with both starters staying in! Rogovin got two strikeouts and a groundout in the top of the 10th, but Conley shut us down just as easily. Two more groundouts and a strikeout got us into the bottom of the 11th, with Conley still on the mound at 142 pitches! Robinson and Mays were quickly put down via flyout, and Banks popped up to the shortstop and this one just kept going.

Carl Erskine came out to pitch for us in the top of the 12th, setting them down quickly with a strikeout and a pair of groundouts. I was stunned that they kept Gene Conley out there for the bottom of the inning, having thrown 150 pitches already and looking like he was completely out of gas. He got Kaline out with a flyball to center, but then walked Roger Maris, and they had no choice but to go to the bullpen for Johnny Kucks (2-0, 1 SV 0.49 ERA, 18.1 IP, 8 K’s, 0.98 WHIP). Kucks walked Crandall, and we pinch hit Bouchee for Erskine, who struck out swinging. That brought up Poppell with two outs and a man in scoring position ... and he batted out to the shortstop, who made a quick throw for the third out at first. Sandy Koufax came in to pitch in the top of the 13th, getting flyouts to Mays and Maris along with a strikeout to give us another chance to walk this one off. But yet again, our bats were unable to make anything happen. Al Kaline made a spectacular catch for our first out in the top of the 14th, Koufax made a great throw to Rosen at first for the second, and then Ken Boyer struck out looking to send us into the bottom of the inning with the game already nearing four hours in length! Banks batted out to right, but Kaline got himself a base hit, and they walked Maris to give us a runner in scoring position. Crandall tried to lay down a bunt, but it was as bad as you could possibly hit one, and they got Kaline out at third. Dick Whitman hit for Koufax with two outs and two men on, taking the pitcher to a full count and then grounding out to first. God-DAMN!

Top of the 15th inning, we bring out Bob Purkey to throw. He gives up a base hit to Rocky Colavito, but gets Colavito out at second on a fielder’s choice that put Rocky Nelson on first instead. He walked Jim Finegan, but struck shorstop Billy Klaus out swinging, bringing up slugger Jimmy Romano with a man in scoring position and two outs. Larry Jansen subbed in, and Romano hit a weak grounder to Banks, who made a great throw to first for the final out. Jack Poppell came up first in the bottom of the inning, getting a hit into left for a single. Al Rosen beat out an infield bouncer to drive Poppell over to second, and with no outs, Poppell stole third, with the count 0-2 against Robinson, who promptly grounded out to first for out number one, driving Rosen over to second. They walked Mays, loading the bases for Ernie Banks, and on a wild pitch Poppell sprinted for home, sliding in safely headfirst to win this one for us 4-3 in the 15th inning, nearly four and a half hours after we threw the first pitch.

Larry Jansen only threw two pitches, getting our final out and securing himself the win, improving to 4-1 with a 4.02 ERA. But Rogovin was a star as he’s been all year, having his best start of the season with just six hits and three earned runs with 13 K’s through 11 innings. Erskine had a no-hit inning with a strikeout, and Koufax had two no-hit innings with a pair of K’s, before Purkey gave us two outs with a hit, a strikeout and a walk. The crazy thing is, through 15 innings, the Pirates outhit us 7-6! But we outscored them 4-1 in the final 11 innings, as our pitchers completely locked in. Jackie Robinson batted seven times, hitting twice and driving in three runs to give us a chance in the bottom of the fifth. Poppell’s stolen base in the final inning gave him a hit, a run and his 18th stolen base of the season. Al Rosen hit twice and walked twice, but was unable to score.

JULY 14, 1956 . . . We’re now on a six-game win streak, with a 12-1 record in the month of July! For our final game against the Pirates, we’re saving Cohen for the first of our two Brooklyn games, so Bob Porterfield (2-0, 1.82 ERA, 24.2 IP, 14 K’s, 0.81 WHIP) got the start against Johnny Klippstein (8-7, 3.54 ERA, 145.0 IP, 95 K’s, 1.05 WHIP). Pittsburgh got on the board in the top of the second with a run scored off a sac-fly by Billy Klaus, and Rocky Colavito batted in another run in the top of the third to make it 2-0 Pirates. Jackie Robinson hit a double in the bottom of the fourth, stole third, and then reached home safely on a sac-fly by Mays to make it 2-1. Porterfield got us through the fifth, and Erskine came in to pitch in the top of the sixth with us still trailing by a run. Ernie Banks batted in the tying run in the bottom of the sixth, and we got the go-ahead from Mays, who scored from third on a wild pitch, sending us into the top of the seventh up 3-2. Erskine got us into the stretch with a pair of strikeouts and a pop-out to Banks, and in the bottom of the seventh we added a run thanks to an RBI single by Mays, extending our lead to two runs. Koufax came in to pitch in the top of the eighth, but after striking out Ken Boyer, he walked Colavito and Nelson, and then pinch-runner Jim Nelson scored on an E7 throwing error following a single by Danny O’Connell, and suddenly the lead was cut to one. Koufax got the outs we needed to get out of the inning, but we needed some insurance in the bottom of the eighth. Kaline got it for us, hitting a homer into the right field seats, his 14th of the year, to make it a 5-3 lead. Koufax stayed out in the bottom of the inning, getting a flyout to Kaline, and then after walking Stan Palys, made a brilliant double play to complete the two-run win!

After a five inning three hit effort by Porterfield, who walked three, struck out four and allowed two runs, Carl Ersline came in and won the game, improving to 3-1 with a two-inning two-hit, two strikeout effort. Koufax earned his 11th save of the season by going two innings as well, giving up a hit, a run and three walks against just one strikeout -- not the best outing we’ve seen from him, but he got it done, helping us sweep the Pirates as we keep our win streak going into the Brooklyn series. We outhit the Pirates 10-6, led by Kaline (two hits, a run and an RBI) and Crandall (two hits). Robinson hit once, walked once, stole a base and scored a run, and pinch-hitter Dick Whitman finally got his first hit of the year in his 12th attempt, stealing his second base of the year as well.