HARDER FIRES 1-HIT SHUTOUT
Holland, Trosky Pace Tribe Attack
CLEVELAND, July 14 (AP) - Mel Harder became the first major leaguer to toss a
complete game one-hitter this season as the Cleveland Indians whipped the
Washington Senators 8-0 at League Park. Dutch Holland banged out three
hits and drove in four and Hal Trosky had three hits of his own, including his
14th home run of the year for the Indians. The shutout was the third of
the season for Harder, most in the American League to date.
Cleveland took the lead for good with a three-run outburst in the second inning
against Senators starter Earl Whitehill. Trosky and Odell Hale led off
with singles and a walk to Willie Kamm loaded the bases with no outs.
Frankie Pytlak grounded into a fielder's choice, forcing Kamm at second, but
Trosky scored on the play to give the Indians a 1-0 lead. Harder
sacrificed Pytlak to second and Holland's two-out single scored both runners to
make it 3-0.
With two outs and the bases empty in the bottom of the third, Trosky launched a
Whitehill offering over the right field screen onto Lexington Avenue for a 4-0
Cleveland advantage.
The Indians blew the game open in the bottom of the sixth. Hale led off
with a single, moved to second on Kamm's ground out and then advanced to third
on Pytlak's infield hit. Harder drew a walk to load the bases and Holland
slashed a double into the left field corner, scoring Hale and Pytlak to make it
6-0, with Harder stopping at third. Jack Russell replaced Whitehill on the
mound and immediately allowed the seventh run of the game to score on a wild
pitch, before getting out of the inning.
Cleveland capped the scoring in the seventh when Trosky led off with a single
and scored two outs later on Pytlak's base hit.
Throughout, Harder was toying with the Senators. The only hit he allowed
was off the bat of Whitehill, who doubled to left-center with two outs in the
third. He hit Sewell with a pitch--one of three Washington batters to be
hit on the day--in the sixth, that was the only base runner he allowed after
Whitehill's double until the ninth.
In the final frame, Luke Sewell drew a lead-off walk--the only free pass issued
by Harder in the entire contest--then induced pinch hitter Ossie Bluege to
ground into a force play. Harder then plunked Fred Schulte for the second
time in the game, putting runners on first and second. It was the first
time in the contest that the Senators had two baserunners at the same
time. Buddy Myer rolled out to second, with the runners advancing to
second and third, and Harder fell behind Heinie Manush 3-0 before coming back to
retire him on a ground ball to second baseman Hale to end the game.
10 different pitchers had thrown complete game two-hitters, but Harder bested
all of them in the process of tossing his eighth complete game of the season in
13 starts.
7/14/1934, Was34-Cle34, League Park 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E LOB DP 1934 Senators 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 3 0 1934 Indians 0 3 1 0 0 3 1 0 x 8 13 0 8 2 Senators AB R H BI AVG Indians AB R H BI AVG Schulte cf 2 0 0 0 .298 Holland rf 5 0 3 4 .382 Myer 2b 4 0 0 0 .273 Knickerbocker ss 5 0 0 0 .340 Manush lf 4 0 0 0 .303 Averill cf 4 0 2 0 .325 Cronin ss 3 0 0 0 .276 Vosmik lf 5 0 0 0 .348 Travis 3b 3 0 0 0 .311 Trosky 1b 4 3 3 1 .347 Harris,D rf 3 0 0 0 .286 Hale 2b 4 2 2 0 .297 Kress 1b 3 0 0 0 .161 Kamm 3b 3 0 0 0 .241 Sewell c 1 0 0 0 .200 Pytlak c 3 2 2 2 .270 Whitehill p 2 0 1 0 .260 Harder p 2 1 1 0 .109 Russell p 0 0 0 0 .385 35 8 13 7 Kline p 0 0 0 0 .231 Bluege ph 1 0 0 0 .210 26 0 1 0 Senators INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Whitehill L 8-7 5.1 10 7 7 3 1 91 61 5.00 Russell 2.1 2 1 1 1 1 45 26 5.74 Kline 0.1 1 0 0 0 0 13 7 5.02 8.0 13 8 8 4 2 149 94 Indians INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Harder W 11-3 9.0 1 0 0 1 2 91 52 3.04 9.0 1 0 0 1 2 91 52 Was: Bluege batted for Kline in the 9th 2B-Whitehill(5), Holland(19). 3B-Averill(3). HR-Trosky(14). RBI-Holland 4(20), Trosky(82), Pytlak 2(29). CS-Pytlak. K-Kress, Whitehill, Holland, Harder. BB-Sewell, Averill, Kamm, Pytlak, Harder. SH-Harder. HBP-Schulte 2, Sewell. HB-Harder 3. WP-Russell. GWRBI: Pytlak Temperature: 91, Field: wet, Sky: threatening, Wind: in from right at 7 MPH, Rain Delays: 82 minutes. Attendance: 6,016 Game Time: 2:02