Once again, the 1958 Yankees split a six game series while alternating wins; this time it was with the 1951 Yankees. The '58 Yankees stayed two games under .500 at 50-52 while the '51 Yankees remained eight games over .500 at 28-20.
All three '58 Yankee wins were of the spectacular kind. In Game One, Mickey Mantle hit two homeruns to give them an early 3-1 lead. The '51 Yankees tied the game with a run in the 8th and a pinch-hit RBI single by Johnny Hopp in the 9th. Hank Bauer ended the game for the '58 Yankees with a walk-off homer in the bottom of the 9th for a 4-3 win. In Game Three, they took a 4-0 1st. inning lead on an Andy Carey grand slam. The '51 Yankees scored eight unanswered runs to lead 8-4 after seven innings. Carey hit his second homerun of the game, a two-run blast, to trim the deficit to 8-6 in the 8th, but the '51 Yankees tacked two more in the 9th on back-to-back bases loaded walks to lengthen the lead to 10-6. The game ended with fireworks as the '58 Yankees pounded three homeruns, a pair of two-run dingers by Gil McDougald and Yogi Berra to tie the game. After Berra tied the game, Moose Skowron hit a walk-off tater for an amazing 11-10 win. In Game Five, the '58 Yankees jumped out to a 5-0 lead. Once again, the '51 Yankees came roaring back, scoring six unanswered runs, culminated by a pinch hit two-run homer by McDougald in the 8th to take a 6-5 lead. McDougald’s homerun was part of a bench performance that also included Hopp and Johnny Mize that combined to go 3-3 with a homerun, three runs scored and four RBI. Berra put the '58 Yankees back in the lead to stay in the 9th on a two-run single for a 7-6 win. All of the '51 Yankee wins came in pitching duels; 3-2 in Game Two, 2-0 in Game Four, and 3-2 in 15 innings in Game Six.
Mantle leads the '51 Yankees in hitting at .296. Berra leads the team in homeruns with nine and RBI with 40 while hitting .254. Vic Raschi is 8-3 with a 1.70 ERA. Tom Morgan pitched a one hit shutout in Game Four to pick up his first win; he reduced his ERA to 5.21.
Carey hit his 20th homerun in the series; he leads the the '58 Yankees in RBI with 73 while hitting .249. Ryne Duren picked up his 19th save in this series; he also lowered his ERA to 2.02. The '58 Yankees will face the 34-20 1936 Yankees in the next series.
