SAUER'S HR TRIO NUDGES CUBS PAST GIANTS
Chicago Staves Off N.Y. Comeback Effort

NEW YORK, July 17 (AP) - Hank Sauer belted three home runs and drove in six as the Chicago Cubs outscored the New York Giants, 12-10, at the Polo Grounds. Sauer is the second National Leaguer--and fifth major leaguer--to homer three times in a single game this season. Bob Elliott of the Boston Braves is the other member of the Senior Circuit to turn the trick, popping three roundtrippers against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Forbes Field on June 14.

After the Giants took a first inning lead on Monte Irvin's run-scoring fly ball, Sauer evened the score on his first home run of the game, into the upper deck just inside the left field foul pole, off New York starter Sheldon Jones leading off the second. A Randy Jackson triple later in the inning scored Gene Hermanski, putting Chicago on top 2-1.

The Cubs added another pair of runs in the third. Frank Baumholtz's line drive just cleared the fence down the right field line led off the frame. Sauer followed immediately with his second circuit clout of the game, well into the lower stands in straight away left field, and Chicago held a 4-1 lead.

New York knotted the game in the home half of the fourth off Cubs starter Cal McLish. Pinch hitter Bobby Thomson's line drive to left scored Whitey Lockman with the first tally of the inning and, with the bases loaded and two outs, Alvin Dark laced a sharp grounder past Jackson at third, scoring Willie Mays and Wes Westrum. The Cubs threw out Eddie Stanky at the plate, however, to end the frame with the score tied at four.

Sauer gave Chicago the lead again in the fifth without sending a baseball into the stands. His single to right-center off Al Gettel plated Eddie Miksis to make it 5-4.

Sauer extended the Cubs' lead to 8-4 with his third home run of the game, a three-run shot in the seventh inning, scoring Chuck Connors and Frank Baumholtz, both of whom had walked. 

The Giants cut two runs off the lead in the bottom half of the frame but Chicago scored three more times in the eighth on run-scoring hits by Baumholtz and Hal Jeffcoat.  Dark singled home a run for New York in the bottom of the eighth but the Cubs countered that with run of their own in the top of the ninth on a home run off the bat of relief pitcher Johnny Kilppstein, putting the Cubs ahead, 12-7.  The Giants rallied with two outs in the ninth on Bill Rigney's three-run homer, but Klippstein finally shut the door by retiring Stanky on a ground ball to Roy Smalley at short to end the game.


7/17/1951, ChN51-NYN51, Polo Grounds
 
                       1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9     R  H  E   LOB DP
1951 Cubs              0  2  2  0  1  0  3  3  1    12 14  2    10  1
1951 Giants            1  0  0  3  0  0  2  1  3    10 13  1     9  1
 
Cubs                 AB  R  H BI   AVG    Giants               AB  R  H BI   AVG
Miksis            2b  6  2  2  0  .216    Stanky            2b  4  1  1  0  .254
Connors           1b  3  1  1  0  .231    Dark              ss  5  1  3  2  .287
 Edwards,B        ph  1  0  0  0  .204    Mueller,D         rf  5  1  2  0  .291
Baumholtz         cf  5  3  3  2  .336    Irvin             lf  4  0  0  1  .297
Sauer             lf  5  4  4  6  .253    Lockman           1b  4  1  1  1  .245
Hermanski         rf  2  1  1  0  .267    Mays              cf  4  2  2  1  .263
 Jeffcoat         ph  1  0  1  1  .292    Thompson,H        3b  4  0  1  0  .233
Jackson           3b  4  0  1  1  .276     Kennedy,M        p   0  0  0  0  .118
Smalley           ss  3  0  0  1  .213     Williams,Da      ph  1  0  0  0  .190
Owen              c   5  0  0  0  .158    Westrum           c   3  3  2  0  .197
McLish            p   3  0  0  0  .308    Jones,Sh          p   1  0  0  0  .067
 Klippstein       p   1  1  1  1  .053     Thomson          ph  1  0  0  1  .257
                     39 12 14 12           Gettel           p   0  0  0  0  .000
                                           Rapp             ph  1  0  0  0  .000
                                           Spencer          p   0  0  0  0  .083
                                           Rigney           3b  2  1  1  3  .219
                                                               39 10 13  9
 
Cubs                             INN  H  R ER BB  K PCH STR   ERA
McLish           W 3-3           6.1  8  6  6  4  2 104  62  3.93
Klippstein       S 1             2.2  5  4  4  3  2  65  39  5.97
                                 9.0 13 10 10  7  4 169 101
 
Giants                           INN  H  R ER BB  K PCH STR   ERA
Jones,Sh                         4.0  5  4  4  1  3  71  42  2.51
Gettel           L 5-3           2.0  3  1  1  1  0  23  17  4.14
Spencer                          1.1  3  6  6  5  1  59  34  6.67
Kennedy,M                        1.2  3  1  1  1  0  22  14  3.04
                                 9.0 14 12 12  8  4 175 107
 
ChN: Jeffcoat batted for Hermanski in the 8th
     Jeffcoat moved to rf in the 8th
     Edwards,B batted for Connors in the 9th
     Edwards,B moved to 1b in the 9th
NYN: Thomson batted for Jones,Sh in the 4th
     Rapp batted for Gettel in the 6th
     Rigney inserted at 3b in the 8th
     Williams,Da batted for Kennedy,M in the 9th
 
E-Connors, Sauer, Mays. 2B-Jeffcoat(10), Dark 2(23). 3B-Jackson(6).
HR-Baumholtz(4), Sauer 3(16), Klippstein(1), Rigney(7). RBI-Baumholtz 2(40),
Sauer 6(48), Jackson(32), Smalley(11), Klippstein(1), Jeffcoat(15),
Dark 2(42), Irvin(46), Lockman(28), Mays(31), Thomson(50), Rigney 3(16).
K-Connors 2, Smalley, McLish, Stanky, Dark, Jones,Sh, Williams,Da.
BB-Connors 2, Baumholtz, Sauer, Hermanski, Jackson, Smalley 2, Stanky 2,
Irvin, Lockman, Mays, Westrum 2. SH-McLish. HBP-Hermanski. HB-Spencer.
WP-Jones,Sh.
GWRBI: Sauer
Temperature: 77, Sky: partly cloudy, Wind: right to left at 11 MPH.
Attendance: 9,859
Game Time: 2:59