11-RUN 1^ST PACES BUCS PAST PHILS

Pirates Send 17 Batters to Plate in Opening Frame

PHILADELPHIA, June 17 (AP) – The Pittsburgh Pirates established a new major league season high for runs in an inning, plating 11 in the top of the first, and went on to defeat the Philadelphia Phillies 11-5 at Shibe Park. The 11 tallies are three more than anyone had scored in a single frame previously this year. The Pirates sent 17 men to the plate in the top of the first, driving Phillies starter Charley Schanz from the game after he had retired only one of the first 11 batters he faced. The first eight Pittsburgh hitters reached base safely, a new major league high this year. And no team had sent more than 13 batters to the plate in a single inning previously this season.

The top of the first inning was surreal. Lee Handley led off with a base hit and Jim Russell drew a free pass. Bob Elliott’s sacrifice bunt attempt was so good that it went for a hit, loading the bases. Schanz then walked Elbie Fletcher, forcing in the game’s first run. Ralph Kiner drew the inning’s third free pass, forcing home Russell for a 2-0 lead. And Frankie Giustine then doubled to the gap in right-center field, scoring two more runs. It was now 4-0 in favor of the Pirates with runners on second and third and still no outs. Billy Cox rolled a single to right, scoring Kiner, with Giustine stopping at third. Cox then stole second base and the throw by catcher Andy Seminick hit the baserunner and rolled into shallow center field. Giustine scored and Cox ended up on third. It was now 6-0, and Johnny Humphries began warming up for the Phillies. Bill Salkeld became the eighth consecutive Pirates batter to reach safely when he lined a single to right, scoring Cox with the seventh run. That brought Ken Gables, Pittsburgh’s starting pitcher to the plate. He grounded into a double play, clearing the bases, and giving reason to think that the inning would soon, at last, be over. But Handley laced his second base hit of the frame and Russell followed by drawing his second free pass. Schanz, at this point, had faced 11 hitters and retired only one—Gables, on the double play grounder. Phillies manager Ben Chapman had seen enough and called on Humphries to replace Schanz. Unfortunately for Philadelphia, the carnage wasn’t over. Elliott drew the fifth walk of the inning, filling the bases, and Fletcher singled to right, with everyone moving up 90 feet. Kiner then singled to center, scoring two more runs, to make it a 10-run inning. Guistine’s second hit of the frame loaded the bases yet again and Cox, drawing the sixth base on balls of the top of the first, forced home Fletcher, with run number 11. Salkeld, finally, ended the inning when he grounded to first, to a mock cheer from the disgusted Shibe Park crowd.

In all, the Pirates had scored 11 runs on nine hits and had drawn six free passes. The previous high mark for runs in a single inning was eight, which had been done four times. Pittsburgh’s previous high run total for a single inning was five. The nine hits and six walks in a single frame both set a new high mark for the major league season as well.

The rest of the game was something of a blur. Despite the rough start out of the bullpen, Humphries pitched through the sixth and didn’t allow the Pirates to dent home plate again. In fact, after the first inning, Humphries, Ken Raffensberger and Charlie Ripple combined to toss eight scoreless frames.

The Phillies touched Gables for three runs in the bottom of the first inning and two more in the third, but saw the bats go quiet against Pirates relievers Al Gerheauser and Ed Albosta from the sixth inning on. The Phillies scored five runs off Gables in five innings and Phillies left fielder Del Ennis rapped out three hits, but the final outcome was never really in doubt after the top of the first.

6/17/1946, Pit46-PhN46, Shibe Park (N)

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

1946 Pirates 11 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11 13 1 8 0

1946 Phillies 3 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 12 1 11 2

Pirates AB R H BI AVG Phillies AB R H BI AVG

Handley,L 3b 6 2 2 0 .252 Wyrostek cf 5 1 1 0 .269

Albosta p 0 0 0 0 .000 Newsome ss 4 1 1 0 .314

Russell,J lf 3 2 1 0 .308 Northey rf 4 0 1 1 .206

Elliott rf 4 2 3 0 .291 Judd ph 1 0 0 0 .269

Fletcher 1b 4 2 1 2 .291 McCormick,F 1b 4 1 1 0 .277

Kiner cf 3 1 1 3 .189 Rowe ph 1 0 0 0 .167

Gionfriddo cf 0 0 0 0 .158 Ennis lf 4 1 3 1 .270

Gustine 2b 5 1 2 2 .247 Seminick c 4 0 1 2 .226

Cox ss 4 1 1 2 .294 Ripple p 0 0 0 0 .000

Salkeld c 4 0 1 1 .442 Hemsley ph 1 0 0 0 .273

Camelli c 0 0 0 0 .123 Tabor 3b 5 1 2 0 .337

Gables p 3 0 0 0 .143 Verban,E 2b 4 0 2 0 .282

Gerheauser p 1 0 0 0 .000 Schanz p 0 0 0 0 .000

Workman,C ph 1 0 1 0 .245 Humphries p 2 0 0 1 .000

38 11 13 10 Gilbert,C ph 1 0 0 0 .167

Raffensberger p 0 0 0 0 .133

Moore,D ph 0 0 0 0 .000

40 5 12 5

Pirates INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA

Gables W 2-4 5.0 10 5 5 1 0 85 57 7.23

Gerheauser H 1 3.0 2 0 0 1 1 61 38 1.29

Albosta 1.0 0 0 0 1 1 22 11 6.91

9.0 12 5 5 3 2 168 106

Phillies INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA

Schanz L 3-3 0.2 6 9 9 4 0 39 18 5.64

Humphries 5.1 5 2 2 3 2 70 39 2.08

Raffensberger 2.0 1 0 0 0 0 22 15 3.86

Ripple 1.0 1 0 0 1 1 14 8 0.00

9.0 13 11 11 8 3 145 80

Pit: Camelli inserted at c in the 7th

Gionfriddo inserted at cf in the 8th

Workman,C batted for Gerheauser in the 9th

Workman,C moved to 3b in the 9th

PhN: Gilbert,C batted for Humphries in the 6th

Moore,D batted for Raffensberger in the 8th

Moore,D moved to c in the 9th

Judd batted for Northey in the 9th

Rowe batted for McCormick,F in the 9th

Hemsley batted for Ripple in the 9th

E-Workman,C, Seminick. 2B-Elliott(9), Gustine(6), Wyrostek(9), Northey(8).

3B-Ennis(2). RBI-Fletcher 2(26), Kiner 3(18), Gustine 2(17), Cox 2(20),

Salkeld(9), Northey(23), Ennis(29), Seminick 2(17), Humphries(1). SB-Cox(1).

K-Russell,J, Kiner, Gustine, Tabor, Hemsley. BB-Russell,J 2, Elliott,

Fletcher, Kiner 2, Cox, Camelli, Newsome, Ennis, Moore,D.

GWRBI: Fletcher

Temperature: 85, Sky: clear, Wind: left to right at 3 MPH.

Attendance: 9,253

Game Time: 2:32