1969: Santorini, Padres Stop Losing Streak

April 18, 1969, San Francisco: Padres 3, Giants 1 (box score)

After dropping five straight, the Padres came out swinging in this one. With the help of two passed balls by Giants catcher Dick Dietz, San Diego scored two runs in the first. Roberto Pena scored the first run, with the second coming on a Cito Gaston double to right that drove home Ollie Brown.

Staked to an early lead, right-hander Al Santorini went to work. Santorini, a first-round pick of the Atlanta Braves in 1966, was making his second start of the season and just the third of his big-league career. Through the first four innings, he allowed only walks to Dietz and Willie Mays.

The Padres added a run in the fifth. Brown knocked a one-out triple to center, and Gaston drove him home with a sacrifice fly.

As for Santorini, after surrendering two singles in the fifth and one more in the sixth, he finally gave ground in the seventh. With one out, Jim Ray Hart drew a walk. Jim Davenport followed with a single to center. After a wild pitch moved the runners up 90 feet, Hal Lanier grounded to second to plate Hart for San Francisco’s first run. Santorini then retired pinch hitter Bob Burda on another grounder to second to end the inning.

The Giants, though, didn’t go down without a fight. With Billy McCool on the mound for the Padres, Dietz led off the ninth with a double to right-center. After a Hart groundout, Davenport drew a walk.

Preston Gomez then summoned right-hander Frank Reberger to face Jack Hiatt, who had been announced as a pinch hitter for Lanier. Giants skipper Clyde King countered by sending lefty-swinging Dave Marshall to bat for Hiatt. Reberger induced Marshall to fly to left for the second out of the inning.

Reberger proceeded to walk pinch hitter Don Mason, loading the bases for Mays. Now a few weeks shy of his 38th birthday, Mays no longer was the force he once had been. Still, he’d hit .289/.372/.488 the previous season and still could put a charge into one every now and then.

On this day, however, Reberger beat Mays. Struck him out to end the threat and the game. The Padres had won for the first time in more than a week and improved their record to 4-6 on the young season.

Trivia: Mays and Reberger faced each other nine times. Mays reached base on five of those occasions. This marked the only time Reberger ever struck out the Hall of Famer.

Elsewhere in the world: Apollo 11 was being prepared for its journey to the moon; an aging Mae West appeared on the cover of Life Magazine.

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