BRAVES OVERCOME 7-0 DEFICIT, EXTEND ‘W’ STREAK TO 7

Pen Holds Cubs to 1 ER in 11.1 IP; Holmes Raps Out 4 Hits

BOSTON, June 24 (AP) – The Boston Braves overcame a seven-run deficit and went on to defeat the Chicago Cubs 9-8 in 12 innings at Braves Field.  It was the seventh consecutive victory for the Braves, who have won 10 of their last 11 contests and 13 of their last 15.  Boston trails the first place St. Louis Cardinals by just a half-game in the National League standings.

Braves starter Ed Wright didn’t make it out of the first inning, surrendering six runs on five hits and two walks before being lifted after facing nine batters and recording only two outs.  A walk to his counterpart, Cubs starter Johnny Schmitz, was the last straw, and Boston manager Billy Southworth replaced Wright with Bill Lee.  Lee and three other Braves hurlers ultimately combined to toss 11 1/3 innings of relief, holding Chicago to two additional runs (one earned).

The top of the first inning was a nightmare for the Wright and the Braves.  Stan Hack drew a leadoff walk and Lou Stringer followed with a base hit.  A base on balls to Peanuts Lowrey loaded the bases, and Phil Cavarretta reached on an infield single, plating Hack with the game’s first run.  After Marv Rickert popped out, Eddie Waitkus grounded a single to left, scoring Stringer and Lowrey to make it 3-0.  Clyde McCullough’s base hit to right-center scored Cavaretta and chased Waitkus to third, and Bobby Sturgeon’s ground out brought Waitkus home, to put the Cubs on top 5-0, with McCullough advancing to second on the futile throw to the plate.  Schmitz then dumped a single into left, scoring McCullough, and ending Wright’s day on the mound.  Hack drew his second walk of the inning, but Lee retired Stringer on a fly ball to left to finally end the carnage.  The Cubs sent 11 men to the plate and scored six runs.

Chicago made it 7-0 in the second when, with two outs, Rickert secured a second life after Braves second baseman Billy Herman dropped his foul pop up.  Rickert tool advantage of the miscue by lining a single to right field and Waitkus followed with a double off the right-center field fence, scoring Rickert with the unearned run.

The Braves began their comeback in the bottom of the second inning.  Schmitz walked Phil Masi and Tommy Holmes to open the frame, and Caden Gillenwater singled through the box, scoring Masi to put Boston on the board.  A fielder’s choice grounder off the bat of Dick Culler left runners on the corners with one out, and Lee’s grounder to short allowed Holmes to score the second run of the inning while the Cubs recorded the second out.  Connie Ryan bounced out to second to end the inning, but the Braves had cut the deficit to 7-2.

Boston made it 7-3 in the fifth when Schmitz, who struggled with his control throughout his stint on the mound, walked Herman to open the inning. A force out and a fly out left the Braves with Johnny Hopp on first and two outs, but Schmitz walked Masi and then yielded a base hit to Holmes, scoring Hopp to cut the shortfall to four runs.

The Cubs appeared to stop the bleeding by pushing their eighth run of the game across home plate in the top of the sixth.  Lowrey’s two-out single started it off.  He then stole second and scored when Cavarretta lined a base hit to right.

But the Braves demonstrated that they weren’t going to roll over when they came to the plate in the bottom of the sixth.  Culler led off with a base hit to left.  Schmitz retired pinch hitter Mike McCormick and Ryan, but Herman singled Culler to third and Hopp ripped a triple to right-center, scoring both runners.  Hank Wyse replaced Schmitz and ended the inning by fanning Danny Litwhiler, but Boston was now within three runs with three innings to play.

Ernie White took over on the mound for the Braves and worked around a pair of two-out single, inducing a double play grounder from Sturgeon, to hold Chicago off the scoreboard in the top of the seventh.  In the bottom of the inning, the Braves drew still closer.  Holmes, who would finish the game with four hits, doubled with one out, and Gillenwater singled him home to make it 8-6.

White retired the Cubs in order in the top of the eighth and the Braves erased the deficit completely in the bottom half.  Ryan started the inning off with a single to left and Herman followed with a base hit to center, putting runners on first and second with no outs.  On a 3-2 pitch to Hopp, Southworth sent the runners and Hopp struck out, with McCullough cutting down Ryan at third to complete the double play.  It appeared as though the Boston comeback had been thwarted.  But then, in the key moment of the game to that point, Bama Rowell pinch hit for White and bounced what appeared to be an inning-ending grounder to Chicago second baseman Stringer.  But Stringer booted the ground ball, leaving runners on the corners with two outs.  Wyse, seemingly unnerved by the inability to end the inning, walked Masi on four pitches to load the bases.  That brought Holmes to the plate, and the Boston left fielder delivered again, lining an 0-1 pitch into left-center for a two-run single, tying the game at eight.  Gillenwater filed out to end the inning, but the Braves had come all the way back to knot the score.

Remarkably, for a game that had been filled with non-stop scoring opportunities, there were almost no good chances for either club until the 12^th inning.  The Braves had a runner on second with one out in the bottom of the ninth, but couldn’t break through.  The Cubs never advanced a baserunner past first after the top of the seventh.

