|
 |
|
BOB ELLIOTT & JEFF HEATH HIT
HOMERS |
BOSTON BRAVES
...
SPAHN & SAIN and PRAY FOR RAIN ...
Elliott's HR
helps Johnny Sain win #15
August 11, 1948
... Both Jeff Heath and Bob Elliott hit
terrific home runs that helped Johnny Sain to his 15th win of the
season, in an important 4 to 3 victory over the New York Giants at
Braves Field. The Dodgers and the Cardinals stayed tied for second
with their wins.
Heath's home run scored three big runs in the first inning. It was a long
shot with some help from the favoring wind, yet the ball he hit in the sixth
inning was it just as hard, even though it was a put out for Whitey Lockman in
center field. Bob Elliott's homer, the actual game winner, broke a 3 to 3 tie in
the sixth inning. It was a vicious line drive that easily cleared the 30 foot
wall in left field on the right side of the scoreboard.
The game was not won easily by Sain however. He was given a three run lead in
the opening inning yet yielded single runs in three different innings to lose
that advantage. But down the stretch he was an enormous, as he clung to the one
run lead that he was given by Elliott's homer and was able to keep the Braves
three games ahead of the tightly bunched field behind them in the National
League.
To keep a breath or two above their rivals, the Braves had to hit Larry
Jansen, who had won seven straight from the Tribe since coming over to the
league, but had been getting hit easily by the Braves this year. It was a second
time in a row that they beaten Jansen, who is another 15 game winner. Jansen,
usually a superb control pitcher, might be able to blame the setback for his
lack of location. With two gone in the first inning he walked Earl Torgeson and
Bob Elliott. Then Heath smashed the one that cleared the game in right-center
field that separates the jury box screen and the fence. The ball landed on the
black concrete runway a good 400 feet away, giving the Braves a 3 to 0 lead.
The Giants then began to cut into the lead in the second inning. They picked
up a run on Willard Marshall's single, a hit batter and Buddy Kerr's base hit.
They added another run in the fourth on a pass, an infield out, and a single by
Jansen. They tied it up in the fifth when Sid Gordon opened up the inning with
his 22nd home run of the year over the left-field fence.
Once Elliott hit his home run to put the Braves back out front, they stayed
there, but it wasn't easy. Lonnie Frey and Lockman opened the seventh with
singles. They were sacrificed along by Gordon and then Sain got Johnny Mize to
pop out. The sacks were loaded on a walk to Marshall and then Walker Cooper
grounded out to end the suspense.
In the ninth-inning, Lockman and Gordon went down and then Mize hit a tricky
bouncing single down the third-base path. But luckily Willard Marshall hit an
easy ground ball to Earl Torgeson that ended the game.
It was the 15th time in 28 games that the Braves have won by a single run.
However they have not won an extra inning game all season. Alvin Dark was
hitless of the first time in a long time, having gone five games where he had
made 13 hits. |
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg)
.jpg)