6 BOOTS DOOM NATS

Kramer, Browns Roll in Shutout ‘W’

WASHINGTON, July 16 (AP) – The Washington Senators committed a major league season high six errors and fell to the St. Louis Browns 8-0 at Griffith Stadium.  Five different Washington defenders were charged with miscues, with third baseman Cecil Travis absorbing two of the errors, all of which led to four unearned runs.  It wasn’t as though the loss itself could be attributed entirely to the shoddy Senators defense.  The Browns outhit Washington 11-4 and drew three walks and a hit batsman to just one free pass drawn by the Senators.  All three of the game’s extra base hits were amassed by St. Louis.

The contest started out as a pitchers’ duel between Bill Kennedy of the Senators and Jack Kramer of the Browns, and the game was scoreless through five innings.  But in the top of the sixth, St. Louis seized firm control.  The inning, appropriately enough, began with a Washington error.  First baseman Mickey Vernon kicked Vern Stephens’ roller, leaving him on first base with no outs.  Chet Laabs struck out, but Kennedy walked Al Zarilla, putting runners on first and second.  Glenn McQuillen then roped a double into the gap in right-center, scoring both runners for a 2-0 St. Louis advantage.  A base hit to left off the bat of Chuck Stevens scored McQuillen with the third run, with Stevens taking second on the throw to the plate.  The fourth run scored when Gus Mancuso scored on Travis’ throwing error.

The Browns added two more runs in the seventh.  With reliever Marino Pieretti on the mound, Johnny Berardino led off with a single to right and Stephens followed with a double, putting runners on second and third.  Travis then committed his second error, misplaying Laabs’ ground ball, allowing Berardino to score.  Stephens was cut down at the plate on Zarilla’s grounder to third for the first out of the inning and McQuillen’s ground out moved the runners to second and third with two outs.  Stevens was hit by a pitch to load the bases, and Pieretti then walked pinch hitter Mark Christman to force in the sixth St. Louis run.  Kramer grounded out to end the inning.

The Browns scored solo runs in the eighth and ninth innings to account for the final score.  Laabs’ single drove home Berardino in the eighth, and Kramer’s RBI-single in the ninth plated Stevens.

Kramer was in control on the mound throughout, holding Washington to just four singles, and never allowing a Senators baserunner to advance past second.  He retired the final 10 batters he faced to close out the game, en route to his tenth victory and second shutout of the season.

The Senators have the second worst fielding percentage in the American League, ahead of only the last place Philadelphia Athletics, and have committed errors in bunches.  There have been only six instances of five or more errors in a big league game this year; half of them have been accomplished by Washington.  This is the second time in the span of a four days that the Senators have committed at least five errors in a game.  In addition to the six against the Browns, the Senators were charged with five miscues against the Chicago White Sox on July 13.

7/16/1946, SLA46-Was46, Griffith Stadium

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

1946 Browns            0  0  0  0  0  4  2  1  1     8 11  0    11  1

1946 Senators          0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0     0  4  6     4  1

Browns               AB  R  H BI   AVG    Senators             AB  R  H BI   AVG

Lucadello         3b  6  0  0  0  .243    Coan              lf  4  0  0  0  .170

Berardino         2b  5  2  2  0  .246    Lewis             rf  4  0  1  0  .244

Stephens          ss  5  1  2  0  .282    Priddy            2b  4  0  1  0  .268

Laabs             rf  5  1  1  1  .293    Vernon            1b  4  0  0  0  .376

Zarilla           cf  3  1  1  0  .246    Spence            cf  2  0  0  0  .301

McQuillen         lf  4  1  1  2  .242    Travis            3b  3  0  0  0  .250

 Judnich          lf  1  0  0  0  .312    Torres            ss  3  0  1  0  .304

Stevens,C         1b  4  2  3  1  .266    Early             c   3  0  1  0  .260

Mancuso           c   3  0  0  0  .271    Kennedy,Bi        p   0  0  0  0  .000

 Christman        ph  0  0  0  1  .263     Binks            ph  1  0  0  0  .250

 Helf             c   1  0  0  0  .111     Pieretti         p   1  0  0  0  .286

Kramer            p   5  0  1  1  .214                         29  0  4  0

                     42  8 11  6

Browns                           INN  H  R ER BB  K PCH STR   ERA

Kramer           W 10-6          9.0  4  0  0  1  5 100  66  2.73

                                 9.0  4  0  0  1  5 100  66

Senators                         INN  H  R ER BB  K PCH STR   ERA

Kennedy,Bi       L 1-3           6.0  5  4  2  2  1  97  60  3.32

Pieretti                         3.0  6  4  2  1  2  76  44  2.45

                                 9.0 11  8  4  3  3 173 104

SLA: Christman batted for Mancuso in the 7th

     Judnich inserted at lf in the 7th

     Helf inserted at c in the 7th

Was: Binks batted for Kennedy,Bi in the 6th

E-Lewis, Priddy, Vernon, Travis 2, Torres. 2B-Stephens(13), McQuillen(5),

Stevens,C(15). RBI-Laabs(32), McQuillen 2(4), Stevens,C(16), Kramer(6),

Christman(14). K-Lucadello, Stephens, Laabs, Priddy, Vernon, Spence, Binks,

Pieretti. BB-Zarilla 2, Christman, Spence. SH-Kennedy,Bi. HBP-Stevens,C.

HB-Pieretti. WP-Pieretti.

GWRBI: McQuillen

Temperature: 85, Sky: clear, Wind: in from right at 18 MPH.

Attendance: 9,024

Game Time: 2:20