THE LOWS AND THE HI
Cards' Right-hander Experiences Roller-coaster Day
PITTSBURGH, May 30 (AP) -- It was the best of times, it was the worst of
times. Not long after blowing a ninth-inning lead in game one of a twin
bill, Hi Bell redeemed himself by firing a three-hit complete game, enabling the
St. Louis Cardinals to halve a doubleheader with the Pittsburgh Pirates at
Forbes Field.
Bell was called upon to preserve a win for starter Jesse Haines in the
opener. Haines had been lifted for a pinch hitter in the top of the ninth,
a move that helped the Cardinals break a three-all tie.
The Pirates snapped a 1-1 tie by pushing across a pair of runs in the sixth, on
a leadoff home run by Clyde Barnhart and an error by St. Louis first baseman Jim
Bottomley, which allowed Rabbit Maranville--who had doubled with one out--to
score. The Cardinals had evened the game at three in the top of the
seventh on Rogers Hornsby's league-leading 12th home run of the year, a two-run
shot over the left field wall.
That set the stage for an exciting ninth inning. With Pirates starer
Wilbur Cooper (7-2) still on the mound, Charlie Niebergall, pinch hitting for
Haines, led off the inning with a double over the head of left fielder Carson
Bigbee. Quick-footed Max Flack ran for Niebergall, but Ray Blades' attempt
to sacrifice the pinch runner to third failed when he popped a bunt attempt to
third baseman Pie Traynor. But Taylor Douthit smacked his fourth hit of
the game, a double to left-center, to put St. Louis on top. Cooper walked
Hornsby intentionally and ultimately got out of the inning without yielding any
more runs, but the damage appeared to have been done.
Bell was called upon to close out the game but immediately ran into trouble,
yielding Max Carey's sharp grounder between Bottomley and Hornsby for a leadoff
single. Bigbee sacrificed Carey to second and Glen Wright immediately tied
the game lining a single over Hornsby's head into right-center field.
Carey scored easily and the game was tied at four. Barnhart's squibber off
the end of the bat went for an infield hit and put runners at first and second
with one out. Traynor followed with a grounder to the shortstop
hole. Jimmy Cooney backhanded the ball and got the force on Barnhart at
second, but Wright moved to third. Maranville then singled to right, his
fourth hit of the game, driving in Wright with the game-winner.
After a brief intermission, Bell faced the prospect of heading back to the mound
after the disappointing relief stint; he was the St. Louis starter for the
second game. But if he had trouble putting on his game face after blowing
game one, it was anything but obvious.
Bell retired the first 16 Pirates he faced before walking Johnny Gooch with one
out in the sixth. Gooch was immediately erased by a double play ball off
the bat of pinch hitter Walter Mueller. The first hit wasn't yielded until
Wright's two-out triple in the seventh.
Pittsburgh didn't score until the ninth. Gooch led off the inning with a
double--just the second hit for the Pirates. Pinch hitter Kiki Cuyler
singled, advancing Gooch to third. Carey lifted a sacrifice fly to center
to put the Bucs on the board, but Bell stiffened, retiring Bigbee and Wright on
pop flies to Hornsby at second to end the game.
His teammates had made it easy for him, effectively putting the game away in the
very first inning off Pirates starter Lee Meadows. With one out, Flack
doubled and after a fly ball by Hornsby advanced the runner to third, Bottomley
drove him home with a double of his own. Heinie Mueller tripled into the
right field corner to make it 2-0 and Howard Freigau followed with an RBI-single
to cap the frame's scoring at 3-0.
The Cardinals scored four more runs in the fifth, aided in part by some shoddy
Pittsburgh defense. Flack led off with another double and Hornsby, the
major league leader in runs batted in, singled him home. Bottomley struck
out but Mueller singled Hornsby to second. After Freigau fouled out, Mike
Gonzalez doubled to left-center. Hornsby scored easily and the relay throw
by Wright to the plate, in an attempt to cut down Mueller, sailed over
everything to the backstop, allowing Gonzalez to move to third. Jimmy
Cooney's roller to short was kicked by Wright and Gonzalez came home with the
fourth and final run of the inning.
