The St. Louis Wizards’ early season slide continued with a 9th-inning 5-4 loss to the Houston Hoots. The teams traded runs early before the Wizards took a 4-2 lead thanks to a 2-run double by Duke Snider. Oscar Charleston responded in the 6th with an RBI triple and scored on a Sac Fly by Jeff Bagwell to tie the game. It was Charlston’s 2nd triple of the game. The game remained tied into the 9th. That’s when Eddie Mathews walked to lead off the inning, and the Hoots put up back-to-back one-out singles from Ted Simmons and Arky Vaughan to take the lead. The Wizards threatened in the bottom of the 9th against Bruce Sutter when Mike Piazza walked with 2 outs and Ozzie Smith singled. But Stan Musial lined out to second base to end the game. Pete Alexander allowed 7 hits and 4 runs in 8 innings to improve to 2-0. Burleigh Grimes allowed 4 runs on 7 hits in 8 innings for St. Louis. Dizzy Dean picked up his 2nd loss of the season.