Ties major-league mark for K's (c) Houston Astros |
Turk Farrell and Larry Dierker notwithstanding, Houston's first true pitching ace was fastballer Don Wilson.
Between earning two of the franchise's early no-hitters in 1967 and 1969, respectively, on the night of July 14, 1968, at old Crosley Field in Cincinnati, Wilson tied the major league record for strikeouts in a game, fanning 18 Cincinnati Reds, and set the Houston club record. The mark was first set by the Indians' Bob Feller in 1938, then equaled twice by Sandy Koufax in 1959 and 1962. Not bad company.
1968 was the legendary "Year of the Pitcher". The Major League batting champion that year was Carl Yastrzemski, who led all batters with a ho-hum .301 average. Hard-throwing, glowering Bob Gibson was the bane of the National League. Gibson almost single-handedly forced the major leagues to drop the pitching mound from 15 inches to 10, narrow the strike zone, and even worse, eventually introduce the designated hitter rule in the American League for 1973.
Wilson started the game strong, striking out nine of the first ten batters he faced. Like Gibson, Wilson did not suffer bunters gladly, especially when his game was on. After Vada Pinson tried unsuccessfully to bunt his way on in the ninth, Wilson went directly after Johnny Bench, fanning the future Hall-of-Famer on five pitches to clinch his tie of the record.
Wilson even garnered the support of the Cincinnati fans, a crowd not normally known for their couth. Late in the game, the Reds stalwarts were cheering Wilson's every strike. With a light rain falling in the late innings, perhaps they merely wished it would be brought to a quick conclusion.
Almost as a footnote, Wilson's battery mate, John Bateman, also left his footprint on history by recording nine straight putouts to open the game, tying the mark set by the Giants' backstop Art Wilson in 1911.
Game of 7/14/1968, game 2 -- Houston at Cincinnati Courtesy of Retrosheet Houston AB R H RBI Cincinnati AB R H RBI Simpson D, rf 4 2 1 1 Beauchamp J, 1b 3 0 0 0 Torres H, ss 3 1 1 1 Whitfield F, ph-1b 1 0 0 0 Staub R, 1b 5 0 0 0 Johnson A, lf 3 1 2 0 Wynn J, cf 3 1 1 1 May L, rf 4 0 1 0 Menke D, 2b 3 1 2 1 Perez T, 3b 4 0 1 0 Aspromonte B, lf 5 0 2 1 Pinson V, cf 4 0 0 0 Rader D, 3b 4 1 2 0 McRae H, 2b 2 0 0 0 Bateman J, c 3 0 0 1 Ritchie J, p 0 0 0 0 Wilson D, p 4 0 0 0 Bench J, ph-c 2 0 0 0 Corrales P, c 2 0 0 0 Jones M, ph 0 0 0 0 Culver G, pr 0 0 0 0 Lee B, p 0 0 0 0 Cardenas L, ss 3 0 1 0 Arrigo G, p 1 0 0 0 Ruiz C, 2b 2 0 0 0 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 34 6 9 6 31 1 5 0 Houston 001 020 012 -- 6 Cincinnati 000 100 000 -- 1 Houston IP H R ER BB SO Wilson D (W) 9.0 5 1 1 2 18 Cincinnati IP H R ER BB SO Arrigo G (L) 4.1 5 3 2 6 3 Ritchie J 2.2 1 0 0 0 1 Lee B 2.0 3 3 2 2 0 E -- Bateman J, Cardenas L, Ruiz C DP -- Houston 1, Cincinnati 1 LOB -- Houston 12, Cincinnati 5 2B -- Johnson A, Menke D, Perez T HR -- Simpson D SB -- Torres H, May L, Johnson A SH -- Wilson D, Torres H SF -- Bateman J WP -- Wilson D T -- 2:47 A -- 15240 Game of Sunday, 7/14/1968, game 2 -- Houston Astros at Cincinnati Reds Starting Lineups: Houston Cincinnati 1. rf Dick Simpson 1b Jim Beauchamp 2. ss Hector Torres lf Alex Johnson 3. 1b Rusty Staub rf Lee May 4. cf Jim Wynn 3b Tony Perez 5. 2b Denis Menke cf Vada Pinson 6. lf Bob Aspromonte 2b Hal McRae 7. 3b Doug Rader c Pat Corrales 8. c John Bateman ss Leo Cardenas 9. p Don Wilson p Gerry Arrigo ASTROS 1ST: D.Simpson was called out on strikes; H.Torres walked; H.Torres stole second; R.Staub popped to T.Perez in foul territory; J.Wynn walked; D.Menke flied to A.Johnson; 0 R, 0 H, 0 E, 2 LOB. Astros 0, Reds 0. REDS 1ST: J.Beauchamp was called out on strikes; A.Johnson walked; D.Wilson threw a wild pitch [A.Johnson to second]; L.May struck out; T.Perez struck out; 0 R, 0 H, 0 E, 1 LOB. Astros 0, Reds 0. ASTROS 2ND: B.Aspromonte popped to L.Cardenas; D.Rader walked; J.Bateman grounded into a double play (L.Cardenas to H.McRae to J.Beauchamp) [D.Rader out at second]; 