May 24, 1969, San Diego: Cubs 7, Padres 5 (box score)

Saturday’s contest at San Diego Stadium featured southpaws Dick Kelley and Ken Holtzman in an afternoon affair. The Padres opened with a run in the first. In his first big-league at-bat, second baseman John Sipin tripled to left with one out and then scored on a single off the bat of Ivan Murrell.

Nursing a 1-0 lead in the third inning, Kelley gave up a one-out single to Glenn Beckert. After Billy Williams flied to left, Ron Santo stepped to the plate. He knocked a two-run homer to give the visitors their first lead of the game.

The Padres fought back, though. In the fourth, doubles by Al Ferrara and Chris Cannizzaro drove home three runs and put the home team back on top, 4-2.

The lead didn’t last long. In the top of the fifth, singles by Beckert and Williams, as well as a walk by Santo, brought up Ernie Banks. Padres skipper Preston Gomez then yanked Kelley and replaced him with right-hander Jack Baldschun.

Boom. Grand slam. Cubs up, 6-4. Chicago added another run, but the game was already over.

The Padres scratched across a run in the eighth to make the final score 7-5. In front of 4,432 fans, they had dropped their seventh straight game and seen their record fall to 16-28. The expansion club in San Diego wasn’t giving its hometown supporters much to cheer. Unfortunately, the current streak of futility would give those fans plenty of preparation for the coming months.

Trivia: The recently acquired Sipin hit two triples in his first two at-bats; those were the only two triples of his career.

Tagged as: Baseball, cubs, dick_kelley, ernie_banks, ken_holtzman, padres, ron_santo