PASSEAU SHINES AGAIN, 1 HITS BUCS

Hack Drives in 3 for Cubs

PITTSBURGH, Apr. 23 (AP) – It’s difficult to improve on a performance that includes tossing a complete game shutout and hitting two home runs, but Claude Passeau may have pulled it off.  The right-hander blanked the Pittsburgh Pirates on one hit, and had two more safeties as a batter, leading the Chicago Cubs to a 5-0 victory at Forbes Field.  Passeau retired the first 11 Pirates batters he faced before allowing a single to Jim Russell with two outs in the fourth inning.  It was the only hit Passeau would allow.

The right-hander allowed only one baserunner to advance past first base.  Billy Cox reached when shortstop Lennie Merullo booted his one-out ground ball in the bottom of the eighth.  Cox reached second one out later when Passeau walked pinch hitter Al Gionfriddo.  Frankie Gustine then struck out to end the inning.

The Cubs seized control of the game in the top of the second.  Facing Pittsburgh starter Ed Albosta, Andy Pafko led off with a base hit and advanced to second when Bill Nicholson drew a free pass.  Mickey Livingston sacrificed the runners to second and third, but Merullo fanned for the second out. Albosta then walked Passeau to lead the bases and Stan Hack followed with a two-run single to right.  Don Johnson then rapped out another base hit, scoring Passeau with the third run of the inning.

Hack’s two-out single in the sixth plated Livingston, who had led off the inning with a double, to account for the fourth Chicago run and Peanuts Lowrey drew a leadoff walk in the seventh and ultimately tagged up from third touched home plate following Nicholson’s fly to center to cap the scoring.

But Passeau was the real story, as he flummoxed the Pirates throughout the contest, and now holds a scoreless innings streak of 18 through two starts thus far this season.

4/23/1946, ChN46-Pit46, Forbes Field

                       1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9     R  H  E   LOB DP

1946 Cubs              0  3  0  0  0  1  1  0  0     5  9  1     9  0

1946 Pirates           0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0     0  1  0     4  2

Cubs                 AB  R  H BI   AVG    Pirates              AB  R  H BI   AVG

Hack              3b  4  0  2  3  .455    Gustine           2b  4  0  0  0  .000

Johnson,D         2b  4  0  1  1  .259    Colman,F          rf  4  0  0  0  .000

Lowrey            lf  4  1  0  0  .292    Russell,J         lf  3  0  1  0  .292

Cavarretta        1b  4  0  1  0  .208    Elliott           3b  4  0  0  0  .185

Pafko             cf  3  1  2  0  .421    Fletcher          1b  3  0  0  0  .318

Nicholson         rf  3  1  0  1  .273    Barrett,J         cf  3  0  0  0  .148

Livingston        c   3  1  1  0  .375    Cox               ss  3  0  0  0  .280

Merullo           ss  4  0  0  0  .167    Smith,V           c   2  0  0  0  .000

Passeau           p   3  1  2  0  .500     Anderson,A       ph  1  0  0  0  .000

                     32  5  9  5           Camelli          c   0  0  0  0  .143

                                          Albosta           p   2  0  0  0  .000

                                           Lanning          p   0  0  0  0  .000

                                           Gionfriddo       ph  0  0  0  0  .000

                                           Heintzelman      p   0  0  0  0  .000

                                                               29  0  1  0

Cubs                             INN  H  R ER BB  K PCH STR   ERA

Passeau          W 2-0           9.0  1  0  0  2  4 107  67  0.00

                                 9.0  1  0  0  2  4 107  67

Pirates                          INN  H  R ER BB  K PCH STR   ERA

Albosta          L 0-2           6.0  8  5  5  6  2 125  63  6.75

Lanning                          2.0  1  0  0  0  1  23  15  0.00

Heintzelman                      1.0  0  0  0  1  0  16   9  0.00

                                 9.0  9  5  5  7  3 164  87

Pit: Anderson,A batted for Smith,V in the 8th

     Gionfriddo batted for Lanning in the 8th

     Camelli inserted at c in the 9th

E-Merullo. 2B-Livingston(2). RBI-Hack 3(5), Johnson,D(3), Nicholson(4).

K-Hack, Merullo 2, Elliott, Fletcher, Barrett,J, Albosta. BB-Hack, Johnson,D,

Lowrey, Cavarretta, Pafko, Nicholson, Passeau, Russell,J, Gionfriddo.

SH-Pafko, Livingston.

GWRBI: Hack

Temperature: 52, Sky: partly cloudy, Wind: right to left at 7 MPH.

Attendance: 6,443

Game Time: 2:21