BUCS SPLIT WITH CUBS; LEAD STILL 1/2 GAME
Giants Idle; Pirates Magic Number Drops to 4
PITTSBURGH, Sept. 26 (AP) - It was a set of mixed results for the first place
Pittsburgh Pirates as they split a doubleheader with the Chicago Cubs at Forbes
Field, winning a 12-0 walkover in the opener but dropping the nightcap
11-4. The Pirates retain their 1/2 game advantage of the idle New York
Giants.
Ray Kremer (16-9) earned his third shutout of the year in the first game,
scattering four Chicago hits in the process.
Kremer's teammates gave him plenty of runs to work with. Eddie Moore drove
home Carson Bigbee with a first inning single to begin the route and Pittsburgh
added single runs in the third and fourth courtesy of Max Carey--his eighth home
run of the year and a run-scoring ground out respectively.
But the Pirates really seized control of the game for good with a five-run fifth
inning that began off Cubs starter Vic Keen (12-11). Glen Wright led off
the frame with a single and stole second. Pie Traynor singled through the
box to plate Wright and put Pittsburgh on top 4-0. A passed ball allowed
Traynor to advance to second and, after Rabbit Maranville struck out, Charlie
Grimm singled to center, scoring Traynor. Earl Smith's base hit to right
moved Traynor to third. Kremer popped out, but--after Keen was replaced on
the hill by Guy Bush--continued the rally by tripling down the right filed like,
extending the lead to 7-0. Carey's infield hit capped the scoring by
bringing Bigbee home with the fifth run of the inning.
Pittsburgh added insult to injury with four more runs in the eighth to account
for the 12-0 final.
The nightcap was much less favorable to the Pirates. Manager Bill
McKechnie hoped the use of a left-hander--in this case, Don Songer--would
neutralize the bats of Cubs Cliff Heathcote, George Grantham, Denver Grigsby,
Butch Weis and Harvey Cotter but it was a complete fiasco.
McKechnie had the bullpen up in the very first inning. The Cubs pushed
across a pair of runs on Bill Barrett's two-out single, but then a confluence of
events seemed to induce complacency.
First, Songer seemed to settle in nicely, cruising through the second and third
innings, shutting the Cubs down without breaking a sweat. Secondly, the
Pirates tied the game in the home half of the third on RBI singles by Wright and
Traynor.
Then came the fateful fourth. Hack Miller led off the inning with a
single, but Barrett flied routinely to Carey in center. Things then
unraveled so quickly McKechnie was unable to close the barn door before the
horse bolted. Otto Vogel walked, putting runners at and first and
second. Bob O'Farrell then blooped the first pitch he saw for a single,
scoring Miller and moving Vogel to second. Ted Kearns then bounced a
single between first and second to fill the bases with the pitcher, Tony
Kauffman, due up. McKechnie had Jeff Pfeffer start to loosen up.
Songer got ahead of Kauffman 0-2 and then the unthinkable happened. Songer
tried to slip a fastball past the Chicago hurler and got too much of the
plate. Kauffman, an able batsman, drove the pitch over the left-center
field fence for a grand slam, putting the Cubs on top 7-2. McKechnie
pulled Kauffman for Pfeffer, but the damage had been done. In fact, there
was more damage to be done in the frame. Consecutive singles by Sparky
Adams and Jigger Statz put runners on first and third. A Pfeffer balk
scored Adams and then Grantham applied the coup de grace by cracking a long home
run to right, for two more runs. In all, the Cubs plated eight in the
frame and moved ahead by an insurmountable 10-2 score.
The Pirates finish their three-game series with the Cubs on Saturday while the
Giants host the Phillies.
