Hoots Homers Whip Wizards

When the St. Louis Wizards had back-to-back doubles from Rogers Hornsby and Orlando Cepeda to break a scoreless tie in the 5th, it seemed like a familiar script for another Wizards win. But Houston’s Gary Carter answered with a solo homer in the 6th, and starter Tom Seaver retired the next 11 batters. Duke Snider’s solo shot in the 8th against Juan Marichal was only Houston’s 3rd hit of the game, but it put them up 2-1. In the 9th against St. Louis reliever Fergie Jenkins, Jeff Bagwell hit a 2-run homer to add some insurance, and Billy Williams hit another in the next at-bat to make it 5-1. The Wizards’ Stan Musial hit a 2-run homer of his own off Rube Marquard in the bottom of the 9th to narrow the gap to 5-3, but Lee Smith came in to close it out and hand the Wizards just their 4th loss this year. Houston improved to 8-13 with Smith’s 5th save. Seaver pitched 8 innings, allowing just 3 hits and walk while striking out 7 to improve to 3-1. Marichal got the tough loss, also allowing just 3 hits in 8 innings.

Houston @ St. Louis – 4/22/22