August 25, 1963: ‘Lucky’ Camilo Pascual escapes bases-loaded jam to beat Orioles, 5-3

Camilo Pascual was one of the original Minnesota Twins. The hard-throwing Cuban right-hander with a big curveball was on the Washington Senators roster when the franchise moved to Minnesota for the 1961 season. In that first season in Minnesota, Pascual led the Twins with 15 wins, tied for the American League lead with eight shutouts, and topped the AL with 221 strikeouts – the first of three consecutive strikeout crowns. He was selected as an AL All-Star.

But not everything was rosy. Pascual lost 16, suffering through his first losing season since 1958. The Twins were 70-90 (one tie), finishing seventh in the expanded 10-team AL.

In 1962 Pascual reached 20 wins on the final day of the season. More important, for the first time since joining Washington in 1954, Pascual was part of a winning team. Minnesota’s 91-71 record placed it second, just five games behind the perennial champion New York Yankees. The Twins were not eliminated from pennant contention until September 25.

The 29-year-old Pascual entered 1963 as the Twins ace, but he did not get off to a great start. He was defeated on Opening Day by Cleveland, then lost his next two starts. He recovered to complete April with a modest 2-3 record.

Pascual built his record to 9-5 and seemed destined for another All-Star selection, when a pulled muscle near his right shoulder blade put him on the shelf from June 13 to 29.1 He returned to the hill on June 30 – which proved to be premature – and tossed three innings before his arm tightened up.

Pascual did not pitch again until July 18, when he was pulled in the sixth inning. Nevertheless, he threw long enough and well enough to collect a win over the first-place Yankees.

In Pascual’s next start, on July 23, he lost to Cleveland 3-2 in the 13th. He struck out 11 and walked 2. “It’s remarkable he could pitch so well for so long after missing five weeks,” boasted Twins pitching coach Gordon Maltzberger.2

Pascual was obviously healthy, and his return was good news for Minnesota. Despite missing five weeks, he led Twins pitchers with 10 wins.

After the Cleveland loss, Pascual won six in a row (four of them complete games), raising his record to 16-6. Five of those wins came in August, and manager Sam Mele planned to start his best pitcher twice more before September.

The Twins traveled to Baltimore for a four-game series between two teams battling with the Chicago White Sox for second place behind New York. Baltimore swept a doubleheader from the Twins on August 23 to take over third place and drop the Twins to fourth. A day later, Minnesota’s Lee Stange beat the Orioles 1-0, moving the Twins (70-57) into a second-place tie with the White Sox and dropping Baltimore (72-59) into fourth, just .001 behind Chicago and Minnesota. All three teams trailed the first-place Yankees (82-45) by 12 games with about five weeks to play.

On August 25 Pascual was matched against Steve Barber, a Maryland native, and Baltimore’s best pitcher, who would soon become the Orioles’ first 20-game winner since the St. Louis Browns took up residence in Baltimore in 1954. Barber had faced the Twins three times in 1963, beating them twice. On August 13 in Minnesota, he struck out 10 in a complete-game 6-1 win.

In Barber’s most recent start, on August 21, the 25-year-old left-hander beat the Los Angeles Angels to claim his third straight win. He brought an 18-9 record into this Sunday afternoon Family Day event.3

Barber began the game by firing a called third strike past Rich Rollins, and he added a groundout and Jimmie Hall’s fly to center fielder Russ Snyder, to complete an easy first inning. It was Barber’s last one-two-three inning until the sixth.

Pascual retired the first two Orioles batters on popouts to shortstop Zoilo Versalles. With two out, Boog Powell singled and John Orsino walked, but Jackie Brandt grounded out to end the threat.

Minnesota scored in the second. After Barber struck out Harmon Killebrew and got Bob Allison4 on a grounder, Earl Battey’s drive just cleared the left-field fence for his 22nd home run, putting the Twins ahead, 1-0.

Baltimore took advantage of a poor throw in the bottom of the inning to jump ahead. Jim Gentile singled, followed by Brooks Robinson’s first of three strikeouts. Jerry Adair singled. Pascual walked Barber, filling the bases with one out. Luis Aparicio grounded to Versalles, who threw the ball to the backstop while attempting a force play at home. Versalles’ 26th error of the season let Gentile score and kept the bases full. Snyder stroked a fly to center; Adair tagged and came home. The two unearned runs put Baltimore ahead, 2-1.

The score remained unchanged until the seventh despite plenty of baserunners. Pascual surrendered two hits and two walks; Barber gave up four hits and a walk, but no one scored for either side.

In the seventh the Twins grabbed the lead. With one out, Bernie Allen, the former Purdue quarterback, singled to center and took second when Barber threw a wild pitch. Pascual drew a walk on four pitches,5 putting runners at first and second.

