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THE BABE RUNS WILD ... June 20, 1919 ... Babe Ruth defeated the St. Louis Browns today by pitching effectively when he had to, and by smashing a three bagger in the sixth inning, with a runner on first, and then scoring the deciding run himself a moment later. The final score was 3 to 1. The Babe gave up eight base on balls and was also touched up for eight hits, which were more than the Sox made against the Browns' pitchers. While Ruth pitched as if he were an overworked man, the fact that the Browns had 13 men left on base, shows that he was effective in the pinches. He had to have a little help from the men behind them, of course, and he got quite a bit. Jack Barry played a great game at second, taking ten chances. Twice he went deep into the outfield and gathered in what looked like good Texas Leaguers. Once, playing on the grass to choke off a run at the plate, he made a great catch of Jimmy Austin's line drive and doubled up Bert Gallia at first. That play came with the bases loaded and only one out. The Red Sox infield turned in three doubleplays during the game and each one of them was a gem. The Brown scored a run in the fourth frame on a single by Earl Smith, a sacrifice by Wally Gerber and a single by Wally Mayer. This looked like might be enough to win at the time, as only two hits and been made off Gallia, who was pitching a good game. Through five innings, a scratch hit by Amos Strunk and a clean single by Frank Gilhooley were the only base hits. However in the sixth inning, Strunk, the first batter up, plunked a single into centerfield. Then the Babe smacked one on the nose and if the ball had a little elevation, it would have to carried into the centerfield bleachers, but being a hot liner, it hit the ground about 25 feet short of the fence and rolled the rest of the distance. Ruth made it the third-base standing up and scored a moment later when Stuffy McInnis singled to left. That gave the Red Sox a 2 to 1 lead. The other run, which was not needed as things turned out, came in the seventh on a single by Barry, a sacrifice by Gilhooley, and a single by Ossie Vitt. The Babe nearly pulled one over the right-field fence in the eighth inning, but Earl Smith hauled it in, leaning against the fence. While Ruth was his bat in this time up, there was a little diversion in the right-field pavilion, where two of the gamblers had a misunderstanding over at bet and the result was a some gun play. The outpouring of the fans from the corner of the stands was like an eruption from a volcano and there was a great deal of running and flying out of the stands to reach the ground. The excitement lasted for only a few seconds, as man with the gun was disarmed and those fans who hastily abandoned their seats, returned to them a little bit more deliberately than the way they had exited a minute before. The Browns were in scoring position in seven of the nine innings, and in only one did they come through, so clutch was the pitching of the Babe and the support behind him. In the eighth-inning, the visitors had the bases full, with two out, and Hank Severeid was sent in to bat for Gallia. The best he could do was to ground one easily to Everett Scott, who forced Josh Billings at second for the third out. Then in the ninth-inning, they had the tying runs on base with two out, and Bill Jacobson flew out to Strunk in deep center. |
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