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JOHNNY SAIN |
BOSTON BRAVES
...
SPAHN & SAIN and PRAY FOR RAIN ...
Johnny Sain
wins his 20th of the season
September 14, 1948 ... The
Braves' pitching jewel of consistency, Johnny Sain, reached the
charmed 20 victory circle for the third year in a row, when he
handily put down the Chicago Cubs 10-3, before a surprisingly small
gathering of 8819 fans at Braves Field. Sain's win, together with the
Dodgers' twin killing of the Pittsburgh Pirates, boosted Boston's
National League lead to five games over the Bucs. Sain had no
difficulty in completing his 24th game of the year, as his teammates equaled
their previous one inning scoring high of the season, building up in an eight
run lead in the second inning. Manager Billy Southworth was tempted to give Sain
a rest after the Braves had built up a 10 to 0 lead, but a two run Cubbie sixth
changed his mind.
The Braves unleashed a 16 hit attack with 14 of them coming in the first
three innings against starter Hank Borowy and reliever Ralph Hamner. They batted
around in the second, an inning in which Jeff Heath got two singles. Heath
singled to start the inning and Bill Salkeld grounded out. Mike McCormick walked
and Sibbi Sisti hit a fly ball to right-field that eluded the in rushing Bill
Nicholson, and rolled to the fence, scoring both Heath and McCormick. Roy
Smalley kicked around Tommy Holmes' grounder and then Al Dark doubled to right.
Successive singles by Torgeson, Elliott and Heath made manager Charlie Grimm
call in Ralph Hamner. Hamner gave up singles to Salkeld and McCormick for the
seventh and eighth runs, before Sibbi Sisti grounded out for the second time.
Singles by Sain, Dark, Elliott and Torgeson gave the Tribe another pair of
runs in the third inning. The Cubs picked up two in the sixth and then Danny
Lynch, a 24-year-old rookie, completed their scoring in the ninth with a home
run.
Manager Billy Southworth has laid out a plan that calls for Sain and Spahn to
continue going with only two days rest, right up until the end of the season.
The Braves have now beaten the Cubs 15 times in 21 games this year.
In Brooklyn, the Dodgers dealt Pittsburgh's pennant chances a near knockout
blow, when they swept both ends of a doubleheader, 8 to 5 and 7 to 3. The
Dodgers pounded out 27 hits in the doubleheader with every player except Gene
Hermanski collected at least one base hit. Pee Wee Reese and Jackie Robinson
cranked out five hits apiece, including home runs. |
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