July 30, 1969, St. Louis: Cardinals 5, Padres 2 (box score)

Bob Gibson dominated early and often. After Jose Arcia flied out to start the game, the next six San Diego batters failed to make contact against Gibson.

Through six innings, the game remained scoreless. Gibson had allowed just two singles and recorded 10 strikeouts. Padres starter Joe Niekro wasn’t as dominant but kept St. Louis off the board just the same.

In the seventh, the Cardinals got to Niekro and the Padres in a big way. Julian Javier and Gibson each drove in a run, but the crushing blow was a bases-loaded triple off the bat of light-hitting (a 2-for-3 outburst the previous game had brought his season line up to .176/.270/.248) Dal Maxvill.

The Padres finally broke through against Gibson in the eighth, but it was too little, too late. A walk, single, and double made the score 5-2, which is how this one ended in front of 19,594 at Busch Stadium.

Tagged as: Baseball, bob_gibson, cardinals, joe_niekro, julian_javier, padres, san_diego_padres, st_louis_cardinals