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GAVVY CRAVATH |
THE 1914 "MIRACLE" BRAVES
The Braves let one slip away and
end up
splitting a doubleheader
May 30, 1914 ... After allowing the Phillies to come from behind and beat them out in the morning game by a score 8 to 7 in 11 innings, the Boston Braves managed to get an even break in
the Memorial Day twin bill in Philadelphia, by taking the afternoon contest in 10 innings by a 3 to 2 score. The Braves should've cleaned up on the day, but poor pitching by Dick Rudolph and Lefty Tyler let the morning game slide away.
Getting a seven run lead in the first five innings, during which they drove Cy Marshall and Joe Oeschger from the box, they let the Phillies come gradually from behind and nose them out of the victory in the 11th inning. The Phillies needed three runs to tie it in the ninth and they managed
to get them through Tyler's general ineffectiveness. Bill James then went to work in the 10th of the Braves and fumbled away the game in the next inning after one was out.
With Fred Luderus on third base and Hal Irelan on second base, Josh Devore attempted to sacrifice. He bunted directly at James, who fumbled the ball long enough to allow Luderus to make it over the plate with the winning run.
Thirty men made it into the game and it required three hours for the contest to be completed. In making various shifts manager Stallings use 13 players and the Phillies used 17. Stallings sent Leslie Mann and Wilson Collins to the outfield in the 11th inning when the Phillies had men on
second and third, for the purpose of having strong throwing arms frustrate any attempt the score. But as James made his costly fumble, the shift did not gain him anything.
During in the afternoon game, the Braves had to use up three pitchers. Johnny Evers doubled home the winning run in the 10th inning as Dick Crutcher and Dolph Luque were both yanked due to their wildness. Gene Cocreham came in during the seventh inning and manage to hold the Phillies in
check. Gavvy Cravath's home run smash in the eighth inning, which tied the score at 2 to 2 was the only run scored on him.
The Braves punched Grover Cleveland Alexander hard, but he invariably tightened up when men were on base. Two sharp doubleplays by Martin, Maranville and Schmidt, and by Maranville and Schmidt did much to throttle the Philly rallies in the sixth and seventh innings.
In the morning game the Braves gathered their first pair of runs in the second inning and then scored five in the fifth. Joe Connolly opened up the inning by being hit by a pitch. Then Larry Gilbert beat out a bunt and Butch Schmidt singled Connolly home. When Dode Paskert fumbled the ball
the two base runners moved up. Milt Reed fumbled Bert Whaling's roller, allowing Gilbert to score and then Martin shot a single to right to score Schmidt. Jim Murray was nipped by a pitch to fill the bases and after Rudolph fanned, Evers long fly ball out to Paskert enabled Whaling to score
another run. Martin came in a second later on a wild pitch to make the score 7 to 0.
But the Phillies got one run back in the fifth and scored a run in each of the sixth, seventh, eighth innings to cut the lead down to a 7 to 4. Then in the bottom of the ninth, three runs were needed to tie the score and make came across on a combination of two walks, two doubles, and a
single. Cravath then opened up the home half of the 11th inning with a single and took third base when Luderus doubled to left. Irelan forced him on a tapper to Johnny Evers, but then Devore lay down his bunt that James fumbled and the game belonged to Philadelphia, 8 to 7.
In the afternoon game the Braves tallied in the very first inning on Maranville's double to left and Milt Reed's wild throw of Joe Connolly's ground ball. They scored another run in the third on Mann's long double and successive singles by Evers and Maranville to make it 2 to 0. The Braves
held the lead until the sixth when Dick Crutcher developed a wild spell and let the Phillies score a run. They tied the game in the eighth-inning on the long drive over the right field wall by Cravath.
But the Braves took the lead in the 10th, with Mann on second base, when Johnny Evers smacked the ball against the right-field wall for two bases. Final score in game number two was the Braves three and the Phillies two. |
