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Wally Moon of the Cardinals slides safely into home and not so safely into Dodgers starting pitcher Tom Lasorda (making his first MLB start of his career), who would suffer a 2-inch gash on his knee that required the 27-year-old southpaw to leave the game after the inning to get stitched up.
And if Lasorda (spelled “LaSorda” in all the newspapers the next day) had the jitters in making his start, it certainly showed. Moon would lead off in the game and Lasorda walked him. Then Bill Virdon would be the next batter and while in the process of walking him Lasorda threw a wild pitch allowing Moon to advance to second. After Virdon walked, the next batter for the struggling Dodger to face was the great Stan Musial. Now incredibly Lasorda got Stan the Man to strike out for the first out of the inning, but unfortunately during that showdown he threw yet another wild pitch allowing Moon to advance to third and Virdon to second.
Now Lasorda had two runners in scoring position and Rip Repulski up at the plate, and like Musial he too went down swinging. But unfortunately, once again, during that at-bat Lasorda threw this third wild pitch of the inning, tying a Major League record, to allow Moon to score and in the process injury poor Tommy.
With his day done and off to the ER and Brooklyn down a run, Lasorda was replaced by reliever Clem Labine, who would hold the fort down for six innings giving the Dodgers time to rally, helped by a Labine home run, for a 4-3 win.
Couple notes:
– When Ladorda and Virdon faced off in the first inning, who would guess that 26 years later the two would square off once again but on a much bigger stage in the National League Division Series, Lasorda managing the Dodgers and Virdon the Astros. This time Lasorda got the better of Virdon as Los Angeles bested Houston in five games.
– Wally Moon, famed for his “Moon Shots” while playing with the Dodgers at the LA Memorial Coliseum, passed away this past Friday at the age of 87 and we like to extend our condolences and prayers to the Moon family.
