Four one-run games today, with two requiring extra innings.
Detroit beat Newark 6-5 in 14 innings. Down 5-1, Detroit rallied for 4 runs in the top of the ninth. Biz Mackey had a 2-run double, Willie Mays tripled him in and scored the tying run on a single by Wild Bill Wright. Mays broke the deadlock in the 14th inning with a solo homer. Say Hey! It’s Willie Mays’s world, we’re just living in it.
Pittsburgh beat Birmingham 4-3 in 10 innings. Birmingham took the lead in the top of the 10th when Hurley McNair singled home Nap Lajoie. Pittsburgh won on a walk off 2-run home run by Mel Ott in the bottom of the 10th. Larry Brown and Martin Dihigo each had an RBI in the top of the 7th that helped Birmingham push the game to extras.
St. Louis cut New York’s lead to one game with a 5-4 win. Sandy Koufax gave up 4 runs in the bottom of the first. Pedro Martinez immediately gave up 4 runs in the top of the second inning, thanks to back-to-back-to-back home runs from Eddie Matthews, Gabby Hartnett, and Ryne Sandberg. Oscar Charleston scored the eventual game winning run in the bottom of the third on a Frank Robinson double. There was no scoring after that. Charleston had 2 hits and scored 2 runs, and Lou Gehrig hit his first home run of the year for St. Louis. Pedro Martinez settled down to throw a complete game, his 4th victory of the year.
Cy Young picked up his first loss as Kansas City beat Washington 3-2 on a Tris Speaker 3-run homer in the top of the 8th. (Addie Joss surrendered the home run.) Cy Young had kept the Monarchs under control until that point. Bingo Demoss had 2 hits and scored a run for the Grays.
Today’s Player Focus post is on the legendary Willie Mays. The Say Hey Kid turned 89 this week – Happy Birthday!
Willie Mays is one of the 9 players that will be profiled that were not part of the Negro League legends Strat-O-Matic card set, but he did start with the Birmingham Black Barons.
wikipedia.org
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DSG 6 at NWK 5 (14)
BIR 3 at PCG 4 (10)
NYC 4 at STL 5
KMG 3 at WHG 2
Summaries
DETROIT AT NEWARK
Stars........... 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 0 1 - 6 12 1 Eagles.......... 0 0 0 0 4 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 5 11 2 Win:Sutter(1-0) Loss:Streeter(0-1) Save:Ford(2nd) Homeruns- W.Mays(1st)
Juan Marichal whiffed 10 batters as the Detroit Stars outscored the Newark Eagles in 14 innings 6 to 5.
The game was deadlocked at 5 after nine full innings. Detroit ended up winning it in the 14th inning. After an out was recorded, Willie Mays delivered a solo blast. Detroit finished with 12 hits in the victory.
Bruce Sutter(1-0) picked up the victory, allowing no runs in 4 and 1/3 innings. Sutter got relief help from Whitey Ford who gained credit for his 2nd save. Sam Streeter(0-1) absorbed the loss in relief.
BIRMINGHAM AT PITTSBURGH
Black Barons.... 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 1 - 3 8 1 Crawfords....... 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 2 - 4 10 0 Win:Rixey(1-1) Loss:Quisenberry(1-2) Homeruns- M.Ott(3rd)
The Pittsburgh Crawfords and the Birmingham Black Barons locked up in an exciting one-run game at Greenlee Field. The final score was the Pittsburgh Crawfords 4, the Birmingham Black Barons 3 in 10 innings.
Both teams had scored 2 runs after nine full innings. Finally, Pittsburgh prevailed in the 10th inning. Rickey Henderson opened up the inning nicely when he laced a base-hit. Henderson took second on a stolen base. Two outs later Mel Ott stepped in and he clubbed a two-run home run making Pittsburgh the winners and sending the 25,858 fans home happy. Pittsburgh had 10 hits for the afternoon.
The victory was credited to Eppa Rixey(1-1) who went 2/3 of an inning, allowing no runs. The loss was charged to Dan Quisenberry(1-2) in relief.
NEW YORK AT ST. LOUIS
Black Yankees... 0 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 4 8 0 Stars........... 4 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 - 5 9 0 Win:Martinez(4-1) Loss:Koufax(1-3) Homeruns- E.Mathews(2nd), G.Hartnett(1st), R.Sandberg(1st), L.Gehrig(1st)
Oscar Charleston hit 2 doubles and Pedro Martinez allowed St. Louis’ manager to rest his bullpen, tossing a complete game as the St. Louis Stars defeated the New York Black Yankees by the score of 5 to 4 at the ballpark.
St. Louis jumped on top of New York in the 3rd inning scoring a single run on 2 base hits. Charleston doubled. Frank Robinson stepped into the batter’s box and he doubled scoring the run. The early run support proved sufficient for Martinez(4-1) and St. Louis. That was all the run support Martinez required. The pitchers took over after the 3rd inning as neither team was able to score again.
Sandy Koufax(1-3) was charged with the loss. He allowed 8 hits and 4 walks in 5 innings.
KANSAS CITY AT WASHINGTON
Monarchs........ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 - 3 6 0 Homestead Grays. 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 - 2 7 1 Win:Radbourn(1-1) Loss:Young(4-1) Save:Smith(3rd) Homeruns- T.Speaker(1st)
46,845 fans were treated to a fine game at Griffith Stadium as only one run separated the combatants at game’s end. The Kansas City Monarchs won by the slimmest of margins, 3 to 2.
Old Hoss Radbourn(1-1) pitched well for Kansas City in their victory. He allowed 7 hits and 2 walks in 7 innings dropping his ERA from 5.25 to 4.65. Neither team was able to score until the 6th inning.
Radbourn got help from Lee Smith who was credited with his 3rd save. Cy Young(4-1) was hit with the loss. He pitched 7 innings giving up 5 hits and 2 walks.