Rollins grounded to short, and Aparicio bobbled what appeared to be a perfect double-play ball. Aparicio recovered in time to clip Pascual at second base, while Allen sprinted to third and Rollins reached first safely.

After the game, Aparicio had no excuses: “It was a double-play ball. It hit the heel of my hand and bounced out.”6 Instead of retiring the side, Baltimore faced Minnesota runners at the corners with two out.

Vic Power hit a clutch single to right, sending Allen home with the tying run and moving Rollins to second. Hall singled, scoring Rollins, to put the Twins ahead, 3-2.

In the bottom of the inning, Aparicio singled, reached second on Snyder’s grounder, and scored on Orsino’s single. The game was tied, 3-3.

Pascual escaped trouble in the Orioles’ eighth. With two runners on, Al Smith, pinch-hitting for Barber, grounded into the third out. Stu Miller pitched the ninth, and the slow-throwing Orioles reliever struck out Allen, Pascual, and Rollins in order, setting up the thrilling bottom of the ninth. 

The Orioles loaded the bases with no one out on Aparicio’s single, Snyder’s bunt single, and an intentional pass to Powell. Orsino hit a hard shot to third that was scooped by Rollins, who threw to Battey to begin a 5-2-3 double play. Pascual intentionally walked Brandt, then fanned pinch-hitter Bob Johnson to send the game to the 10th.

Later Orsino fumed in the clubhouse, threw a soda bottle against the wall,7 and complained, “I hit the ball good, but right at (Rollins). If the ball’s to either side of him or in the air, we win the game, but no, it’s right at him. Those lucky bums. They’re just lucky, that’s all.”8

In the visitors’ clubhouse, Pascual agreed: “I was lucky to get the Orioles out in the ninth today. The groundball had to go to the right spot. A few feet over and it would have been a single.”9

The Twins settled things in the 10th against Miller. Power doubled and was sacrificed to third by Jimmie Hall. Miller intentionally walked Killebrew, who was replaced by pinch-runner Lennie Green.

Allison hit a high, slow bouncer, grabbed by Robinson one step behind third base.10 Robinson, who won the fourth of his 16 Gold Glove awards in 1963, saw Power stop in the basepath about 20 feet from home plate, hoping for a rundown.11 He threw to avoid hitting Power in the back, and the ball went high and wide, allowing Power to score. Battey singled – his third hit – scoring Green, to make it 5-3.

In the bottom of the 10th, Pascual was not lucky, but good. He struck out the side to grab his 17th win.12 The Twins were alone in second place by a half-game.

Barber surrendered 10 hits in eight innings. Pascual walked seven, gave up 10 hits, and left 12 Orioles stranded. He escaped the bases-loaded jam in the ninth – characterized as “lucky” by both Orsino and Pascual – and was able to pitch 10 innings and win, pushing the Twins ahead of Chicago.

Pascual won again on August 30 to complete the month 7-0. In September he went 3-3 to finish 21-9. His efforts did not keep the Twins in second place. Minnesota and Chicago battled back and forth in the standings until September 14, when the White Sox took permanent possession of second place. At season’s end, Minnesota (91-70) trailed Chicago by 2½ games and New York by 13.

Pascual posted the finest season of his six-year stay with the Twins. He tied for the AL lead in complete games (18), won his third AL strikeout crown (202), and posted the best won-lost record of his 18-year career. 

Acknowledgments

This article was fact-checked by Gary Belleville and copy-edited by Len Levin.

Photo credit: Camilo Pascual, Trading Card Database.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com and Retrosheet.org for pertinent statistical information and play-by-play. The author relied on game coverage in the Minneapolis Star and Baltimore Sun, and reviewed SABR BioProject biographies for several players participating in the game.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/BAL/BAL196308250.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1963/B08250BAL1963.htm

Notes

1 Arno Goethel, “Skipper Mele Does Expert Patching Job on Twins’ Hill Staff,” The Sporting News, July 13, 1963: 29.

2 Arno Goethel, “Twins Turn Cartwheels – Camilo Back, Good as New,” The Sporting News, August 3, 1963: 21.

3 The game drew 6,021 cash customers and 3,109 additional bargain-rate family-day fans. Lou Hatter, “Birds Blow Chances to Win Game,” Baltimore Sun, August 26, 1963: 18.

4 Allison was the AL Rookie-of-the-Year in 1959.

5 Hatter.

6 Jim Elliot, “‘Hit Right at Him,’ Moans Orsino,” Baltimore Sun, August 26, 1963: 17.

7 Elliot.

8 Elliot.

9 “But Camilo’s 9th Was OK,” Minneapolis Star, August 26, 1963: 25. Pascual’s good luck continued in the 10th. Robinson claimed, “If I had been two steps farther back, I’d have had a good shot at (Power).” Elliot.

10 Elliot.

11 Elliot.

12 A complete game like this, where a pitcher goes 10 innings despite not pitching at the top of his game, seems to be a thing of the past.