Pascual strikes out 15
This is the first in a series covering the top 20 Twins’ pitching performances based on Bill James game score. I am covering the game in chronological order.
Wednesday July 19, 1961
Wrigley Field
Los Angeles, CA
There weren’t many bright spots for the Washington Senators in the late 1950’s, but one of them was a young pitcher from Cuba named Camilo Pascual. Pascual made his first major league appearance with Washington in 1954 at the age of 20. Though his early numbers weren’t particularly impressive, he got better and better each year. In 1959 Pascual used a newly developed sidearm curve to break out as one of the game’s best young pitchers. The curve, still described by many as among the best ever, was the out pitch Pascual needed to compliment his great fastball and pinpoint control.
Pascual had some impressive single-game efforts before his team moved west to Minnesota, including three games with game scores of 90 or better. In a game in 1958 Pascual pitched 12 scoreless innings against the Kansas City A’s before allowing a two-run home run to Woodie Held in an eventual 2-0 Senators loss. Two years later he pitched an 11-inning shutout in Detroit, so it was not surprising that Pascual could be dominant in a game.
On July 19, 1961, the Twins and the new expansion Angels played a double-header in Los Angeles. Though the Twins were not technically an expansion team, they were actually below the Angels in the standings by a half game. Camilo Pascual faced Eli Grba in the first game. Pascual’s 7-12 record coming into the game was more a result of poor run support than poor pitching. Pascual’s ERA sat at 3.66, and he had already recorded three shutouts in the early months of the season, including two straight on May 15 and May 20.
On this occasion, Pascual had a 2-0 lead before he ever set foot on the mound thanks to Harmon Killebrew’s 28th home run of the season. Camilo promptly carved through the first three men he faced, including retiring a swinging Joe Koppe to record his first strikeout of the game.
The Angels looked to have something started in the second. Leon Wagner reached on an error and was pushed to second when Ted Kluszewski reached on an infield single. Pascual clearly had enough, because he escaped the inning with three consecutive strikeouts, all backwards K’s. He struck out two more in the third, and one in the fourth to work around a George Thomas single to run his strikeout total to seven for the game with just two hits allowed.
In the top of the fifth, Bob Allison hit a three-run home run to push the Twins’ lead to 5-0. Pascual got three more men looking over the next two innings, and got Kluszewski and Thomas swinging in the seventh. A couple of Los Angeles singles with two out in the seventh were stranded when Pascual got pinch-hitter Ken Hunt to fly out to end the inning. Through seven, Pascual had allowed only four hits with 12 strikeouts.
Albie Pearson led off the Angels’ eighth with a single to left, the fifth hit off of Pascual. Once again Pascual was at his best with runners on base, this time striking out the next two batters and getting Leon Wagner to ground out to end the inning.
Earl Averill became strikeout victim number 15 to close out the game in the bottom of the ninth. According to baseball-reference.com, 10 of Pascual’s 15 strikeouts on that day were backwards K’s. He got Averill and Koppe three times each, while Thomas and Billy Moran each were victimized twice.
Pascual’s line:
Minnesota Twins IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA C Pascual, W (8-12) 9 5 0 0 1 15 0 3.44 BF Pit-Str GB-FB GmSc IR-IS 34 - 5-7 91 -
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