September 8, 1958: Roberto Clemente triples three times in Pirates’ win over Reds

The Pittsburgh Pirates went 21-12 in August and upped their record to 70-61 as September arrived. They still trailed the first-place Milwaukee Braves by 7½ games. Their record for the first week of September was 5-3. Despite beating the Braves three times in their four-game series the previous weekend, the second-place Pirates closed the gap by only one game.

Fourth-place Cincinnati was in Pittsburgh on September 8 to make up a game that had been washed out by a storm on September 4. The Redlegs had been playing hot, winning 13 of their previous 16 games before arriving in Pittsburgh. When they took the field on September 8, they were on a five-game winning streak that started with a 7-4 win over the Pirates the previous week and was followed by a four-game sweep of the last-place Philadelphia Phillies.

Rookie Curt Raydon took the mound for the Pirates. The right-hander had spent the previous four seasons in Pittsburgh’s minor-league system after arriving as part of a seven-player trade in December 1953.1 Raydon entered the game with a 7-4 record and a 3.70 ERA. He had faced Cincinnati twice back in April and pitched 2⅔ innings of relief in a pair of losses. Raydon faced the Redlegs again on August 9, this time as the starting pitcher. He threw 8⅓ innings in the Pirates’ 5-2 victory to earn his sixth win of the season. He started against Cincinnati again on September 3, going 4⅔ innings in the Pirates’ 7-4 loss.

Raydon allowed a two-out single in the first and another one in the second but got the third out each time without any runs scoring. He walked Cincinnati pitcher Tom Acker to start the third, but a double play and a fly ball ended the frame. The next Redleg baserunner came in the fifth when Roy McMillan walked with two outs. Raydon got Acker to fly out for the third out.

Right-hander Acker, given the start by Cincinnati manager Jimmy Dykes, was 10-5 in 1957 but had struggled to match that total in 1958. After struggling as a starter for the first two months of the 1959 season, he pitched out of the bullpen until the Pirates used him as a starter again in late August. He entered the game with a 3-2 record with all three wins coming in August. His last start was against the Pirates on September 3. He also faced Raydon in that game. Acker went six innings, giving up all four Pittsburgh runs and leaving with the scored tied in Cincinnati’s 7-4 victory.

Acker retired the side in order in the first. Bob Skinner led off with a double in the second but went no farther as Acker retired the next three batters on a fly ball and a pair of groundouts. Acker retired the side in order in the third before Roberto Clemente led off the fourth with a triple, “a tremendous poke against the left field tower.”2 Clemente was stranded on third when Acker struck out the next two batters and got Frank Thomas to fly out.

The Pirates got the best of Acker in the fifth when “Acker’s defense went sour on him.”3 Bill Hall started the action with a two-out double. Raydon, who had gone 0-for-35 at the plate before this game, hit a bouncer down the first-base line. First baseman George Crowe charged and tried to grab the ball but ended up kicking it instead.

When Crowe finally chased down the hit near the first-base box seats, his throw sailed over the head of catcher Smoky Burgess as Hall raced home to score the Pirates’ first run. When the dust settled, Raydon was standing on second and given credit for a single, his first major-league hit. The rookie pitcher crossed the plate when Bill Virdon doubled to center. Clemente made it 3-0 when he tripled to right-center. Clemente “was cut down on a close play at the plate attempting to stretch it into a homer” to end the frame.4

Cincinnati got two runners on base in the sixth when Jerry Lynch doubled and, after a groundout, Frank Robinson walked. Raydon maintained his shutout when Burgess grounded out to second.

The Redlegs scored in the seventh. This time, Raydon was a victim of poor defense. Crowe reached when rookie first baseman Dick Stuart booted his groundball. Alex Grammas then singled to left. Don Newcombe,5 who was hitting .373 so far with 22 hits in 59 at-bats, pinch-hit for McMillan. He hit a groundball to Stuart, who threw wide to second in an attempt to start a double play. Stuart’s second error in the inning loaded the bases.

Dykes now pinch-hit left-handed batter Bob Thurman for Acker. Pirates manager Danny Murtaugh countered by bringing in southpaw Don Gross to replace Raydon. Gross had been traded to the Pirates from Cincinnati for Bob Purkey the previous winter. He entered the game with a 3.95 ERA in 37 appearances, mostly out of the bullpen.

