Former Atlanta Braves pitcher Denny Lemaster passed away last week. He was a member of the first Braves team to play in Atlanta after they moved south from Milwaukee in 1966. I remember Lemaster for pitching one of my all-time favorite games as a Braves fan. 

The Braves were hosting the Los Angeles Dodgers on August 9,1966, and it was a battle of left-handers as Lemaster’s opponent that evening was none other than Sandy Koufax. Lemaster struggled with his control a bit in the top of the first inning, walking Lou Johnson and Tommy Davis with two outs, but got out of the inning when Dick Stuart popped out to first baseman Felipe Alou in foul territory. 

The Braves got on the board immediately when Alou led off the bottom of the first with a home run, but then the pitchers’ duel was on. Koufax set down the next 15 Braves in order, which should have boded well for the Dodgers. But Lemaster set down 19 in a row after the two first-inning walks and carried a no-hitter into the eighth inning. 

Jim Lefebvre broke up the no-hitter and the shutout with a solo home run to start the eighth. After John Roseboro grounded out and John Kennedy struck out, Koufax doubled, putting the go-ahead run at second. But Lemaster rallied back and retired Willie Davis to end the threat. 

The Braves squandered an opportunity to take the lead in the bottom of the eighth. Mike de la Hoz led off with a walk, and Ty Cline entered the game as a pinch runner. Cline moved to second on a bunt by Denis Menke and advanced to third on an infield single by Woody Woodward. The threat quickly died when Roseboro picked off Cline at third and Lemaster struck out. 

Lemaster gave up a two-out single to Tommy Davis in the top of the ninth, but then Stuart grounded into a force play to end the inning. 

After Alou grounded out to start the ninth, Ed Mathews stepped to the plate. Mathews was 0-3 with three strikeouts on the night against Koufax, but he drilled a high fastball into the right-field stands and brought the game to an abrupt end.

In addition to being an epic battle between two fine left-handers, the game was full of intriguing subplots. This was the first game for new manager Billy Hitchcock, who took over after the Braves fired Bobby Bragan earlier in the day. Two changes Hitchcock immediately made were moving Alou back into the leadoff spot and deciding to play Mathews every day rather than benching him against lefties. Both moves paid off in a big way for Hitchcock. 

Lemaster remained with Atlanta in 1967, but they traded him to the Houston Astros shortly after the end of the season. Although his win-loss record (30-46) doesn’t reflect it, Lemaster pitched fairly well for the Astros, posting a 3.40 earned run average in four seasons. The Montreal Expos purchased Lemaster after the 1970 season, but they released him on July 1, 1971. Lemaster was out of baseball at the age of 33. 

One of these days I may get over the trade that sent Lemaster to Houston. In exchange for Lemaster and shortstop Denis Menke, the Braves received a lesser shortstop in Sonny Jackson and a first baseman they did not need in Chuck Harrison.

Early in his career, The Sporting News referred to Lemaster as the “Second (Warren) Spahn.” While he never lived up to that unfair expectation, for one night in 1966, Denny Lemaster was the best left-handed pitcher in baseball. 

(All statistics are from Baseball-Reference.com. Game details are from Retrosheet.org. Details on managers Bobby Bragan and Billy Hitchcock are from the August 10, 1966 edition of the Atlanta Journal, accessed through Newspapers.com. The reference to The Sporting News is from the SABR Baseball Biography Project.)