TRIPLE PLAY PRESERVES BROWNS 'W' OVER CHISOX
Blaeholder Tosses Shutout
CHICAGO, Aug. 12 (AP) - The St. Louis Browns turned the first triple play of the
major league season in the seventh inning, wiping out a potential Chicago White
Sox rally en route to a 5-0 victory in the first game of a doubleheader at
Comiskey Park. Browns starter George Blaeholder fired his second complete
game shutout of the year, blanking the White Sox on six hits. Sam West
finished with three safeties, pacing a 12-hit St. Louis attack.
The Browns took an early lead with a run in the top of the first inning on
West's 10th home run of the season. St. Louis extended its lead with a
three-run fifth inning off Chicago starter George Earnshaw, with a long ball
again doing the damage. Jack Burns drew a lead-off walk and, after Roy
Pepper flied to right, advanced to second on Bruce Campbell's base hit.
Ski Melillo lined to short for the second out, but Rollie Hemsley launched an
Earnshaw offering nearly halfway up the lower grandstand in left field for a
three-run homer.
Blaeholder, meanwhile, was holding the White Sox at bay; Chicago advanced only
one runner past second base through six innings, when Al Simmons reached on a
two-out first inning error and advanced to third on Luke Appling's single.
But Blaeholder avoided damage when he induced Jimmy Dykes to ground to third.
But in the seventh, the White Sox appeared poised to get back in the game.
Trailing 4-0, Jackie Hayes reached on a swinging bunt and advanced to second
when Marty Hopkins lined a single to left. That brought Merv Shea to the
plate and, after taking ball one from Blaeholder, he hit a sharp ground ball
down the third base line. Harlond Clift speared the grounder, stepped on
third for the force on Hayes, and fired to second baseman Melillo forcing out
Hopkins. Melillo made the relay to first baseman Burns in time to retire
the slow-footed Shea, completing the triple play and snuffing out the threat on
one pitch.
West's third hit of the game opened the ninth in the form of a single and led to
the final St. Louis run when he was sacrificed to second by Burns. An
Earnshaw wild pitch advanced the runner to third and West scored on Pepper's
base hit to give the Browns a 5-0 advantage.
Blaeholder retired the White Sox in order in the bottom of the ninth to finish
things off.
8/12/1934, SLA34-ChA34, game 1, Comiskey Park 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E LOB DP 1934 Browns 1 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 1 5 12 1 11 1 1934 White Sox 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 1 5 0 Browns AB R H BI AVG White Sox AB R H BI AVG Clift 3b 5 0 1 0 .250 Swanson rf 4 0 1 0 .277 West cf 5 2 3 1 .290 Haas cf 4 0 0 0 .264 Burns 1b 3 1 2 0 .293 Simmons lf 4 0 0 0 .374 Pepper lf 5 0 1 1 .276 Appling ss 3 0 1 0 .321 Campbell rf 2 1 1 0 .269 Dykes 1b 4 0 0 0 .268 Melillo 2b 5 0 2 0 .214 Hayes,J 2b 3 0 1 0 .292 Hemsley c 5 1 1 3 .261 Hopkins 3b 3 0 2 0 .176 Strange ss 4 0 0 0 .251 Shea c 3 0 0 0 .151 Blaeholder p 4 0 1 0 .093 Jones p 3 0 1 0 .173 38 5 12 5 31 0 6 0 Browns INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Blaeholder W 7-13 9.0 6 0 0 1 3 124 81 4.90 9.0 6 0 0 1 3 124 81 White Sox INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Jones L 7-14 9.0 12 5 5 4 3 157 91 5.70 9.0 12 5 5 4 3 157 91 E-Strange, Dykes. 2B-Burns(20), Jones(1). HR-West(10), Hemsley(3). RBI-West(60), Pepper(61), Hemsley 3(34). SB-West(4). K-Clift, Strange, Blaeholder, Swanson, Simmons, Dykes. BB-Burns, Campbell 3, Appling. SH-Burns. WP-Jones. GWRBI: West Temperature: 78, Sky: clear, Wind: left to right at 23 MPH. Attendance: N/A Game Time: 2:05