By Bobster

Wednesday, August 31, 1960---The Pirates concluded a 21-10 August with a 7-4 win over the Giants in Candlestick Park. SF took a 1-0 lead against Mizell in the second inning and added 2 more in the fourth for a 3-0 lead. Mizell lasted only 4 innings as he was pinch hit for by Gene Baker in the fifth. Baker (.154) grounded out and Skinner was retired, but Clemente followed a Groat single with a 2-run HR (his 12th) off Giants’ starter Billy O’Dell to make it 3-2. Clem Labine pitched a scoreless fifth and the Pirates took the lead, 4-3, when Smith walked, Hoak singled pinch-runner Joe Christopher to second, Mazeroski got an RBI-single, and Skinner singled against reliever Sherman Jones to score Hoak.

By Bobster

Tuesday, August 30, 1960---The Pirates (77-49) beat the Dodgers 5-2 behind Bob Friend (14-11). With the Braves beating the Cardinals, the Bucs now led both teams by 6½ games. The Pirates took a 2-0 lead against Sandy Koufax (6-11) in the second inning. Stuart and Cimoli began the inning with singles but Smith bounced into a 5-4-3 DP.

By Bobster

Monday, August 29, 1960---The Pirates (76-49) broke their 4-game losing streak by clobbering the Dodgers 10-2 at the Los Angeles Coliseum. The Dodgers scored a run in the first inning against Vernon Law when Maury Wills doubled and scored on a single by Norm Larker. It remained 1-0 until the fourth when Stuart walked, Cimoli singled and Hal Smith drove a Johnny Podres (11-10) pitch over the stands for a 3-run HR (his 10th).

By Bobster

Sunday, August 28, 1960---St.Louis moved into a second-place tie with Milwaukee, 5½ games behind the Pirates (75-49), by sweeping the 3-game series against visiting Pittsburgh. It was the Pirates’ 4th consecutive loss. The Pirates took a 1-0 lead in the first when Clemente walked with 2 outs and came around from first to score on Stuart’s single combined with a throwing error by Julian Javier. But the Cards tied it 1-1 in the bottom of the first when Javier doubled and scored on Cunningham’s single.

By Bobster

Saturday, August 27, 1960---One day after beating the Pirates (75-48) with a 2-run homer in the seventh, Stan Musial defeated the Bucs with a solo HR in the bottom of the ninth. The Cardinals took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first against Tom Cheney. St.Louis added another run in the third and one more in the fifth after Fred Green had relieved Cheney.

By Bobster

Friday, August 26, 1960---In St. Louis, Bob Friend, who had gotten off to a 9-3 start, now saw his record fall to 13-11, as the Cardinals defeated the Pirates (75-47), 3-1. Friend and Ernie Broglio (16-6) both went the distance. St.Louis took a 1-0 lead in the second, and Bill Virdon’s sac fly scored Don Hoak, who had doubled, to tie it at 1-1 in the fifth.

By Bobster

Thursday, August 25, 1960---Cubs right-hander Glen Hobbie got the best of the Pirates’ Vinegar Bend Mizell as the Cubs won, 2-1. Both starters went the distance. The Pirates (75-46) took a quick 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning when Gino Cimoli, playing LF for the injured Bob Skinner, walked and came around to score after hits by Stuart and Clemente. Ernie Banks took Mizell deep in the second inning for his 36th HR of the year (by comparison, Stuart led the Bucs with 17 HRs) to tie the score at 1-1.

By Bobster

Wednesday, August 24, 1960---The Pirates squandered leads of 4-0 and 6-3 before defeating the Cubs 10-6 to move 30 games over .500 at 75-45. In the second inning, Clemente led off with a single against Cubs starter Don Cardwell and scored on a triple by Burgess (yes, the little round guy tripled). After Hoak popped up to second baseman Don Zimmer, Mazeroski sent a grounder to Zimmer, who threw out Burgess at the plate. But Law singled and Virdon beat out a grounder to Zimmer at second, who threw the ball away for a single and an error as Mazeroski scored and Virdon went to second.

By Bobster

Tuesday, August 23, 1960---After 6 innings, Harvey Haddix and the Cubs’ Dick Ellsworth were locked in a pitching duel with the Cubs leading 1-0. The Cubs had taken their lead in the bottom of the second when Ron Santo doubled, went to third on a ground out and scored when Haddix threw a wild pitch to Don Zimmer with 2 outs. Zimmer walked and stole second but Haddix avoided further damage by striking out Ellsworth.

By Bobster

Monday, August 22, 1960---The Pirates were off as they traveled to Chicago to take on the Cubs. Groat led the Pirates with a .323 average. Stuart led in HRs with 16. Clemente led with 74 RBIs. Groat and Skinner each had 24 doubles. Skinner, Virdon and Hoak were tied for the team led with 6 triples. Skinner’s 10 SBs led the team.