9TH INNING COMEBACK IN OPENER LEADS TO BROWNS' DH SWEEP
Yanks Fall 2 Games Behind Tigers
ST. LOUIS, Sept. 11 (AP) - The St. Louis Browns rallied for four runs in the
bottom of the ninth inning to defeat the New York Yankees 8-7 in the opening
game of a doubleheader at Sportsman's Park. In the nightcap, the Browns
snapped a tie with a run in the bottom of the eighth and went on to sweep the
twinbill with a 3-2 victory. Coupled with the Tigers' 4-1 win over the
Boston Red Sox at Navin Field in Detroit, the Yankees have fallen two games out
of first place in the American League.
In the first game of the doubleheader, the Yankees appeared to be in good shape
as they took an early 3-0 lead. Tony Lazzeri led off the second inning
with his 11th home run of the year. In the third, Ben Chapman roped an RBI
double and George Selkirk's base hit drove in another run.
The Browns got on the board in the bottom of the third. Ollie Bejma
doubled with one out and, after Jack Burns grounded out, Roy Pepper drove Bejma
home with a two-bagger of his own to cut the New York lead to 3-1.
That's how things remained until the sixth when St. Louis erupted against
Yankees starter Johnny Broaca. Burns led off the inning with the third
Browns' double of the game. Pepper's ground out moved Burns to third and
Bruce Campbell came through with yet another double, scoring Burns to make it
3-2. Debs Garms then tied the game with a base hit, plating
Campbell. Rollie Hemsely forced Garms at second with a fielder's choice
grounder but Hemsley stole second and then raced home on Alan Strange's single
to right, giving the Browns their first lead of the contest.
The Yankees, seemingly annoyed, roared back immediately, scoring four times in
the top of the seventh. Facing reliever George Blaeholder, Frank Crosetti
drew a lead-off walk. Red Rolfe forced Crosetti at second but, like
Hemsley in the previous inning, stole second base. Blaeholder than walked
Chapman and Lou Gehrig to load the bases. Browns manager Rogers Hornsby
had seen enough and replaced Blaeholder with lefty Ed Wells but it didn't
help. Selkirk laced a two-run single, scoring both Rolfe and Chapman,
giving the Yankees a 5-4 lead and Lazzeri followed with a base hit of his own,
driving home Gehrig and chasing Selkirk to third. Sammy Byrd's infield
roller scored Selkirk to make it 7-4 before Art Jorgens finally grounded out to
end the inning.
The next four half-inning segments sailed by, with only one harmless baserunner
for either team, when the Browns came to bat in the bottom of the ninth. A
New York victory seemed like a formality, but Strange opened the frame with a
single to left. Hornsby then put himself into the game as a pinch hitter
and bounced a 3-1 offering from Broaca into center field, bringing the tying run
to the plate. Sensing that Broaca was running out of gas, Yankees manager
Joe McCarthy summoned Danny MacFayden from the bullpen to secure the win.
But instead Harlond Clift--0-for-3 with two strikeouts against Broaca--hammered
a 2-2 offering seven rows up in the left field bleachers for a game-tying
three-run home run to the delight of the crowd--one of the biggest to witness a
Browns home game this season. At that point, things just unraveled
completely for the Yankees. Bejma reached when Rolfe kicked his routine
ground ball and Burns sacrificed him to second. Right on cue, Pepper
picked on the first offering from MacFayden and lined a base hit over Crosetti's
head. Bejma raced home without a play and the Browns had completed their
comeback, in stunning fashion.
The three-run blown lead was the biggest for the Yankees in a ninth inning all
year and only the second time they'd let a multi-run lead get away in the final
frame of a game.
The nightcap was a tightly played affair throughout and remained scoreless
through four innings. In the fifth, New York broke out on top when Byrd
led off with a double against St. Louis starter Bump Hadley and, one out later,
scored on Crosetti's two-bagger.
The Browns got that run back immediately in the home half of the inning when
Clift singled with two outs off Johnny Allen and came all the way around to
score on Bejma's double to the left-center field wall.
The Browns took their first lead in the sixth when Pepper led off with a bsae
hit, advanced to second and then third on a pair of ground outs and scored on
Frank Grube's clutch base hit.
The Yankees retied the game in the eighth. Facing reliever Ivy Andrews,
Rolfe and Chapman were retired on easy ground balls but Gehrig belted his 47th
home run of the year just inside the right field foul pole to even the score at
2-2.
But St. Louis battled back in the home half of the inning and, again, a New York
miscue played a key role. With one out, Crosetti kicked Peppper's grounder
for an error. Campbell then crushed a double over Chapman's head in center
field, scoring Pepper with the unearned run to give the Browns a 3-2 lead.
Andrews remained in the game in the top of the ninth and retired Lazzeri on a
grounder to short but then walked Byrd on four pitches, bringing the potential
go-ahead run to the plate. But Zack Taylor popped up for the second out
and pinch hitter Myril Hoag, batting for Allen, grounded out to end the game.
It's something of a dangerous time for the Yankees, who have a critical
four-game series coming up with the Tigers in Detroit beginning on Sept.
17. Before then, New York has four games with the third place Indians in
Cleveland while the Tigers have one more game with the fourth place Boston Red
Sox and then four with the seventh place Washington Senators, with all of those
games at Navin Field.
