Editor’s note: The 27 * 61 Yankees Replay games are being played with Strat-o-Matic cards and dice. The designated hitter will not be used for any games. Injuries will only be used during the game when they occur.
Power and pitching returned for the 1961 New York Yankees as a four-game losing streak came to an end.
The Yankees scored all of their runs via the long ball, while Whitey Ford threw a three-hitter in a 5-0 victory over the 1948 Cleveland Indians.
After Cleveland starter Bob Lemon got two outs, it didn’t take long for Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle to get the Yankees on the scoreboard.
Maris walked and Mantle drilled his 35th homer of the season that put New York on top 2-0 in first inning. For Mantle, it was his first homer in three games as he raised hit batting average to .295 driving in his 83rd run of the season.
Without a homer in his last six contests, Maris got in the act in the third. Maris followed a one-out triple by Clete Boyer with his 32nd blast of the season that gave the Yankees a 4-0 advantage. Maris now has 52 RBI this season, while hitting .281.
Boyer added a solo shot in the eighth for New York’s final tally as he hit his eighth long ball of the season.
Ford (8-6) had retired 18 Indians in a row when Joe Gordon broke up the no-hitter with a two-out single in the seventh.
The New York lefty fanned nine on the day, while giving up a pinch-hit single to Wally Judnich in the eighth and another single to Allie Clark in the ninth.
Lemon made it through eight innings surrendering nine hits and a walk with four strikeouts. Ed Klieman mopped up on the mound in the ninth.
New York’s Bill Stafford (11-3) gets the ball in the third contest of the four-game series, while the Indians counter Bob Feller.
27 * 61 Replay Standings
1927 New York Yankees (50-33)
1961 New York Yankees (45-38)
1968 Detroit Tigers (14-8)
1948 Cleveland Indians (11-7)
2004 Boston Red Sox (15-17)
1970 Baltimore Orioles (5-9)
1924 Washington Senators (11-19)
1972 Oakland A’s (11-25)
2005 Chicago White Sox (4-10)
27 * 61 Home Run Totals
Mickey Mantle 35
Roger Maris 32
Babe Ruth 31
Lou Gehrig 23