April 17, 1969, San Francisco: Giants 5, Padres 4 (box score)
Nine games into their existence as a big-league franchise, the Padres scored more than two runs in a game for the very first time. After pouncing on Juan Marichal for two runs in the top of the first inning and adding another in the second, the club from San Diego had the future Hall of Famer on the ropes.
Unfortunately, despite collecting six hits in those first two innings, the Padres managed to leave five runners on base. They let Marichal off the hook, and he didn’t need a second invitation to make the Padres pay for their transgression.
Staked to a lead thanks to some timely hitting by Tony Gonzalez and Chris Cannizzaro, as well as an error by Giants shortstop Hal Lanier, Padres starter Clay Kirby cruised through the first three innings. Then he served up back-to-back homers to Bobby Bonds and Willie McCovey to start the fourth. The Giants had pulled to within one run.
In the sixth, with Bonds and McCovey again leading off for San Francisco, Kirby walked both men. After a single to center by Dick Dietz plated Bonds to tie the game, right-hander Frank Reberger entered the contest. Reberger then walked Jim Ray Hart to load the bases for Jim Davenport, who unloaded them to give the Giants a 5-3 lead. Reberger escaped the inning without further incident, but the damage had been done.
After scratching across a run in the eighth, the Padres went quietly against southpaw Joe Gibbon in the ninth. In front of nearly 31,000 fans, the Friars had lost their fifth straight game.
Trivia: The Padres collected 12 hits off Marichal, who finished the season with 21 wins and a 2.10 ERA. Only one other team (Phillies, May 18) notched as many base knocks against Marichal in 1969.
Bonus trivia: Bill Stoneman, currently GM of the Angels, spun a no-hitter for the expansion Montreal Expos at Philadelphia in just his fifth big-league start.
Elsewhere in the world: Singer Janis Joplin performed in Stockholm; Sirhan Sirhan was convicted of killing U.S. Senator Robert Kennedy.
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