5/30/1924, SLN24-Pit24, game 1, Forbes Field 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E LOB DP 1924 Cardinals 0 0 0 0 1 0 2 0 1 4 12 3 11 2 1924 Pirates 0 0 0 1 0 2 0 0 2 5 12 0 11 0 Cardinals AB R H BI AVG Pirates AB R H BI AVG Blades lf 4 0 0 1 .389 Carey cf 5 1 3 0 .371 Douthit rf 5 0 4 1 .265 Bigbee lf 3 0 0 0 .240 Hornsby 2b 3 1 1 2 .442 Wright ss 5 1 1 1 .333 Bottomley 1b 5 0 0 0 .307 Barnhart rf 4 2 3 1 .317 Myers cf 4 0 0 0 .146 Traynor 3b 5 0 0 0 .272 Freigau 3b 4 0 2 0 .243 Maranville 2b 5 1 4 2 .269 Gonzalez c 4 0 1 0 .314 Grimm 1b 3 0 0 0 .279 Cooney ss 4 1 2 0 .246 Schmidt c 3 0 0 0 .222 Haines p 2 1 1 0 .115 Moore ph 1 0 0 0 .400 Niebergall ph 1 0 1 0 .464 Gooch c 0 0 0 0 .269 Flack pr 0 1 0 0 .205 Cooper p 4 0 1 0 .353 Bell p 0 0 0 0 .000 38 5 12 4 36 4 12 4 Cardinals INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Haines 8.0 8 3 2 2 1 125 77 4.65 Bell BS 2, L 1-1 0.2 4 2 2 0 0 13 12 6.35 8.2 12 5 4 2 1 138 89 Pirates INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Cooper W 7-2 9.0 12 4 4 5 0 145 74 2.76 9.0 12 4 4 5 0 145 74 SLN: Niebergall batted for Haines in the 9th Flack ran for Niebergall in the 9th Pit: Moore batted for Schmidt in the 8th Gooch inserted at c in the 9th E-Bottomley, Cooney, Haines. 2B-Douthit, Gonzalez, Cooney, Niebergall, Maranville. HR-Hornsby(12), Barnhart(1). CS-Freigau. K-Wright. BB-Hornsby 2, Myers, Freigau, Haines, Bigbee, Grimm. SH-Blades, Bigbee. HBP-Barnhart. HB-Haines. WP-Cooper. GWRBI: Maranville Temperature: 66, Sky: clear, Wind: in from left at 1 MPH. Attendance: N/A Game Time: 2:07 5/30/1924, SLN24-Pit24, game 2, Forbes Field 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E LOB DP 1924 Cardinals 3 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 0 7 12 0 6 1 1924 Pirates 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 3 2 2 1 Cardinals AB R H BI AVG Pirates AB R H BI AVG Smith lf 5 0 0 0 .321 Carey cf 3 0 0 1 .364 Myers lf 0 0 0 0 .146 Bigbee lf 4 0 0 0 .233 Flack rf 5 2 3 0 .222 Wright ss 4 0 1 0 .331 Hornsby 2b 4 1 1 1 .437 Barnhart rf 3 0 0 0 .310 Bottomley 1b 5 1 1 1 .304 Traynor 3b 3 0 0 0 .267 Blades cf 0 0 0 0 .389 Maranville 2b 3 0 0 0 .264 Mueller cf 4 2 3 1 .370 Grimm 1b 3 0 0 0 .273 Freigau 3b 4 0 2 1 .250 Gooch c 2 1 1 0 .275 Gonzalez c 4 1 2 2 .322 Meadows p 1 0 0 0 .211 Vick c 0 0 0 0 .429 Mueller ph 1 0 0 0 .417 Cooney ss 4 0 0 0 .231 Stone p 0 0 0 0 .000 Bell p 4 0 0 0 .000 Cuyler ph 1 0 1 0 .411 39 7 12 6 28 1 3 1 Cardinals INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Bell W 2-1 9.0 3 1 1 1 1 97 67 3.98 9.0 3 1 1 1 1 97 67 Pirates INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Meadows L 4-4 6.0 11 7 6 0 4 116 78 5.18 Stone 3.0 1 0 0 1 0 24 16 1.13 9.0 12 7 6 1 4 140 94 SLN: Myers inserted at lf in the 8th Blades inserted at cf in the 9th Mueller moved to 1b in the 9th Vick inserted at c in the 9th Pit: Mueller batted for Meadows in the 6th Cuyler batted for Stone in the 9th E-Wright 2. 2B-Flack 2, Bottomley, Gonzalez, Gooch. 3B-Mueller 2, Wright. K-Bottomley, Bell 3, Traynor. BB-Hornsby, Gooch. SH-Carey. GWRBI: Bottomley Temperature: 69, Field: wet, Sky: threatening, Wind: out to center at 8 MPH. Attendance: 9,637 Game Time: 1:55