RetroSimba

A change in the batting order helped the 1969 Cardinals wake up from their slumber.

On April 26, 1969, the Cardinals scored six runs on six consecutive hits in the ninth inning and beat the Phillies, 10-4, at Philadelphia.

Lou Brock and Tim McCarver, batting outside their normal spots in the order, provided the big hits in the big ninth. Brock hit a solo home run, giving him three extra-base hits in the game. McCarver hit a grand slam.

The last-inning outburst was a welcome change for an anemic Cardinals offense. In their previous 16 games of 1969, the Cardinals were held to three runs or less 12 times.

Good moves

With left-hander Woodie Fryman starting for the Phillies, Cardinals manager Red Schoendienst shifted his two left-handed batters, Brock and McCarver. Brock moved from leadoff to No. 2 in the order and McCarver dropped from sixth to seventh. Julian Javier batted leadoff and Vada Pinson batted sixth.

Brock, who entered the game with a .147 batting average, went 3-for-5 with a RBI and scored two runs. McCarver, batting .233 with no home runs, was 2-for-5 with four RBI and a run scored.

With the Phillies ahead, 3-1, in the eighth, the Cardinals’ Mike Shannon hit a three-run home run onto the roof at Connie Mack Stadium against rookie Randy Lersch. The Phillies tied the score at 4-4 in the bottom half of the inning on Richie Allen’s solo home run against Ron Willis.

Fright night

Lersch retired the first two Cardinals batters in the ninth.

“What happened after that makes good reading only for Phillies fans who like horror stories,” the Philadelphia Inquirer reported.

Brock homored, giving the Cardinals a 5-4 lead. “I think it was a fastball,” Brock said. “It was up and away from me. Actually, I was looking for something inside, but they say if you look for the inside pitch you can still handle the one away.”

After singles from Curt Flood and Bill White, right-hander Gary Wagner relieved Lersch.

The relief pitching, the Inquirer reported, “was bad, poor, terrible and horrendous _ all wrapped together.”

Shannon smashed a shot that caromed off Wagner’s glove for a single and scored Flood from third. Pinson followed and rolled a grounder to first. When Wagner was slow covering the bag, Pinson was safe with an infield single, loading the bases.

McCarver came up and hit a 1-and-0 pitch from Wagner over the right-field fence for his fourth career grand slam. He also hit two against left-hander Billy O’Dell and another, an inside-the-park variety, versus Larry Bearnarth of the Mets. Boxscore

Six months later, McCarver was traded to the Phillies. He hit two more grand slams _ in 1973 against Fred Gladding of the Astros and in 1977 against Rick Baldwin of the Mets _ for a career total of six in the big leagues.