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BOSTON BRAVES
...
SPAHN & SAIN and PRAY FOR RAIN ...
Sain loses a
battle with Ostermueller
July 19, 1948 ... Frtiz
Ostermueller completely baffled the orthodox swinging, power missing,
Boston Braves lineup in the clutch, to come away with a 1 to 0
victory before a roaring 28,500 crowd at Forbes Field. The ex-Red Sox
pitcher was helped to his sixth win of the year by Danny Murtaugh,
who the Braves shipped the Pittsburgh last winter in the deal for Jim
Russell. Murtaugh singled Ralph Kiner across with the winning run in
the seventh inning against Johnny Sain. Ostermueller limited the
Braves to seven singles and four walks in his pitching battle with
the ace of the Braves staff, who ran into a series of misfortunes, as
he sought out his 13th win of the year. The single run came with
two outs in the seventh when Ralph Kiner singled with one out. He took second on
Dixie Walker's line drive to right and after Mike McCormick hauled down Ed
Steven's long drive to right-center, Kiner raced to third. That paved the way
for the winning run, when Murtaugh, who gathered seven hits in eleven trips to
the plate during the series, had to be pitched carefully. Sain got the count to
three and two and Danny fouled off two pitches. The next pitch was hit right
back to Sain and the ball rolled away towards second for a single, allowing
Kiner to score.
For seven innings Ostermueller had perfect control. He walked only one man
and in an emergency was terrific. He left eight Boston runners on the bases in
the first six innings. Once he had a lead, he grew somewhat wild. He walked Mike
McCormick to open the eighth, and then Bob Elliott rolled into a doubleplay. In
the ninth, Ostermueller walked Phil Masi and Connie Ryan's bunt moved him to
second. But neither Sain nor Clint Conaster could bring him across.
The victory was Ostermueller's sixth against two defeats and ended a
four-game Pittsburgh losing streak. It was his second shutout of the year. The
Braves have been shutout twice by the Pirates this year. When Sain struck out
Stan Rojek in the fifth inning it was his 75th strikeout of the year. The
Braves and the Pirates are now tied at seven wins apiece for the season. |
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