Today in 1958, the Kansas City Athletics invaded Griffith Stadium in our nation's capital to take on the Washington Senators. Ralph Terry of the A's would face off against Camilo Pascual of the Senators.
It was a defensive struggle throughout. In the bottom of the first, Washington had a man on third, with two outs, but Jim Lemon hit a line drive to deep center field, which Bill Tuttle caught for the third out.
In the bottom of the third inning, Washington again had a runner in scoring position with two outs, but Roy Sievers grounded out to end the inning. The Senators had a runner in scoring position again in the bottom of the fourth, this time with one out. However, Ken Aspromonte hit into a double play to end the inning. The game was still scoreless after four innings.
Kansas City finally gets a runner into scoring position in the top of the eighth inning, when Vic Power hit a single and Frank House executed a sacrifice bunt. However, Pascual struck out Woodie Held and Bill Tuttle to end the inning.
The Senators had a runner in scoring position again in the bottom of the eighth inning. With one out, Albie Pearson hit a double to right field and Sievers hit a sacrifice fly to right field to advance Pearson to third. Then Clint Courtney grounded out to end the inning. The ninth inning went three up and three down for both sides. The game was going to extra innings tied 0-0.
In the top of the 10th inning, the A's had men on first and second with one out, but hit into a double play to end the inning. In the bottom of the 10th, Pascual hit a triple, with one out, and Terry intentionally walked the next two batters, filling the bases. However, Sievers hit into a line drive to shortstop Joe DeMaestri.
In the top of the 13th inning, Kansas City threatened again. Vic Power hit a single and House executed a sacrifice bunt, sending Powers to second. Held finally gets his first hit of the game, by hitting a home run. Pascual gets the next two batters out to end the inning. The A's hang on in the bottom of the 13th to defeat the Senators, 2-0.
Both starting pitchers pitched all 13 innings. Ralph Terry got the win, striking out 7, and going to 3-5. Camilo Pascual struck out 10, but fell to 3-4. Kansas City improved to 23-19, but were still 7 games behind the AL leading New York Yankees. Washington went to 21-25, 6th in the AL. They were 11 games behind the Yankees and a half game behind the 5th place Cleveland Indians.
Although they had a winning record at this date, the A's finished the season at a disappointing 73-81, 7th in the American League. The Senator finished the season at 61-93 and were 1958's Kings of the Cellar.
Trivia
- There were no Hall of Famers playing or managing in this game:
- This was Harry Craft's second season managing the A's. He managed the team from 1957-59. He also managed the Chicago Cubs from 1960-61 and the Houston Colt .45's (now Astros) from 1962-64.
- This was Cookie Lavagetto's second season managing the Senators. He managed the team from 1957-60. His best season as manager was in 1960, when the Senators finished at 73-81, 5th in the AL. He also managed the Minnesota Twins in two separate stints in 1961.
- This was Craft's best season as manager at 73 wins. His next best record was 66 wins with the A's in 1959 and the Colt .45's in 1963.
- Craft played for the Cincinnati Reds from 1937-42.
- Lavagetto played for the Pittsburgh Pirates (1934-36) and the Brooklyn Dodgers (1937-41, 1946-47). He missed the 1942-45 season due to his military service in World War II.
- Billy Hunter of the A's went on to manage the Texas Rangers from 1977-78.
- Jim Lemon went on to manage the Senators in 1968. His team had a record of 65-96.
Complete game stats can be found at Baseball-Reference.com on the box score page at Kansas City A's vs Washington Senators - June 5, 1958 .
Have a great day!!!
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