BROWNS HAND MURPHY 1ST ‘L’
3-Run St. Louis Rally Sinks Yanks
NEW YORK, Aug. 19 (AP) – Aided by a pair of New York errors the St. Louis
Browns rallied for three runs in the top of the ninth inning to defeat the
Yankees 3-1 in the first game of a doubleheader at Yankee Stadium. In so
doing, the Browns handed New York starter Johnny Murphy his first defeat of the
season in 12 decisions. Including all appearances, as a starter and a
reliever, Murphy’s decision streak is the longest for a pitcher in either
league thus far this season.
By taking a shutout into the ninth inning, Murphy seemed poised to extend his
streak to 12 decisions. His teammates gave him the lead when they nicked
St. Louis starter Bump Hadley for a run in the fourth, but Hadley did well to
limit the damage. Babe Ruth drew a lead-off walk and advanced to third
when Lou Gehrig lined a single to left-center. Bill Dickey followed with a
bloop single to center, scoring Ruth with the game’s first run and advancing
Gehrig to second. Ben Chapman’s sacrifice bunt gave the Yankees runners
on second and third with only one out. Hadley walked George Selkirk on a
3-2 pitch to fill the bases, bringing Tony Lazzeri to the plate. Lazzeri
lined sharply to Ollie Bejema and the Browns third baseman stepped on the bag
ahead of a scrambling Gehrig to complete the unlikely inning-ending double
play. Somehow, the Yankees had only managed to score one run.
New York missed a golden opportunity to add some insurance in the eighth.
With Hadley, who had recovered nicely from the shaky fourth inning, still on the
mound, Jack Saltzgaver opened the frame by being hit by a pitch. Ruth then
shot a double past Bejema into the left field corner, putting runners on second
and third with no outs. Gehrig drew Hadley’s fifth free pass of the
contest to load the bases. Browns manager Rogers Horsnby pulled Hadley in
favor of Ivy Andrews, who took the mound with no room for error. But
Andrews was up to the challenge. On the very first pitch to Dickey the St.
Louis hurler induced a 3-2-3 double play ball, leaving the Yankees with runners
on second and third and two outs. Chapman was retired on a routine
grounder to short to end the threat.
Murphy had kept the Browns at bay throughout the game, with the exception of the
top of the fifth when his defense helped him preserve the shutout. Frank
Grube led off the frame with a single. Alan Strange flied to left for the
first out and Hadley sacrificed the runner to second. Murphy fell behind
Bejema and then hit him with a pitch, putting runners on first and second with
two outs and Sam West followed by lining a base hit between short and
third. Grube tried to score but Selkirk gunned him down at the plate to
preserve the one-run New York advantage.
In what may have been a bit of foreshadowing, St. Louis loaded the bases with
two outs in the eighth on a single and a pair of walks but Murphy retired Ski
Melillo to avoid any damage.
In the ninth, however, the Browns finally broke through, with the aid of some
shoddy defense on the part of the Yankees. Again, the rally began with St.
Louis down to its final out. Grube and pinch hitter Harlond Clift were
retired on ground balls to open the inning and Murphy appeared poised to record
his third shutout of the season. But pinch hitter Roy Pepper lined a
single to right-center field and Bejema’s base hit to right put the go-ahead
run aboard. West followed by grounding a single through the box, and when
Pepper tried to score, Chapman’s throw to the plate sailed over everything to
the backstop. Not only did Pepper score the tying run, Bejema came all the
way around with the lead run, making it 2-1 St. Louis, with West ending up on
third base. Jack Burns was walked intentionally but Deb Garms foiled the
strategy by rifling a single to right, plating West with the third run of the
frame. Bruce Campbell grounded out to finally end the inning.
Bobo Newsom came on for the Browns in the bottom of the inning and retired Sammy
Byrd and Lazzeri for the first two outs but yielded a single to pinch hitter Red
Rolfe. Frankie Crosetti came up representing the tying run but Newsom got
him on a pop fly to Burns at first to secure the win.
8/19/1934, SLA34-NYA34, game 1, Yankee Stadium 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E LOB DP 1934 Browns 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 3 10 0 11 2 1934 Yankees 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 7 2 9 0 Browns AB R H BI AVG Yankees AB R H BI AVG Bejma 3b 4 1 2 0 .281 Crosetti ss 5 0 0 0 .312 West cf 5 1 2 1 .306 Saltzgaver 3b 3 0 1 0 .267 Burns 1b 4 0 1 0 .287 Ruth rf 2 1 1 0 .287 Garms lf 4 0 2 1 .265 Hoag pr 0 0 0 0 .292 Newsom p 0 0 0 0 .179 Gehrig 1b 3 0 1 0 .375 Campbell rf 4 0 1 0 .260 Dickey c 4 0 2 1 .301 Melillo 2b 4 0 0 0 .213 Chapman,B cf 3 0 0 0 .308 Grube c 4 0 1 0 .269 Selkirk lf 1 0 1 0 .406 Strange ss 3 0 0 0 .245 Byrd lf 1 0 0 0 .286 Clift ph 1 0 0 0 .251 Lazzeri 2b 3 0 0 0 .295 Hadley p 2 0 0 0 .183 Murphy p 3 0 0 0 .200 Andrews p 0 0 0 0 .414 Rolfe ph 1 0 1 0 .268 Pepper ph 1 1 1 0 .272 29 1 7 1 36 3 10 2 Browns INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Hadley 7.0 6 1 1 5 3 106 62 4.10 Andrews W 5-6 1.0 0 0 0 0 0 4 3 5.58 Newsom S 4 1.0 1 0 0 0 0 21 13 3.54 9.0 7 1 1 5 3 131 78 Yankees INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Murphy L 11-1 9.0 10 3 2 3 3 128 83 2.83 9.0 10 3 2 3 3 128 83 SLA: Clift batted for Strange in the 9th Pepper batted for Andrews in the 9th Bejma moved to ss in the 9th Clift moved to 3b in the 9th Pepper moved to lf in the 9th NYA: Hoag ran for Ruth in the 8th Hoag moved to rf in the 9th Byrd inserted at lf in the 9th Rolfe batted for Murphy in the 9th E-Chapman,B, Lazzeri. 2B-Campbell(19), Ruth(15), Selkirk(2). RBI-West(69), Garms(9), Dickey(73). K-Bejma, Campbell, Strange, Crosetti, Chapman,B, Murphy. BB-Burns, Garms, Campbell, Ruth 2, Gehrig, Selkirk 2. SH-Hadley, Chapman,B, Lazzeri. HBP-Bejma, Saltzgaver. HB-Hadley, Murphy. Temperature: 80, Sky: clear, Wind: left to right at 20 MPH. Attendance: N/A Game Time: 2:21