Dykes in turn pulled Thurman and sent the right-handed Walt Dropo to the plate. Gross got Dropo to ground into a double play but Crowe crossed the plate with the Redlegs’ first run. Gross ended the rally by getting Johnny Temple to pop out.

Pittsburgh picked up its fourth run in the eighth. With two outs, Clemente hit his third triple, to right-center. Stuart’s single scored Clemente, giving the Pirates a 4-1 lead. Gross got Cincinnati out in order for the next two innings, including three straight groundouts in the ninth, to earn his seventh save of the season.

Of his triples, Clemente said after the game, “[The] first two I hit, they [were] fast balls. Then I hit (a) curve.”6 He was the 32nd player to hit three triples in a game. Danny O’Connell of the Milwaukee Braves had been the last to accomplish this feat, on June 13, 1956, against the Phillies. The last time a Pirate had done it was when Carlos Bernier‘s three triples helped Pittsburgh beat Cincinnati at Forbes Field on May 2, 1953. Clemente now had 10 triples for the season.7

Clemente was asked if he was trying to hit three home runs in the game, matching his teammate Roman Mejias, who had hit three homers against the Giants on May 4. He responded, “I hit two homers this year against Philadelphia. Third time I come to bat, he (Mejias) say[s] don’t hit three homers, please. He [said] I hit three homers and the next day they bench me.”8

The win gave the Pirates the edge in their season series with Cincinnati, 12 victories to 10. It was the first time they had accomplished that feat since 1949. The victory moved the Pirates to within six games of the idle Braves. It also stopped the Redlegs’ winning streak at five, leaving them at .500 and 12 games out of first.

Pittsburgh’s win gave the Pirates 10 wins in 17 games. Fans began to believe that their team might catch the Braves but that didn’t happen. Despite winning eight of their next nine games, the Pirates lost their final five games to last-place Philadelphia and finished in second place, eight games out.

Clemente, in his fourth major-league season, cemented his place as the Pirates’ everyday right fielder. He did not reach .300 that year; his .289 batting average was fourth highest on the team. It was the second time Clemente had hit multiple triples in a game, the first coming in his rookie season when he hit two in a 7-5 win over Brooklyn on July 3, 1955. Clemente finished his career with 166 triples but had only five games in which he hit more than one.9

SOURCES

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author used the B​aseba​ll-Re​feren​ce.​com and R​etros​heet.​org websites for box-score, player, team, and season pages, pitching and batting logs, and other pertinent material.

h​ttps:​//www​.base​ball-​refer​ence.​com/b​oxes/​PIT/P​IT195​80908​0.​sh​tml

h​ttps:​//www​.retr​oshee​t.org​/boxe​setc/​1958/​B0908​0PIT1​958.​htm

NOTES

1 Milwaukee traded Raydon along with Larry Lassalle (minors), Sid Gordon, Sam Jethroe, Max Surkont, Fred Waters, and $100,000 to the Pirates for Danny O’Connell on December 26, 1953.

2 “Rookie Hurler Ignites Bucs’ Winning Rally,” Cincinnati Enquirer, September 9, 1958: 31.

3 “Rookie Hurler.”

4 “Rookie Hurler.”

5 Newcombe joined the Reds after a June 15, 1958, trade from the Los Angeles Dodgers. Newcombe, Steve Bilko, and Johnny Klippstein went to Cincinnati for Art Fowler and Charlie Rabe. He batted .265 with 28 doubles and 11 home runs in his eight years with the Dodgers so it may not have surprised anyone when Dykes pulled him off the bench as a pinch-hitter.

6 George Esper (Associated Press), “Pirates Clip Redlegs, 4-1,” Indiana (Pennsylvania) Gazette, September 9, 1958: 11.

7 Clemente’s three triples were his last three of the season.

8 Esper.

9 Clemente had two triples when the Pirates beat the Phillies 9-1 on May 9, 1959. He hit two triples in an 11-8 victory over Braves on June 12, 1966. The last time he had a multiple-triple game came when he hit two triples against the Houston Astros on July 21, 1967, in the Pirates’ 9-1 win.