In the bottom of the 12^th, with Chicago reliever Bob Chipman in his third inning of work, the Chicago defense failed yet again.  McCormick, who had remained in the game defensively after pinch hitting back in the sixth, reached when third baseman Hack kicked his inning-opening ground ball.  Ryan immediately sacrificed McCormick to second, bringing Herman to the plate.  On the very first pitch he saw from Chipman, Herman ripped a line drive to left that ended up at the fence.  McCormick scored with ease and the turnaround from a seven-run deficit was complete.

Seven runs is the largest deficit successfully overcome in the major leagues this year.  The Braves feat matches that of the Washington Senators, who trailed the Chicago White Sox 9-2 on June 12 at Griffith Stadium before coming back to win, 10-9.

6/24/1946, ChN46-BoN46, Braves Field

                       1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 10 11 12     R  H  E   LOB DP

1946 Cubs              6  1  0  0  0  1  0  0  0  0  0  0     8 14  3     8  1

1946 Braves            0  2  0  0  1  2  1  2  0  0  0  1     9 13  2    13  2

Cubs                 AB  R  H BI   AVG    Braves               AB  R  H BI   AVG

Hack              3b  4  1  1  0  .311    Ryan              3b  6  0  1  0  .248

Stringer          2b  6  1  1  0  .277    Herman,B          2b  5  2  3  1  .288

Lowrey            cf  4  2  2  0  .323    Hopp              1b  5  1  1  2  .362

Cavarretta        rf  6  1  2  2  .324    Litwhiler,D       lf  4  0  0  0  .225

Rickert           lf  6  1  1  0  .265     White,E          p   0  0  0  0  .500

Waitkus           1b  6  1  3  3  .358     Rowell           ph  2  1  0  0  .255

McCullough        c   4  1  2  1  .268    Masi              c   3  1  0  0  .277

 Nicholson        ph  1  0  0  0  .234    Holmes            rf  5  2  4  3  .307

 Scheffing        c   1  0  0  0  .188    Gillenwater       cf  5  0  2  2  .318

Sturgeon          ss  5  0  1  1  .284     Roser,S          p   0  0  0  0  .000

 Merullo          pr  0  0  0  0  .147     Fernandez        ph  1  0  0  0  .229

Schmitz           p   3  0  1  1  .179     Spahn            p   0  0  0  0  .000

 Wyse             p   1  0  0  0  .167    Culler            ss  5  1  1  0  .227

 Dallessandro     ph  1  0  0  0  .133    Wright,E          p   0  0  0  0  .229

 Chipman          p   0  0  0  0  .118     Lee,B            p   2  0  1  1  .179

                     48  8 14  8           McCormick,M      ph  4  1  0  0  .205

                                                               47  9 13  9

Cubs                             INN  H  R ER BB  K PCH STR   ERA

Schmitz                          5.2  7  5  5  6  5 121  67  3.14

Wyse             BS 2            3.1  5  3  1  2  3  75  44  2.84

Chipman          L 3-4           2.1  1  1  0  0  0  43  30  2.34

                                11.1 13  9  6  8  8 239 141

Braves                           INN  H  R ER BB  K PCH STR   ERA

Wright,E                         0.2  5  6  6  2  0  32  14  3.79

Lee,B                            5.1  6  2  1  1  2  82  52  2.38

White,E                          2.0  2  0  0  0  0  20  14  1.08

Roser,S                          3.0  1  0  0  1  1  38  25  3.86

Spahn            W 1-1           1.0  0  0  0  0  1  13   8  6.75

                                12.0 14  8  7  4  4 185 113

ChN: Nicholson batted for McCullough in the 10th

     Merullo ran for Sturgeon in the 10th

     Dallessandro batted for Wyse in the 10th

     Scheffing inserted at c in the 10th

     Merullo moved to ss in the 10th

BoN: McCormick,M batted for Lee,B in the 6th

     McCormick,M moved to lf in the 7th

     Rowell batted for White,E in the 8th

     Rowell moved to lf in the 9th

     McCormick,M moved to cf in the 9th

     Fernandez batted for Roser,S in the 11th

E-Hack 2, Stringer, Ryan, Herman,B. 2B-Lowrey(12), Waitkus(10), Herman,B(12),

Holmes(18). 3B-Hopp(4). RBI-Cavarretta 2(40), Waitkus 3(28), McCullough(15),

Sturgeon(22), Schmitz(6), Herman,B(23), Hopp 2(19), Holmes 3(35),

Gillenwater 2(11), Lee,B(2). SB-Lowrey(6). CS-Cavarretta, Ryan. K-Hack,

Stringer, Rickert, Schmitz, Ryan, Hopp, Litwhiler,D 2, Masi, Gillenwater,

Culler, McCormick,M. BB-Hack 2, Lowrey 2, Herman,B 2, Hopp, Masi 3, Holmes,

Culler. SH-Ryan. PB-McCullough.

GWRBI: Herman,B

Temperature: 84, Sky: cloudy, Wind: out to right at 18 MPH.

Attendance: 9,834

Game Time: 3:29