August 17, 1964: Ribant Shuts Out Pirates, Smith Homers Twice
From The Met Wiki
| Date: August 17, 1964 |
| Mets starter: Dennis Ribant |
| Mets: 5 |
| Pirates: 0 |
| Winning pitcher: Dennis Ribant |
| Key player(s): Dennis Ribant, Charley Smith |
| Key play: Smith's two home runs |
The Mets and Pirates faced each other on a Monday night at Shea Stadium. A crowd of 12,350 was on hand for the start of a three-game series. The fans watched Dennis Ribant pitch a four-hit shutout and Charley Smith hit two home runs as the Mets defeated Pittsburgh, 5-0.
Ribant retired the Pirates in order in each of the first three innings. He recorded four strikeouts while keeping all nine Pittsburgh batters off base. Dennis also struck out the side and gave up a single to Roberto Clemente in the fourth. Meanwhile, the Mets had taken a 3-0 lead against Pirates' starter Bob Veale on Smith's two-out homer with Bobby Klaus and Ron Hunt on base in the bottom of the first inning.
In the top of the fifth, Bill Mazeroski and Jim Pagliaroni singled off Ribant with one out. Dennis struck out Dick Schofield and got Veale on a comeback grounder to end the inning. Ribant shut down the Bucs in the sixth, allowing only a single to Bob Bailey. The Mets then got a run in the bottom half when Roy McMillan singled with two out to score Chris Cannizzaro.
Ribant fanned Pagliaroni for the final out of a perfect top of the seventh inning. Veale pitched a scoreless bottom half despite giving up a double to Joe Christopher. The Bucs were set down in order by Ribant again in the eighth on an infield grounder and two outfield flies. Facing reliever John Gelnar, Smith led off the bottom of the inning with his second home run of the game for the Mets' fifth run.
In the ninth, Ribant got Bill Virdon and Clemente on ground balls for the first two outs of the inning. He then threw a third strike past Jerry Lynch to end the game. Dennis had a complete game shutout with ten strikeouts for the first win of his major league career. Smith's slugging provided more than enough support.
