PRESKO WHITEWASHES PHILS
Cards Win 5th Straight; Philly 'L' Streak at 6
ST. LOUIS, May 17 (AP) - Joe Presko out-dueled Robin Roberts, tossing a 4-0
victory over the Philadelphia Phillies at Sportsman's Park in a tidy 96
minutes. It was the fifth straight win for the Cardinals after a brutal
5-16 start to the season. The Phillies are headed in the other direction,
dropping their sixth consecutive contest following a 15-8 beginning.
It was the first loss of the season for Roberts (5-1), who nonetheless completed
his fifth game in five starts.
Presko was efficient with his pitches, walking just one batter while striking
out none. The Phillies only had one runner reach third base in the game
and Presko retired the final eight hitters he faced.
The game was scoreless until the bottom of the fourth when the Cardinals scored
all the runs they would need. Red Schoendienst, recently returned to the
lineup following an injury, led off by grounding a double past Philadelphia
first baseman Eddie Waitkus. Slumping Enos Slaughter flied to center, but
Stan Musial singled to right-center, scoring Schoendienst with the game's first
run. With Nippy Jones at the plate St. Louis put on a hit-and-run play on
a 1-0 pitch. Jones swung and missed but Andy Seminick's throw to second
was wild, allowing Musial to advance to third. Jones then roped a double
into the right-center field gap to put the Cardinals on top 2-0.
St. Louis extended the lead to 3-0 in the seventh when Billy Johnson, newly
acquired from the New York Yankees, endeared himself to the Sportsman's Park
partisans by swatting a one-out solo home run inside the left field foul
pole. It was just the second home run allowed this season by Roberts.
The Cardinals added another insurance tally in the eighth. Presko started
the rally by lining a lead off single. Peanuts Lowery sacrificed the
Cardinals pitcher to second and Schoendiesnt walked. Slaughter again filed
out to center but Musial came through for the second time in the contest, lining
a single to left to make it 4-0.
If Presko was fatigued from running the bases he hid it well, retiring the
Phillies in order on just 11 ninth inning pitches to complete the shutout.
It was the first shutout by a Cardinals pitcher this season.
5/17/1951, PhN51-SLN51, Sportsman's Park (N) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E LOB DP 1951 Phillies 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7 1 6 0 1951 Cardinals 0 0 0 2 0 0 1 1 x 4 7 0 4 2 Phillies AB R H BI AVG Cardinals AB R H BI AVG Waitkus 1b 4 0 0 0 .306 Lowrey cf 3 0 1 0 .314 Ashburn cf 4 0 0 0 .309 Schoendienst 2b 2 1 1 0 .326 Sisler lf 4 0 0 0 .261 Slaughter rf 4 0 0 0 .121 Ennis rf 4 0 1 0 .302 Musial lf 4 1 2 2 .349 Jones,W 3b 4 0 2 0 .245 Jones,N 1b 4 0 1 1 .222 Hamner ss 3 0 0 0 .217 Johnson,B 3b 3 1 1 1 .239 Seminick c 3 0 1 0 .300 Rice,D c 3 0 0 0 .292 Goliat 2b 3 0 1 0 .259 Hemus ss 3 0 0 0 .353 Roberts p 3 0 2 0 .294 Presko p 3 1 1 0 .222 32 0 7 0 29 4 7 4 Phillies INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Roberts L 5-1 8.0 7 4 4 1 4 101 69 1.27 8.0 7 4 4 1 4 101 69 Cardinals INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Presko W 2-1 9.0 7 0 0 1 0 104 69 1.33 9.0 7 0 0 1 0 104 69 E-Seminick. 2B-Schoendienst(4), Jones,N(2). HR-Johnson,B(1). RBI-Musial 2(13), Jones,N(1), Johnson,B(3). SB-Musial(1). K-Lowrey, Jones,N, Johnson,B, Presko. BB-Hamner, Schoendienst. SH-Lowrey, Schoendienst. GWRBI: Musial Temperature: 69, Sky: clear, Wind: left to right at 12 MPH. Attendance: 11,948 Game Time: 1:36