9/26/1924, ChN24-Pit24, game 1, Forbes Field 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E LOB DP 1924 Cubs 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 3 6 0 1924 Pirates 1 0 1 1 5 0 0 4 x 12 19 2 11 2 Cubs AB R H BI AVG Pirates AB R H BI AVG Adams ss 3 0 0 0 .248 Bigbee lf 5 2 3 2 .279 Heathcote cf 4 0 1 0 .367 Carey cf 4 1 3 3 .341 Grantham 3b 4 0 1 0 .326 Barnhart rf 2 0 1 0 .293 Weis rf 4 0 0 0 .304 Moore rf 3 0 1 1 .311 Barrett 2b 4 0 1 0 .299 Yde ph 1 0 0 0 .160 Grigsby lf 4 0 0 0 .358 Mueller rf 1 0 0 0 .348 Hartnett c 1 0 0 0 .320 Wright ss 5 2 1 0 .277 O'Farrell c 1 0 0 0 .231 Traynor 3b 5 2 4 2 .281 Cotter 1b 3 0 1 0 .280 Maranville 2b 5 1 1 1 .278 Keen p 1 0 0 0 .215 Grimm 1b 4 3 3 1 .304 Bush p 0 0 0 0 .083 Smith c 5 1 2 1 .433 Elliott ph 1 0 0 0 .000 Kremer p 4 0 0 1 .133 Blake p 0 0 0 0 .296 44 12 19 12 30 0 4 0 Cubs INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Keen L 12-11 4.2 10 7 7 2 3 108 64 4.35 Bush 2.1 5 1 1 0 2 39 28 3.41 Blake 1.0 4 4 2 0 1 24 15 3.95 8.0 19 12 10 2 6 171 107 Pirates INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Kremer W 16-9 9.0 4 0 0 2 4 113 79 2.74 9.0 4 0 0 2 4 113 79 ChN: O'Farrell inserted at c in the 6th Elliott batted for Bush in the 8th Pit: Yde batted for Moore in the 5th Mueller inserted at rf in the 6th Barnhart inserted at rf in the 7th Mueller moved to cf in the 7th E-Grantham, Barrett, Cotter, Traynor, Grimm. 2B-Heathcote(31), Bigbee(2), Traynor(18), Grimm(27). 3B-Bigbee(1), Traynor(9). HR-Carey(9). RBI-Bigbee 2(27), Carey 3(72), Moore(23), Traynor 2(68), Maranville(66), Grimm(81), Smith(28), Kremer(7). SB-Moore(7), Wright(18), Grimm(2). K-Adams, Barrett, Cotter, Elliott, Traynor, Maranville 2, Kremer 2, Barnhart. BB-Adams, Hartnett, Bigbee, Grimm. SH-Keen, Kremer. PB-Hartnett. GWRBI: Moore Temperature: 53, Sky: clear, Wind: out to left at 12 MPH. Attendance: N/A Game Time: 2:10 9/26/1924, ChN24-Pit24, game 2, Forbes Field 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E LOB DP 1924 Cubs 2 0 0 8 0 1 0 0 0 11 16 1 7 1 1924 Pirates 0 0 2 0 2 0 0 0 0 4 12 0 8 2 Cubs AB R H BI AVG Pirates AB R H BI AVG Adams ss 4 2 3 0 .252 Bigbee lf 5 0 1 0 .277 Statz cf 5 2 3 0 .255 Carey cf 5 2 2 0 .342 Grantham 3b 4 1 2 3 .328 Moore rf 3 0 2 2 .316 Miller lf 5 1 1 0 .268 Barnhart ph 2 0 1 0 .294 Barrett 2b 5 0 1 2 .296 Wright ss 4 0 1 2 .277 Vogel rf 2 1 0 0 .274 Traynor 3b 3 0 1 0 .282 O'Farrell c 5 1 1 1 .230 Maranville 2b 4 0 1 0 .278 Kearns 1b 5 1 2 0 .286 Grimm 1b 4 0 1 0 .304 Kaufmann p 5 2 3 4 .349 Schmidt c 4 1 1 0 .218 40 11 16 10 Songer p 1 0 0 0 .000 Pfeffer p 1 1 1 0 .372 Yde p 1 0 0 0 .158 Meadows p 0 0 0 0 .167 Mueller ph 1 0 0 0 .340 Morrison p 0 0 0 0 .141 38 4 12 4 Cubs INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Kaufmann W 14-11 9.0 12 4 4 1 7 142 97 3.86 9.0 12 4 4 1 7 142 97 Pirates INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Songer L 0-1 3.1 8 7 7 1 1 56 31 16.62 Pfeffer 2.0 6 4 4 0 2 38 25 4.92 Yde 1.2 0 0 0 0 0 18 10 2.45 Meadows 1.0 1 0 0 1 1 18 10 3.11 Morrison 1.0 1 0 0 0 1 24 13 2.86 9.0 16 11 11 2 5 154 89 Pit: Barnhart batted for Moore in the 7th Barnhart moved to rf in the 8th Mueller batted for Meadows in the 8th E-Grantham. 2B-Carey(36), Grimm(28). HR-Grantham(15), Kaufmann(2). RBI-Grantham 3(67), Barrett 2(32), O'Farrell(22), Kaufmann 4(10), Moore 2(25), Wright 2(117). SB-Traynor(29). K-Statz 2, Vogel, O'Farrell 2, Bigbee, Carey, Moore, Wright, Maranville, Yde, Barnhart. BB-Adams, Vogel, Traynor. SH-Grantham. HBP-Vogel 2. HB-Yde, Morrison. BALK-Pfeffer. GWRBI: O'Farrell Temperature: 45, Sky: partly cloudy, Wind: out to right at 11 MPH. Attendance: 13,943 Game Time: 2:22