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BRAVES FIELD |
BOSTON BRAVES
...
SPAHN & SAIN and PRAY FOR RAIN ...
Harry
Brecheen dazzles the Braves hitters
July 30, 1948 ... Harry
Brecheen was on the mound as the Cardinals thumped the Braves 6-2 at
Braves Field, in the opener of the three-game series, and closed the
gap between the clubs to seven games.
A total of 37,071 spectators, the second largest crowd of the year, sadly
left the tepee as the Cardinals knocked out Johnny Sain from the premises with a
five-run eighth-inning. He was sent down to his seasons ninth setback and his
fourth at the hands of St. Louis.
Brecheen stunned the Braves batters with his speed, skill, finesse and
pitching repertoire and afforded amusement to the capacity house with his varied
mound maneuvers and general demeanor. When he was not sending Braves batters
back to the bench with increasing monotony, during the first six rounds of the
game, the Cat was pawing the earth, changing his spikes, kneeling, tiptoeing,
and generally living up to every characteristic of his appropriate nickname. And
during all this he was pitching a no-hitter until the seventh inning. The Cat's
spell over the Braves came as he captured his 11th win of the year and his
second against the Braves. He has won 16 of his last 22 meetings with the team.
It was a nice 1 to 0 ballgame for six innings, and Brecheen and faced only 19
men. Meanwhile Sain was nearly as effective, being touched for a loan run in the
sixth inning. With one away, Enos Slaughter tripled over Clint Conaster's head
in deep center and then scored on a sacrifice fly.
The Braves finally broke through in the seventh inning. Mike McCormick
slapped the first pitch he saw for a clean ground single between short and third
to break up the no-hitter. Bob Elliott was given nothing good to pitch and took
first base on four pitches. Frank McCormick came up next and connected with a
two and two pitch for a single to left, that scored Mike with the tying run.
Conaster sent the crowd into a frenzy with a single to left, sending Elliott
across and the Braves were leading 2 to 1. Earl Torgeson, who had come in to run
for McCormick, held second. But with Phil Masi at bat, Torgy took it upon
himself to try and steal third and was nipped on a fine throw by Dell Rice. Masi
followed with a single, that would've scored Torgeson and Connie Ryan popped out
to end the threat.
Then came the top of the eighth and Stan Musial came up and slapped one into
the left-field corner for a double to start things off. Slaughter hooked one
into short left and Musial held at third. Ron Northey brought him home with a
single over second base as Slaughter went over to third. That was it for Sain as
Southworth brought in Bobby Hogue to pitch. He walked Whitey Kurowski to fill
the bases. Babe Young hit a ground ball that found its way between third and
short, in the drawn in infield, that counted both Slaughter and Terry Moore, who
would come in to run for Northey.
With Kurowski on second and Young at first, Dell Rice missed a bunt attempt,
and Kurowski was nailed at third. Young held first, but came all the way around
with the Cardinals fourth run of the inning when Rice hit a double over Tommy
Holmes' head in right field. Clyde Shoun now came in to pitch to Brecheen, and
the Cat poked a Texas Leaguer over shortstop to score Rice, making it 6 to 2.
The Braves margin over the second-place Brooklyn Dodgers remains at 5 1/2
games as the Dodgers lost to Pittsburgh. |
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