FRUSTRATED A'S TAKE OUT AGGRESSION ON BOSOX
Johnson Hits for Cycle, Drives in 9
BOSTON, May 2 (AP) - The Philadelphia Athletics, reeling from a 1-12 start,
exorcised a bit of their frustration, exploding for 22 runs in the process of
overwhelming the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park. The 22-13 victory--just
the second of the season for the A's--represents the single highest run total by
one team in the major leagues this season. The 35 combined runs is the
largest amount in a single big league game thus far this year. The two
clubs combined for 36 hits, tying the to-date single game season high, and fully
18 of those hits went for extra bases.
There were many offensive heroes for the A's, but the most notable was Bob
Johnson. The Philadelphia left fielder hit for the cycle--becoming the
second big league player (Gus Suhr of the Pittsburgh Pirates) to hit for the
cycle on this day on the calendar--amassing five hits in all and drove in a
major league single game high nine runs. Doc Cramer, Ed Coleman and Pinky
Higgins each had three hits for the A's; two of Coleman's hits were home
runs. Max Bishop and Bucky Walters each accrued three safeties for the Red
Sox.
The game was never close. The's A's picked up a pair of runs in the first
inning when Higgins' fly ball plated Rabbit Warstler, who led off the contest
with a base hit, and Johnson brought home Coleman with a single.
Philadelphia increased its lead to 5-0 in the third on Johnson's two-run double
and Eric McNair's RBI single.
The Red Sox picked up a run in the bottom of the third on Roy Johnson's RBI
double, but the A's effectively blew the game open once and for all with four
runs in the top of the fourth. Cramer singled with one out and Coleman hit
the first of his two home runs to give Philadelphia a 7-1 lead. Jimmie
Foxx drew one of his four walks on the game and moved to third on Higgins' base
hit. Both runners scored on Johnson's second two-run double of the game to
give the A's a 9-1 lead.
Boston scored a couple of runs in the bottom of the fourth when Walters tripled
home Rick Ferrell and then scored himself on a ground out. The Red Sox
narrowed the gap to five runs in the fifth when Ferrell reached on an error,
scoring Johnson. But that was as close as Boston would get.
The A's exploded for eight more runs in the sixth. Coleman led off with a
walk and Foxx doubled him to third. A wild pitch scored Coleman and
advanced Foxx to third. Higgins then doubled, plating Foxx to make it
11-4. Johnson's deep fly to left advanced Higgins to third and McNair
cleared the left field wall with a home run, upping the A's advantage to
13-4. One out later, Al Benton singled and took second on a wild
pitch. Warstler walked and Cramer tripled both runners home. To add
insult to injury, Coleman followed with his second two-run homer of the game,
putting Philadelphia on top 17-4.
In the seventh, Higgins led off with a walk and Johnson followed with a two-run
blast to make the score 19-4. The Red Sox picked up a run in the bottom of
the frame to cut the lead to 14 runs but the A's came back with three in the
eighth. At this point, about the only drama was whether Bob Johnson would
complete the cycle. He came to the plate with two outs in the top of the
eighth, after Pinky Higgins had singled home Cramer. Batting with runners
on first and second, he lined a pitch past the bullpen in deep right-center
field, and slid into third with a triple--the only hit missing in his pursuit of
the cycle.
The Red Sox plated eight runs over their final two at bats as A's pitchers
simply tried to get the game over with, and when Moose Solters rolled into a
fielder's choice, the final out was recorded.
The A's have now surrendered 129 runs in 14 games--more than nine runs per
contest. The Red Sox are next worst in the American League, having allowed
99 runs in 13 games.
5/2/1934, PhA34-BoA34, Fenway Park 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E LOB DP 1934 Athletics 2 0 3 4 0 8 2 3 0 22 20 3 6 3 1934 Red Sox 0 0 1 2 1 0 1 3 5 13 16 1 11 0 Athletics AB R H BI AVG Red Sox AB R H BI AVG Warstler 2b 5 2 1 0 .219 Bishop 2b 5 2 3 1 .306 Cramer cf 6 3 3 2 .302 Werber ss 5 1 1 1 .321 Coleman rf 4 5 3 4 .262 Morgan 1b 5 2 1 1 .306 Foxx 1b 2 4 1 0 .245 Johnson,R lf 2 1 2 2 .423 Higgins 3b 5 4 3 3 .404 Reynolds cf 6 0 1 3 .377 Johnson,B lf 6 2 5 9 .471 Solters rf 6 1 2 0 .362 McNair ss 6 1 2 3 .262 Ferrell,R c 4 2 2 1 .237 Berry c 6 0 1 0 .200 Walters 3b 5 2 3 1 .389 Benton,A p 5 1 1 0 .167 Rhodes p 1 0 0 0 .111 Marcum p 1 0 0 0 .214 Ostermueller p 1 0 0 1 .000 Kline p 0 0 0 0 .000 Pennock p 1 0 0 0 .200 46 22 20 21 Judge ph 1 1 1 1 .364 Johnson,H p 0 0 0 0 .000 Cooke ph 1 1 0 1 .000 43 13 16 13 Athletics INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Benton,A W 1-1 7.0 12 7 6 3 6 119 72 9.00 Marcum 1.2 4 6 5 5 0 47 19 5.29 Kline 0.1 0 0 0 0 0 2 2 5.87 9.0 16 13 11 8 6 168 93 Red Sox INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Rhodes L 2-2 3.1 8 7 7 3 2 74 43 8.25 Ostermueller 2.1 8 10 9 4 3 78 42 12.86 Pennock 2.1 4 5 5 2 2 51 34 11.88 Johnson,H 1.0 0 0 0 0 0 11 6 2.35 9.0 20 22 21 9 7 214 125 BoA: Judge batted for Pennock in the 8th Cooke batted for Johnson,H in the 9th E-Warstler 2, McNair, Solters. 2B-Coleman(2), Foxx(1), Higgins(4), Johnson,B 2(4), Johnson,R 2(5), Solters 2(6), Judge(2). 3B-Cramer(2), Johnson,B(3), Bishop(1), Walters(6). HR-Coleman 2(3), Johnson,B(4), McNair(2). RBI-Cramer 2(4), Coleman 4(9), Higgins 3(14), Johnson,B 9(17), McNair 3(10), Bishop(6), Werber(4), Morgan(13), Johnson,R 2(11), Reynolds 3(14), Ferrell,R(4), Walters(18), Ostermueller(1), Judge(1), Cooke(1). K-Foxx, Higgins, McNair, Berry, Benton,A 3, Morgan 2, Reynolds 2, Walters, Rhodes. BB-Warstler 2, Coleman 2, Foxx 4, Higgins, Bishop, Werber, Morgan, Johnson,R 4, Ferrell,R. WP-Benton,A, Ostermueller 2. GWRBI: Higgins Temperature: 60, Sky: partly cloudy, Wind: out to center at 17 MPH. Attendance: 6,382 Game Time: 3:19