[ifspuds]

One More Step
by Jack McKinley
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (issue of October 9, 1966)

Levi Sellers pitched through a rain delay and held the Boston offense hitless for five innings until his teammates could blow open a close game and the Pittsburgh Pirates moved one step closer to their first World Series championship in fifty-seven years, winning game four by a score of 7-2 over the Red Sox.

Sellers, at 32 years of age the grand old man of the Pirates rotation, atoned for uneven pitching in game one by facing the minimum through five innings and keeping the Red Sox scoreless until the 7th. The Tennessee native pitched eight full innings of three-hit, two-walk ball and left the game with a 7-2 lead that would prove to be the final score. "Talking to Coach Bussman after game one, it was pretty clear I was spending too much time throwing and not enough time pitching. Trying to strike everybody out. Today, I trusted my teammates, and you saw the results," said Sellers.

For all of Sellers' mastery on the mound, Charley Harrington matched him batter for batter until two down in the top of the fourth, when Asa Booker roped a liner down the right field line and made a madcap dash for third base, sliding in just ahead of the relay throw. He scored one batter later when Fletcher Jones lined a single over the head of the third baseman Joe Corman. The ice-cold Cap Marcrum showed signs of warming up leading off the next inning, giving the Pirates a two-run cushion after a solo home run deep into right field. The lead would remain that meager for two more innings.

Tim Crusher, who finished second to Jones among home-run hitting Pirates, drove a pitch into the teeth of Fenway Park's Monster with one down in the top of the 7th, which catalyzed a 5-run outburst that blew the game wide open. Nothing quite so majestic as Crusher's blast powered this rally. Cap Marcrum walked, Henry Cruz singled, and the Pirates tacked on a run on Alberto Val's infield hit. After Levi Sellers failed to get a sacrifice down, Ben Trome reached on an error, and singles from Al Mahoney and Asa Booker accounted for the remainder of the runs.

"Funny game," said Fletcher Jones, who made the first and last outs of the inning. "I don't think the Pirates have ever been known as much of a home-run hitting team as long as I've been around the game. This year, we had plenty of pop up and down the lineup but other than Crush's knock, we went the safety route. But runs are runs, baby. We'll take all of them we can get."

The Red Sox got on the board in the bottom half, an RBI double by Jory Akridge and a Jim Alan sacrifice fly, but by that point the writing was on the wall. The Pirates had exorcised any remaining demons of a lackluster game three performance and would come away with a three games to one series lead. Boston manager F.X. Ditty issued a challenge to his team going into game five, a must-win for his Red Sox. "We didn't want to be going into game five needing a win against Adkison, but here we are, and it's time for the boys to tighten their belts and show what they're made of. This series isn't over yet."

Truer words may never have been spoken. Although the Pirates need just one more win, that one win remains a significant hurdle to clamber over. Vic Gorin thinks the Pirates are up to the task. "I don't see this team getting overconfident any more. They had a pretty clear object lesson in game three. Right now, I don't think there's any pitcher, living or dead, I'd want on that mound more than George Adkison. I like our chances, but there's still at least nine innings of baseball to be played."