May 6, 1969, Pittsburgh: Padres 4, Pirates 2 (box score)

In their first trip to Forbes Field, the expansion Padres sent Dick Kelley to the mound. The Pirates countered with Steve Blass. Yes, that Steve Blass.

The Padres wasted no time with Blass. Tommy Dean, Roberto Pena, and Tony Gonzalez all singled to lead off the game. Two outs later, and with two runs already in, Cito Gaston tripled home Nate Colbert and Ed Spiezio to put the visitors up, 4-0. Blass didn’t survive the inning.

Pittsburgh closed the gap in the second. Five singles cut the Padres’ lead to 4-2. Although the Pirates mounted minor threats in the fourth and fifth innings, there would be no further scoring by either team on this day. After Kelley worked eight strong innings, he turned the game over to Frank Reberger, who retired the side in order in the ninth to earn his fourth save.

Trivia: Blass mysteriously lost his control in 1973, walking 84 batters in 88 2/3 innings for Pittsburgh against just 27 strikeouts. The previous season, at age 30, he had finished second to Steve Carlton in the National League Cy Young Award.

Tagged as: Baseball, cito_gaston, dick_kelley, forbes_field, nate_colbert, padres, pirates, pittsburgh_pirates, san_diego_padres, steve_blass