9/11/1934, NYA34-SLA34, game 1, Sportsman's Park (A) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E LOB DP 1934 Yankees 0 1 2 0 0 0 4 0 0 7 9 2 7 0 1934 Browns 0 0 1 0 0 3 0 0 4 8 11 1 7 0 Yankees AB R H BI AVG Browns AB R H BI AVG Crosetti ss 4 1 2 0 .308 Clift 3b 4 1 1 3 .248 Rolfe 3b 5 1 1 0 .265 Bejma 2b 5 2 1 0 .280 Chapman,B cf 4 2 2 1 .321 Burns 1b 4 1 1 0 .293 Gehrig 1b 2 1 0 0 .376 Pepper cf 5 0 2 2 .288 Selkirk lf 5 1 2 3 .400 Campbell rf 3 1 1 1 .257 Hoag rf 0 0 0 0 .312 Garms lf 4 0 2 1 .290 Lazzeri 2b 4 1 2 2 .306 Hemsley c 4 1 0 0 .268 Byrd rf 4 0 0 1 .282 Strange ss 4 1 2 1 .237 Jorgens c 4 0 0 0 .179 Coffman p 2 0 0 0 .268 Broaca p 4 0 0 0 .034 Hartley ph 1 0 0 0 .000 MacFayden p 0 0 0 0 .056 Blaeholder p 0 0 0 0 .109 36 7 9 7 Wells p 0 0 0 0 .120 Hornsby ph 1 1 1 0 .458 37 8 11 8 Yankees INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Broaca 8.0 9 6 6 2 5 151 97 4.68 MacFayden BS 2, L 6-6 0.1 2 2 1 0 0 10 7 5.62 8.1 11 8 7 2 5 161 104 Browns INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Coffman 6.0 7 3 2 2 3 105 65 2.94 Blaeholder H 1 0.1 0 3 3 3 0 20 6 5.25 Wells BS 1, W 2-6 2.2 2 1 1 0 3 38 26 5.21 9.0 9 7 6 5 6 163 97 NYA: Hoag inserted at rf in the 9th Byrd moved to lf in the 9th SLA: Hartley batted for Coffman in the 6th Hornsby batted for Wells in the 9th E-Rolfe, Broaca, Garms. 2B-Chapman,B(23), Bejma(8), Burns(31), Pepper(26), Campbell(23). 3B-Chapman,B(14). HR-Lazzeri(11), Clift(13). RBI-Chapman,B(112), Selkirk 3(30), Lazzeri 2(85), Byrd(22), Clift 3(56), Pepper 2(77), Campbell(63), Garms(18), Strange(33). SB-Rolfe(3), Hemsley(7). K-Gehrig, Selkirk, Byrd, Jorgens, Broaca 2, Clift 2, Bejma, Strange, Coffman. BB-Crosetti, Chapman,B, Gehrig 3, Clift, Campbell. SH-Burns. GWRBI: Pepper Temperature: 88, Sky: clear, Wind: in from center at 10 MPH. Attendance: N/A Game Time: 2:48 9/11/1934, NYA34-SLA34, game 2, Sportsman's Park (A) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E LOB DP 1934 Yankees 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 2 7 2 7 0 1934 Browns 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 x 3 8 0 7 2 Yankees AB R H BI AVG Browns AB R H BI AVG Crosetti ss 4 0 3 0 .312 Clift 3b 4 1 1 0 .248 Rolfe 3b 4 0 0 0 .260 Bejma 2b 4 0 1 1 .279 Chapman,B cf 4 0 1 0 .321 Burns 1b 4 0 1 0 .293 Gehrig 1b 4 1 1 1 .375 Pepper cf 4 2 2 0 .290 Selkirk lf 4 0 0 0 .386 Campbell rf 4 0 2 1 .259 Lazzeri 2b 4 0 1 0 .305 Garms lf 3 0 0 0 .285 Byrd rf 1 1 1 0 .287 Grube c 3 0 1 1 .240 Jorgens c 2 0 0 0 .176 Hemsley ph 1 0 0 0 .267 Ruth ph 0 0 0 0 .275 Strange ss 3 0 0 0 .235 Taylor,Z c 1 0 0 0 .000 Hadley p 2 0 0 0 .188 Allen,J p 2 0 0 1 .300 Melillo ph 1 0 0 0 .225 Hoag ph 1 0 0 0 .310 Andrews p 0 0 0 0 .406 31 2 7 2 33 3 8 3 Yankees INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Allen,J L 6-2 8.0 8 3 2 1 8 126 85 4.37 8.0 8 3 2 1 8 126 85 Browns INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Hadley 7.0 6 1 1 3 3 102 61 4.05 Andrews BS 1, W 6-6 2.0 1 1 1 1 0 21 12 5.16 9.0 7 2 2 4 3 123 73 NYA: Ruth batted for Jorgens in the 7th Taylor,Z inserted at c in the 7th Hoag batted for Allen,J in the 9th SLA: Melillo batted for Hadley in the 7th Hemsley batted for Grube in the 8th Hemsley moved to c in the 9th E-Crosetti, Chapman,B. 2B-Crosetti(35), Lazzeri(24), Byrd(4), Bejma(9), Pepper(27), Campbell(24). HR-Gehrig(47). RBI-Gehrig(163), Allen,J(10), Bejma(28), Campbell(64), Grube(22). K-Chapman,B 2, Jorgens, Clift, Bejma, Burns, Pepper, Grube, Hadley, Melillo, Hemsley. BB-Byrd 2, Allen,J, Ruth, Garms. SH-Byrd. GWRBI: Campbell Temperature: 88, Sky: clear, Wind: in from center at 10 MPH. Attendance: 11,091 Game Time: 1:55