5 ERRORS SINK CUBS
Reds Sweep Doubleheader
CHICAGO, May 30 (AP) – The Chicago Cubs blew an early 3-0 lead and committed a major league season single-game high five errors in a 6-4 loss to the Cincinnati Reds in the nightcap of a Decoration Day twinbill at Wrigley Field. The Reds won the opener, 4-3. Cincinnati committed three miscues in the nightcap as well, and the eight total errors were two more than the next largest single-game total thus far this year. The Cubs had not previously committed more than three errors in a single contest, and only reached that total once (May 8 in a 7-5 loss to the Boston Braves, also at Wrigley Field).
The Cubs leapt out to an early 3-0 lead, courtesy of a critical error committed by Reds third baseman Grady Hatton. After Stan Hack singled with one out, Lou Stringer grounded a would-be double play ball to third, but Hatton booted it. The miscue left runners on first and second. Peanuts Lowrey grounded into a fielder’s choice, forcing Stringer at second and placing runners on the corners with two outs. Phil Cavaretta then tripled to right-center, plating two runs, and Andy Pafko followed with a base hit, scoring Cavaretta for a 3-0 advantage. All three Chicago runs were unearned.
Cincinnati responded with three runs off Chicago starter Hank Borowy in the top of the fourth. Ray Mueller led off with a base hit and, one out later, moved to third when Max West grounded a single to right. Eddie Miller’s base hit put the Reds on the board, scoring Mueller and advancing West to second. Ewell Blackwell sacrificed the runners to second and third and Dain Clay plated West and Miller with a base hit to center. Back-to-back walks to Bobby Adams and Hatton filled the bases, but Al Libke flied out to end the inning.
The game remained tied until the seventh, when the Chicago defense utterly collapsed. Libke opened the inning when he reached first after shortstop Bobby Sturgeon kicked his ground ball. Bob Usher ran for Libke and Mueller sacrificed him to second. Pinch hitter Lonny Frey then bounced back to the mound but Borowy couldn’t handle it, leaving runners on first and third with one out. With West due up, Cubs manager Charlie Grimm called on southpaw Johnny Schmitz to replace Borowy, but the Reds countered with Bert Haas. Still, Schmitz induced a double play ball from Haas, but second baseman Stringer let it go right through his legs, scoring Usher with the lead run. The Reds scored a run without getting a ball out of the infield. In fact, Cincinnati plated the lead run without having a single batter reach base safely as the Cubs committed three errors in the inning.
The Chicago defense didn’t improve in the eighth. Adams reached with one out on Sturgeon’s second error of the contest, and promptly stole second. Hatton then walked. Usher fanned for the second out, but a passed ball charged to catcher Bob Scheffing allowed Adams to take third. Schmitz then walked Mueller and Frank McCormick to force in a run and Haas followed with a single through the box, scoring Hatton to give Cincinnati a 6-3 lead,
The Cubs made some noise in the bottom of the ninth. With Blackwell still on the mound for the Reds, Scheffing singled with one out and, after Sturgeon flied to left, pinch hitter Marv Rickert drew a free pass, bringing the tying run to the plate in the form of Stan Hack. Harry Gumbert replaced Blackwell, but Hack greeted him with a double to left, scoring Scheffing to make the score 6-4. The tying runs were now in scoring position and the potential winning run was standing at the plate in the form of Stringer. But Gumbert induced him to ground to short to end the game.
5/30/1946, Cin46-ChN46, game 2, Wrigley Field
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E LOB DP
1946 Reds 0 0 0 3 0 0 1 2 0 6 9 3 14 1
1946 Cubs 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 1 4 6 5 7 1
Reds AB R H BI AVG Cubs AB R H BI AVG
Clay cf 5 0 2 2 .182 Hack 3b 5 1 3 1 .333
Adams,Bo 2b 3 1 0 0 .100 Stringer 2b 4 0 0 0 .244
Hatton 3b 3 1 0 0 .302 Lowrey lf 4 1 0 0 .317
Libke rf 4 0 0 0 .237 Cavarretta 1b 3 1 1 2 .288
Usher pr 1 1 0 0 .300 Pafko cf 4 0 1 1 .255
Mueller c 3 1 2 0 .211 Nicholson rf 4 0 0 0 .225
Shokes 1b 2 0 0 0 .000 Scheffing c 4 1 1 0 .143
Frey ph 1 0 0 0 .229 Sturgeon ss 4 0 0 0 .242
McCormick,M pr 0 0 0 1 .200 Borowy p 2 0 0 0 .250
West,M lf 3 1 2 0 .195 Schmitz p 0 0 0 0 .235
Haas ph 2 0 1 2 .265 Dallessandro ph 0 0 0 0 .000
Miller,E ss 4 1 1 1 .242 Gilbert,C pr 0 0 0 0 .111
Blackwell p 4 0 1 0 .188 Kush p 0 0 0 0 .667
Gumbert p 0 0 0 0 .000 Rickert ph 0 0 0 0 .270
35 6 9 6 34 4 6 4
Reds INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA
Blackwell W 4-1 8.2 5 4 1 3 3 120 71 1.52
Gumbert S 1 0.1 1 0 0 0 0 10 6 1.13
9.0 6 4 1 3 3 130 77
Cubs INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA
Borowy L 4-3 6.1 8 4 3 3 4 124 80 3.29
Schmitz 0.2 0 0 0 0 1 8 7 3.88
Kush 2.0 1 2 0 3 4 54 30 2.65
9.0 9 6 3 6 9 186 117
Cin: Usher ran for Libke in the 7th
Frey batted for Shokes in the 7th
Haas batted for West,M in the 7th
McCormick,M ran for Frey in the 7th
Clay moved to lf in the 7th
Usher moved to rf in the 7th
McCormick,M moved to cf in the 7th
Haas moved to 1b in the 7th
ChN: Dallessandro batted for Schmitz in the 7th
Gilbert,C ran for Dallessandro in the 7th
Rickert batted for Kush in the 9th
E-Adams,Bo, Hatton, Miller,E, Stringer 2, Sturgeon 2, Borowy. 2B-Mueller(3),
Hack(4). 3B-Cavarretta(5). RBI-Clay 2(8), Miller,E(16), Haas 2(5),
McCormick,M(9), Hack(11), Cavarretta 2(18), Pafko(12). SB-Adams,Bo(2).
K-Clay, Adams,Bo 2, Hatton, Mueller, Miller,E 2, Blackwell, Usher, Scheffing,
Borowy 2. BB-Adams,Bo, Hatton 2, Mueller, Miller,E, McCormick,M, Cavarretta,
Dallessandro, Rickert. SH-Clay, Adams,Bo, Mueller, Shokes, Blackwell,
Stringer. HBP-Adams,Bo. PB-Scheffing. HB-Borowy. WP-Blackwell.
GWRBI: Haas
Temperature: 65, Sky: clear, Wind: right to left at 14 MPH.
Attendance: 24,812
Game Time: 2:40