BRAVES SQUEAK PAST REDS IN 20-INNING MARATHON
Cincy Drops 5th Straight, Falls to 4-24
BOSTON, May 22 (AP) - Pinky Whitney's single over a drawn-in outfield scored
Randy Moore from third base with the winning run in the bottom of the 20th
inning as the Boston Braves defeated the Cincinnati Reds 4-3 at Braves
Field. It was the 10th win in 11 games for Boston. The Reds lost
their fifth in a row and fell to 4-24 on the season. The contest had been
tied at three runs apiece since the sixth inning and both clubs missed multiple
opportunities to break the deadlock prior to the final frame.
The Reds burst out to a three-run lead in the top of the third against Braves
starter Huck Betts. Ernie Lombardi led off with a base hit and pitcher
Paul Derringer's bunt was so good it went for an infield single, putting runners
on first and second. Sparky Adams then singled down the left field line,
scoring Lombardi and advancing Derringer to third. Linc Blakely rolled
into a double play, allowing Derringer to score the second run of the
inning. Mark Koenig then singled with two outs and came home when Jim
Bottomley doubled to left-center. The Reds might still be batting but when
Chick Hafey followed with a base hit to center field, Wally Berger gunned
Bottomley down at the plate to end the inning. In all, seven batters came
to the plate for Cincinnati and Betts only retired one of them, but the Reds
were held to a three-run spot. Unfortunately for Cincinnati, the game
would continue for another 17 innings and they wouldn't dent home plate again.
Derringer shut the Braves out through five innings but his sixth looked a lot
like Betts' third. Billy Urbanski led off the bottom of the sixth for
Boston with a single and advanced to third when Buck Jordan rolled a base hit
into right field. With an 0-2 count on Hal Lee, Derringer uncorked a wild
pitch, allowing Urbanski to score the first run for the Braves with Jordan
advancing to second. Lee lined the next pitch into center field for a base
hit, with Jordan stopping at third. Berger then dropped a single into
left, plating Jordan and moving Lee to second. Moore followed with a base
hit to left, filling the bases with no one out. Marty McManus rolled into
a 5-4-3 double play, scoring Lee with the tying run and Whitney's grounder to
short finally brought the inning to a close.
Boston appeared poised to seize the lead in the seventh. Shanty Hogan led
off with a single and was replaced by pinch runner Ed Brandt. Betts
dropped a bunt down, in an attempt to move the lead runner into scoring
position, and when Lombardi butchered his attempt to pick up the ball, the
Braves had runners on first and second with no outs. But Urbanski's
attempt to move the runners into scoring position failed as badly as Betts'
succeeded. He popped up his bunt, it was grabbed in the air by first
baseman Bottomley who through to second to double up Brandt who was hung out to
dry. Jordan singled, putting runners again on first and second, but this
time with two outs and Lee grounded to short to end the threat.
The Reds had a great chance to take the lead in the top of the 10th. With
one out, Adam Comorsky singled and Koenig followed with a base hit through the
box, putting runners on first and third. Jumbo Elliott replaced Betts on
the mound and got Bottomley on a line drive to first and Chick Hafey on an
infield roller to keep the score tied.
The Braves had a threat of their own in the bottom of the inning when Urbanski
led off with an infield single and third baseman Adams booted Jordan's grounder
for an error, leaving runners on first and second with no outs. But
Derringer struck out pinch hitter Joe Mowry, got Berger on an infield bouncer
that moved the baserunners to second and third and then took care of Moore on a
shallow fly to left.
Jordan's two-out double in the bottom of the 12th gave Boston another chance to
end it but Mowry grounded out, moving Jordan to third and, after Berger was
intentionally walked, Moore grounded out to end the inning.
The Reds looked for all the world as though they would finally score again in
the top of the 14th when Tony Piet and Lombardi opened the inning with
back-to-back singles, leaving runners on first and third with none out against
reliever Bob Smith. Gordon Slate was brought on as a pinch hitter and,
with the infield in for the Braves, Slade bounced a grounder to third baseman
Whitney who gunned down Piet at the plate, leaving runners on first and second
with one out. On the very next pitch Adams bounced into an inning-ending
double play.
In the bottom of the 16th, Al Spohrer walked with one out and pinch hitter Tommy
Thompson singled him to second but Urbanski grounded into his second double play
of the contest to extinguish the threat.
In the top of the 17th, Lombardi led off with a single and was replaced by pinch
runner Benny Frey. Pinch hitter Bob O'Farrell sacrificed Frey to
second. On the very first pitch, Adams lined a single to right but Mowry
fired a strike to home to cut Frey down at the plate.
