REDBIRDS HOLD ON TO WIN 7-5, TIE SERIES 1-1 Dateline - St. Louis, October, 1965. The curse of the rain gods almost struck Whitey Ford and the Redbirds once again today for the second time in three years, but St. Louis held on to beat the Whips 7-5 and tie the series at one game apiece. The Redbirds were eliminated back in 1963 in game seven of the first round against the Havana Sugar Kings when Whitey Ford had to come out of the game in the 8th inning leading by two after a lenghty rain delay, the 2nd of the game. The Redbirds bullpen couldn't hold the lead for Ford, and they were eliminated. The same thing almost happened today, but the Birds prevailed in the end, led by Chuck Hinton's grand slam home run. The Redbirds jumped all over Sonny Siebert in the first inning. Ford held the Whips in the top of the first, and in the bottom half St. Louis let the Whips know that they came to play today. Jimmy Wynn singled to start the inning, stole second, and continued to 3rd when Elston Howard sailed his throw into center field for the second time in two games. Jimmy Hall struck out, but Siebert then walked Santo and Mays to load the bases. Chuck Hinton then brought the St. Louis fans to their feet with a long, long, grand slam home run. To the Whips credit, they hung in the game, and came right back. Pete Ward singled to start the second, and after Ron Hansen struck out, Elston Howard answered with a home run to cut the lead to 4-2. Ford was on his game, however, and was cruising thru the 5th. In the bottom of the fifth, Ford singled, his second hit of the game, ahead of a walk to Jimmy Wynn, and a triple by Ron Santo that put the Birds up 6-2. The rains came at the end of the inning, however, and manager Paul Faits pulled Ford after a 34 minute delay. The Whips then rose up again in the 7th. With Jim Owens on in relief, Lenny Green and Mickey Mantle drew back to back walks in the 7th. Gary Sutherland came in to replace Owens, and promptly gave up a 3-run homer to Jerry Buchek that cut the lead to 6-5. That turned out to be the last hit for the Whips however, as Sutherland and Eddie Fisher slammed the door from there. Tommy McCraw hit a solo homer in the 8th to give the Redbirds some insurance. Off day tommorrow, then game 3 in New York. The matchup: Vern Law (10-4, 3.26) vs Jim Maloney (12-11, 2.98). 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E LOB DP Whips 0 2 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 5 7 1 5 1 Redbirds 4 0 0 0 2 0 0 1 X 7 8 1 6 1 Whips AB R H BI AVG Redbirds AB R H BI AVG Mantle lf 4 1 0 0 .143 Wynn rf 4 1 1 0 .286 Mota rf 3 0 0 0 .000 Hall lf 4 0 0 0 .000 Stigman p 0 0 0 0 .000 Santo 3b 3 1 1 2 .167 Buchek ss 1 1 1 3 1.000 Mays cf 2 1 0 0 .000 Flood cf 4 0 1 0 .143 Coleman 1b 3 1 0 0 .000 McCovey 1b 3 0 1 0 .286 McCraw 1b 1 1 1 1 1.000 Rojas 2b 4 0 1 0 .500 Hinton 2b 3 1 1 4 .167 Ward 3b 4 1 2 0 .375 Blasingame 2b 1 0 1 0 .500 Hansen ss 3 0 0 0 .000 Brown ss 3 0 0 0 .286 Lee p 0 0 0 0 .000 Dalrymple c 3 0 1 0 .167 Maris ph 1 0 0 0 .000 Ford p 2 1 2 0 1.000 Miller p 0 0 0 0 .000 Owens p 1 0 0 0 .000 Linzy p 0 0 0 0 .000 Sutherland p 0 0 0 0 .000 Howard c 2 1 1 2 .250 Lumpe ph 0 0 0 0 .000 Valentine ph 1 0 0 0 .000 Fisher p 0 0 0 0 .000 Roof c 0 0 0 0 .000 30 7 8 7 Chance ph 1 0 0 0 .000 Siebert p 2 0 0 0 .000 Green rf 1 1 0 0 .400 34 5 7 5 Whips INN H R ER BB SO ERA Siebert L 0-1 4.2 5 6 6 4 5 11.57 Stigman 0.1 0 0 0 0 0 0.00 Lee 2.0 1 0 0 0 2 0.00 Miller 0.2 2 1 1 1 0 13.50 Linzy 0.1 0 0 0 1 1 0.00 8.0 8 7 7 6 8 Redbirds INN H R ER BB SO ERA Ford W 1-0 5.0 4 2 2 1 3 3.60 Owens 1.1 2 2 2 2 1 13.50 Sutherland 1.2 1 1 1 0 0 5.40 Fisher S 1 1.0 0 0 0 0 0 0.00 Whips: Green inserted at rf in the 5th Buchek inserted at ss in the 6th Valentine batted for Howard in the 7th Roof inserted at c in the 7th Maris batted for Lee in the 8th Chance batted for Roof in the 9th Redbirds: Blasingame inserted at 2b in the 7th McCraw inserted at 1b in the 7th Lumpe batted for Sutherland in the 8th E-Howard, Santo, 3B-Santo HR-Howard(1), Buchek(1), Hinton(1), McCraw(1) SB-Wynn(1) K-Mantle, Flood, Hansen, Siebert, Wynn, Hall 3, Mays, Coleman, Hinton, Owens BB-Mantle, McCovey, Green, Wynn, Santo, Mays 2, Dalrymple, Lumpe SH-Brown GWRBI: Hinton Temperature: 78, Field: wet, Sky: threatening, Wind: out to right at 15 MPH, Rain Delays: 34 minutes