Aug. 11, 1963 - Willie Mays’ daily hit was a big one again today, and the Giants, with a 5-1 victory over the Phillies at Connie Mack Stadium, pulled to within 3½ games of the Dodgers. It looked rough in the fifth inning when the Giants, with a scant 1-0 lead, saw Willie McCovey get thrown out of the game for screaming at the umpire about a called third strike. “I told him it was inside,” McCovey said later. “He didn’t believe me.” But Mays, the next batter, promptly belted a two-run double for the winning runs. The hit extended Willie’s streak to 13 games and gave San Francisco its third straight win. Jack Sanford gave up just five hits, and four of them were clubbed by Wes Covington, whose 13th homer accounted for the only Philadelphia run. After the game, Phillies manager Gene Mauch said his club’s hitting slump was currently giving him his greatest concern. “Playing from behind is the toughest thing in this game,” Mauch said, “and that’s what we’ve been doing for a week. Before, we were scoring early and often, and every series we had was a tough one. Now, we’ve stopped.” Covington, who leads the Phils in hitting, was happy with his 4-for-4 day, but he too was puzzled by the inability of the Phillies to score in recent games. “I gave it the best I had,” Wes said, “but the only thing disappointing is that I think our club can score runs, and we haven’t the last few games. I don’t see how any pitcher can hold our lineup. I guess it’s a cycle every club goes through.” Sanford, praised by his manager, Al Dark, for “one of the best games he’s pitched this year,” wasn’t a bit abashed over the way Covington hit him. “He’s too much,” the husky hurler said. “The first ball he hit was a high change, the second was a fastball out away from him, the third a high hook, and the fourth a low hook. There’s nothing more I can do. He’s a good hitter, and I’m not ashamed to have him get four hits off me. I made some pitches on those other guys, and there are a lot of good hitters in that lineup.” Sanford made his major league debut with the Phils in 1956 at the age of 27. He was traded to the Giants before the 1959 season. “Actually,” he said today, “I’d rather not pitch against the Phillies. It’s not so bad now because most of the guys I played with are gone, but the Phillies gave me my chance, and I’ll always be grateful for that. I’d rather just skip them — and besides, they’ve got a darn good lineup.”
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