The Braves had a two-out threat in the 17th that failed and things remained
quiet after that until the bottom of the 20th. Allyn Stout was in his
fourth inning of work out of the Cincinnati bullpen and yielded a lead-off
double to Moore. It was only the third extra base hit of the entire
game. McManus bunted Moore to third and that set the stage for Whitney's
heroics.
The 20-inning affair is, by far, the longest game of the major league season to
date. The previous high was 15 innings, in an April 19 contest between
the St. Louis Browns and the Cleveland Indians. The longest
National League game had been 11 innings, which had taken place on four prior
occasions.
5/22/1934, Cin34-BoN34, Braves Field 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 1934 Reds 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1934 Braves 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 R H E LOB DP 1934 Reds 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 17 4 11 4 1934 Braves 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 4 17 1 17 4 Reds AB R H BI AVG Braves AB R H BI AVG Adams 3b 9 0 3 1 .225 Urbanski ss 9 1 2 0 .336 Blakely cf 3 0 0 0 .184 Jordan,B 1b 7 1 3 0 .336 Flowers ph 1 0 0 0 .333 Lee,H lf 4 1 2 0 .325 Comorosky lf 5 0 1 0 .207 Mowry ph 5 0 0 0 .274 Koenig ss 8 1 2 0 .282 Berger cf 7 0 1 1 .244 Bottomley 1b 7 0 2 1 .278 Moore,R rf 9 1 3 0 .389 Hafey lf 8 0 1 0 .297 McManus 2b 8 0 1 0 .336 Schulmerich rf 7 0 0 0 .250 Whitney 3b 9 0 2 1 .268 Piet 2b 8 0 2 0 .208 Hogan c 3 0 2 0 .315 Lombardi c 7 1 4 0 .205 Brandt pr 0 0 0 0 .136 Frey,B pr 0 0 0 0 .083 Spohrer c 5 0 1 0 .240 Stout p 1 0 0 0 .167 Betts p 3 0 0 0 .056 Derringer p 4 1 2 0 .214 Elliott p 0 0 0 0 .000 Pool ph 1 0 0 0 .000 Gyselman ph 1 0 0 0 .000 Shaute p 0 0 0 0 .000 Smith,B p 0 0 0 0 .000 Slade ph 1 0 0 0 .274 Worthington ph 1 0 0 0 .150 Freitas p 0 0 0 0 .000 Pickrel p 0 0 0 0 .000 O'Farrell ph 1 0 0 0 .265 Thompson,T ph 0 0 0 0 .375 71 3 17 2 Mangum p 1 0 0 0 .333 72 4 17 2 Reds INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Derringer 10.0 11 3 3 0 2 112 80 4.21 Shaute 3.0 2 0 0 1 0 33 23 3.24 Freitas 3.0 1 0 0 1 0 36 21 0.00 Stout L 0-3 3.1 3 1 1 2 0 50 27 6.97 19.1 17 4 4 4 2 231 151 Braves INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Betts 9.1 12 3 3 2 7 118 84 2.92 Elliott 1.2 1 0 0 0 0 27 18 7.27 Smith,B 3.0 2 0 0 0 2 32 23 3.48 Pickrel 2.0 0 0 0 0 1 21 15 4.15 Mangum W 2-0 4.0 2 0 0 0 1 49 33 4.61 20.0 17 3 3 2 11 247 173 Cin: Flowers batted for Blakely in the 8th Comorosky inserted at lf in the 8th Hafey moved to cf in the 8th Pool batted for Derringer in the 11th Slade batted for Shaute in the 14th Frey,B ran for Lombardi in the 17th O'Farrell batted for Freitas in the 17th O'Farrell moved to c in the 17th BoN: Brandt ran for Hogan in the 7th Spohrer inserted at c in the 8th Mowry batted for Lee,H in the 10th Mowry moved to rf in the 11th Moore,R moved to lf in the 11th Gyselman batted for Elliott in the 11th Worthington batted for Smith,B in the 14th Thompson,T batted for Pickrel in the 16th E-Adams, Koenig, Piet, Lombardi, Mangum. 2B-Bottomley(3), Jordan,B(2), Moore,R(2). RBI-Adams(6), Bottomley(5), Berger(23), Whitney(17). SB-Whitney(1). K-Blakely, Hafey 3, Schulmerich 3, Piet, Derringer, Comorosky, Stout, Betts, Mowry. BB-Bottomley, Schulmerich, Jordan,B, Berger 2, Thompson,T. SH-O'Farrell, Jordan,B, McManus, Betts. WP-Derringer. GWRBI: Whitney Temperature: 60, Sky: partly cloudy, Wind: right to left at 10 MPH. Attendance: 3,001 Game Time: 4:13