0 R, 0 H, 0 E, 0 LOB. Astros 0, Reds 0. REDS 2ND: V.Pinson was called out on strikes; H.McRae struck out; P.Corrales struck out; 0 R, 0 H, 0 E, 0 LOB. Astros 0, Reds 0. ASTROS 3RD: D.Wilson struck out; D.Simpson homered to leftfield; H.Torres grounded out (L.Cardenas to J.Beauchamp); R.Staub flied to V.Pinson; 1 R, 1 H, 0 E, 0 LOB. Astros 1, Reds 0. REDS 3RD: L.Cardenas struck out; G.Arrigo struck out; J.Beauchamp was called out on strikes; 0 R, 0 H, 0 E, 0 LOB. Astros 1, Reds 0. ASTROS 4TH: J.Wynn grounded out (T.Perez to J.Beauchamp); D.Menke walked; B.Aspromonte singled to second base [D.Menke to second]; D.Rader grounded out (G.Arrigo to J.Beauchamp) [D.Menke to third, B.Aspromonte to second]; J.Bateman was walked intentionally; D.Wilson grounded out (L.Cardenas to J.Beauchamp); 0 R, 1 H, 0 E, 3 LOB. Astros 1, Reds 0. REDS 4TH: A.Johnson singled to right field; L.May singled to center field [A.Johnson to third]; A.Johnson stole home and L.May stole second [L.May to third (error by J.Bateman)]; T.Perez popped to D.Menke; V.Pinson popped to R.Staub in foul territory; H.McRae struck out; 0 R, 2 H, 1 E, 1 LOB. Astros 1, Reds 1. ASTROS 5TH: D.Simpson reached on an error by L.Cardenas [D.Simpson to first]; H.Torres singled to left field [D.Simpson to second]; R.Staub struck out; J.Wynn singled to right field [D.Simpson scored (unearned), H.Torres to third, J.Wynn to second (on throw)]; D.Menke was walked intentionally; B.Aspromonte singled to center field [H.Torres scored, J.Wynn to third, D.Menke to second]; J.RITCHIE REPLACED H.MCRAE (PITCHING); C.RUIZ REPLACED G.ARRIGO (PLAYING 2B); D.Rader flied to V.Pinson; J.Bateman flied to V.Pinson; 2 R (1 ER), 3 H, 1 E, 3 LOB. Astros 3, Reds 1. REDS 5TH: P.Corrales struck out; L.Cardenas singled to center field; C.Ruiz struck out; J.Beauchamp struck out; 0 R, 1 H, 0 E, 1 LOB. Astros 3, Reds 1. ASTROS 6TH: D.Wilson struck out; D.Simpson flied to V.Pinson; H.Torres lined to L.May; 0 R, 0 H, 0 E, 0 LOB. Astros 3, Reds 1. REDS 6TH: A.Johnson doubled to center field; L.May hit into a double play (H.Torres to R.Staub to D.Rader) [A.Johnson out at third]; T.Perez was called out on strikes; 0 R, 1 H, 0 E, 0 LOB. Astros 3, Reds 1. ASTROS 7TH: R.Staub flied to V.Pinson; J.Wynn grounded out (P.Corrales to J.Beauchamp); D.Menke singled to third base; B.Aspromonte grounded out (J.Ritchie to J.Beauchamp); 0 R, 1 H, 0 E, 1 LOB. Astros 3, Reds 1. REDS 7TH: V.Pinson struck out; J.BENCH BATTED FOR J.RITCHIE; J.Bench popped to D.Rader in foul territory; M.JONES BATTED FOR P.CORRALES; M.Jones walked; G.CULVER RAN FOR M.JONES; L.Cardenas was called out on strikes; 0 R, 0 H, 0 E, 1 LOB. Astros 3, Reds 1. ASTROS 8TH: B.LEE REPLACED G.CULVER (PITCHING); J.BENCH STAYED IN GAME (PLAYING C); D.Rader singled to third base; J.Bateman reached on an error by C.Ruiz [D.Rader to second, J.Bateman to first]; D.Wilson out on a sacrifice bunt (J.Beauchamp to C.Ruiz) [D.Rader to third, J.Bateman to second]; D.Simpson was walked intentionally; H.Torres out on a sacrifice bunt (B.Lee to C.Ruiz) [D.Rader scored (unearned), J.Bateman to third, D.Simpson to second]; R.Staub lined to L.May; 1 R (0 ER), 1 H, 1 E, 2 LOB. Astros 4, Reds 1. REDS 8TH: C.Ruiz grounded out (D.Menke to R.Staub); F.WHITFIELD BATTED FOR J.BEAUCHAMP; F.Whitfield grounded out (D.Menke to R.Staub); A.Johnson grounded out (H.Torres to R.Staub); 0 R, 0 H, 0 E, 0 LOB. Astros 4, Reds 1. ASTROS 9TH: F.WHITFIELD STAYED IN GAME (PLAYING 1B); J.Wynn walked; D.Menke doubled to right field [J.Wynn scored]; B.Aspromonte lined to F.Whitfield; D.Rader singled to left field [D.Menke to third]; J.Bateman out on a sacrifice fly to L.May [D.Menke scored, D.Rader to second]; D.Wilson grounded out (C.Ruiz to F.Whitfield); 2 R, 2 H, 0 E, 1 LOB. Astros 6, Reds 1. REDS 9TH: L.May struck out; T.Perez doubled to right field; On a bunt V.Pinson grounded out (D.Menke to R.Staub) [T.Perez to third]; J.Bench was called out on strikes; 0 R, 1 H, 0 E, 1 LOB. Astros 6, Reds 1. Final Totals R H E LOB Astros 6 9 1 12 Reds 1 5 2 5 |