August 20, 1963: Powell Shuts Out Phillies
From The Met Wiki
| Date: August 20, 1963 |
| Mets starter: Grover Powell |
| Mets: 4 |
| Phillies: 0 |
| Winning pitcher: Grover Powell |
| Key player(s): Grover Powell, Frank Thomas, Jim Hickman |
| Key play: Hickman’s single in 8th, Thomas’s homer in 9th |
The Mets faced the Phillies in a Tuesday doubleheader at Philadelphia’s Connie Mack Stadium. In the opening game, Mets’ lefthander Grover Powell made his first major league start. Powell pitched a four-hit shutout as the Mets came away with a 4-0 victory over the Phils.
In the top of the first inning, the Mets failed to score with the bases loaded against Phillies’ starter Cal McLish. Powell issued walks to Johnny Callison and Tony Gonzalez with one out in the bottom half. A single by Roy Sievers loaded the bases for Philadelphia. Powell retired Don Demeter on a pop-up to second baseman Ron Hunt. Grover then struck out Don Hoak to end the inning without a run.
From the second inning to the seventh, Powell and McLish continued to keep the game scoreless. Grover allowed only a single to Clay Dalrymple and a double to Demeter over the next four innings. In the sixth, he walked Sievers and Demeter and yielded a single to Hoak to load the bases with two outs. Powell then got Dalrymple on an inning-ending ground ball to Hunt and retired the Phillies 1-2-3 in the seventh. Meanwhile, McLish shut down the Mets with six consecutive perfect innings.
Al Moran got a one-out single to end a string of 20 straight batters retired by McLish in the top of the eighth. Powell’s ground out moved Moran to second base. Jim Hickman singled to score Moran with the first run of the game. Against Phils’ reliever Jack Baldschun, Tim Harkness hit a double that brought home Hickman. Hunt followed with a single on which Harkness tried to score. Right fielder Callison threw home to catcher Dalrymple for the inning-ending out on Tim. Powell then retired all three Philadelphia batters in the bottom half.
Duke Snider singled to lead off the top of the ninth inning. Frank Thomas’s ensuing homer increased the Mets’ lead to four runs. For the Phillies, Johnny Klippstein came in to pitch and retired Joe Hicks and Choo Choo Coleman on infield ground balls. Moran followed with a double to center field. Klippstein then got Powell to ground out to second baseman Tony Taylor and end the inning.
In the bottom of the ninth, Powell retired Demeter on a grounder back to the mound. Hoak popped out to shortstop Moran. Grover then got pinch-hitter Cookie Rojas on a called third strike to end the game. The Mets had a victory to begin the doubleheader on Powell’s shutout in his first start in the major leagues.
