May 23, 1969, San Diego: Cubs 6, Padres 0 (box score)
If the Padres didn’t yet regret dealing Dick Selma to the Cubs, the right-hander was about to give his former team another reason to think about it. In his first start against the Padres, at Wrigley Field, Selma went the distance and led the Cubs to a 19-0 shellacking of the expansion club.
Back in San Diego, in front of a Friday evening crowd of just under 8,000 fans, Selma dominated again. Nate Colbert doubled to left in the fourth, and Cito Gaston led off the eighth with an infield single.
That’s it. That was the Padres offense.
The Cubs, meanwhile, got to San Diego starter Gary Ross early and often. Ross, you may recall, had been part of the April 25 trade that sent Selma to Chicago.
Insert knife. Twist. Add salt.
After surrendering a single run in the first and two in the third, Ross coughed up two more in the fifth. Billy Williams’ homer to right with one out ended Ross’ afternoon. The Cubs added a final run in the eighth — a double by Ernie Banks that plated Ron Santo — but it had no bearing on the outcome. Selma’s Cubs improved to 27-14 and extended their lead in the NL East to a full 6 games ahead of Pittsburgh.
The Padres had lost their sixth straight game. They’d been outscored, 41-11, in that stretch and now found themselves with a record of 16-27, comfortably in last place in the NL West. Nobody in the league had scored fewer runs or allowed more.
Elsewhere in the world: The Who’s Tommy was released; Vladimir Nabokov graced the cover of Time magazine.
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