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BOB ELLIOTT SLIDES IN SAFELY |
BOSTON BRAVES
...
SPAHN & SAIN and PRAY FOR RAIN ...
The Braves
rout the Bucs
July 28, 1948 ... The
Braves hustled and polished off the Pittsburgh Pirates, 8 to 2, for
their third straight victory at Braves Field tonight, behind Vern
Bickford's six hit pitching. Bickford had a great fastball and faced
only nine men over the final three innings. The victory was his
seventh of the season and fifth in a row. It was spiced up by Bob
Elliott and Earl Torgeson, who both hit home runs. Providing the
spark, however, was speedster Alvin Dark, whose quickness started the Tribe's
second two run outburst that decided the game in the third inning. He sparkled
at the plate with three singles. Bob Elliott had two singles in addition to his
14th home run, while Bill Salkeld's sixth inning double, a whistling drive to
right-center, sent across a pair of teammates.
Clint Conaster, again proved to be a perfect fill in for the absent Jim
Russell, as he chipped in with a triple and a single. Jeff Heath came up with
only one base hit but was robbed of another by a fine play on the part of Danny
Murtaugh and pitcher Elmer Singleton.
A Dark single to right and Torgeson's ninth home run into the Pirates
bullpen, gave Bickford a 2 to 0 lead in the first inning. The Pirates got one
back in the second but in the bottom of the third, Dark beat out an infield hit
with one away and after Torgy walked, raced home on Elliott's base hit to
right-center. Torgeson took third, from where he scored on Heath's sacrifice fly
to Dixie Walker, making it 4 to 1. Heath's single to right and Conaster's to
left, preceded Salkeld's double to the right-center fence for Boston's third
pair of runs in the sixth.
Pittsburgh picked up their second run in the fourth on singles by Wally
Westlake, Ed Fitzgerald and Elmer Riddle, who was hitting was better than his
pitching. Elliott's home run off relief pitcher Elmer Singleton cleared the
left-field fence with plenty to spare in the seventh inning. The final scoring
was a result of Conaster's triple in the eighth and Salkeld's sacrifice fly out
to Walker. That gave the Braves the final 8 to 2 count.
The Braves still hold a 5 1/2 game lead over the Dodgers, but picked up a
full game on both the Cardinals and Pirates. |
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