PHILS DROP 14TH STRAIGHT IN 18-INNING MARATHON
Multiple Large Leads Blown; Bucs' Reiser Drives in 5
PITTSBURGH, Aug. 4 (AP) - The Philadelphia Phillies fell for the 14th
consecutive time in a bizarre, 18-inning marathon by a 12-11 score at the hands
of the Pittsburgh Pirates at Forbes Field. The Phillies held leads of 7-1
and 10-5 before the Pirates rallied to tie the game and send it into extra
innings. Philadelphia also scored in the top of the 18th to take a lead
but Pittsburgh scored twice in the bottom half of the inning--without a single
out being recorded--to win the the game. Pirates utility man Pete Reiser
had five hits, including two triples and a home run, and drove in five runs.
It appeared earlier in the game that Phillies would end their long losing streak
with ease. The club took a 7-1 lead into the bottom of the sixth, scoring
at least one run in every inning up to that point other than the fifth, driving
Pirates starter Murry Dickson from the game. Philadelphia starter Ken
Johnson helped his own cause with a solo home run in the second and Dick Sisler
had run-scoring hits in the first and third innings.
But things began to unravel in the bottom of the sixth when Johnson ran into
trouble. Pinch hitter Danny Murtaugh's bases loaded run-scoring fly ball
seemed harmless enough, given that it was the second out of the inning and cut
the Phillies' lead to five runs. But Reiser followed with a RBI-single and
Tom Saffell walked to fill the bases. Gus Bell drove home two more runs to
make it 7-5 and end Johnson's afternoon. Milo Candini replaced Johnson on
the hill and escaped further damage.
The Phillies seemed to seize firm control of the game again in the top of the
eighth when they scored three more runs. Eddie Waitkus singled home
Candini, who had led off the inning with a base hit and shocked everyone by
stealing second base, and Willie Jones belted his 17th home run of the year, a
two-run shot, over the left field wall.
Down 10-5, the Pirates immediately cut into the lead in the bottom of the
eighth. Reiser led off with a home run to cut the deficit to four.
Saffell walked and, one out later, Waitkus kicked a potential inning-ending
double play ball. That brought Jim Konstanty on in relief of Candini for
the Phillies and he promptly walked pinch hitter Pete Castiglione to fill the
bases. Catfish Metkovich's pinch hit run-scoring fly to center brought
home the second run of the inning, but that was all Pittsburgh could muster.
Ted Wilks set the Phillies down in order in the top of the ninth and the Pirates
were staring at a three-run shortfall entering the home half of the frame, but
they immediately served notice that they meant business. Pinch hitter Bill
Howerton led off with a home run to cut the Philadelphia lead to two.
Murtaugh, who had remained in the game after pinch hitting earlier, then
singled. Reiser then tripled into the right field corner. The
Phillies lead was down to a single run, with the tying tally standing 90 feet
from home plate. And there were no outs. Saffell immediately tied
the game with another single; the Pirates had come all the way back.
Bell's ground out moved the potential winning run into scoring position and
Ralph Kiner was given the unintentional-intentional walk. But Konstanty
managed to wriggle out of trouble by retiring Castiglione and Ed Fitz Gerald.
No one scored again until the eighteenth inning. The Pirates had a two-out
threat in the tenth; the Phillies had small openings in the 12th and 13th that
they failed to exploit.
The first genuinely good scoring opportunity for either club game in the top of
the 14th. Sisler walked and Granny Hamner sacrificed him to second.
A passed ball on Fitz Gerald advanced Sisler to third with only one out.
But Putsy Caballero grounded to second with a drawn in infield and, after Del
Wilber was walked intentionally, pitcher Andy Hansen struck out.
Another Philadelphia two-out thread in the 17th came to naught.
The Phillies finally broke through in the 18th. Facing the sixth
Pittsburgh hurler of the game, Paul LaPalme, Del Ennis flied to center and
Sisler struck out. But Hamner doubled to left-center and Caballero came
through with a line single to center to break the tie.
Bob Miller, Philadelphia's sixth pitcher, was called upon to toss his second
inning of relief and preserve the lead, but it wasn't to be. Howerton
walked, and then, with Howerton running on a 3-2 pitch, Murtaugh's ground ball
to Hamner at short resulted in a bad throw to first. Runners were left a
first and third with no outs. Reiser than crushed a ball over Richie
Ashburn's head in center field for what was eventually scored a triple, his
second of the game. Howwerton and Murtaugh both scored easily and the
Pirates had their improbable victory. The Phillies simply had another in a
long, long line of losses.
8/4/1951, PhN51-Pit51, Forbes Field 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 1951 Phillies 2 1 1 2 0 1 0 3 0 0 0 0 1951 Pirates 0 1 0 0 0 4 0 2 3 0 0 0 13 14 15 16 17 18 R H E LOB DP 1951 Phillies 0 0 0 0 0 1 11 18 2 14 2 1951 Pirates 0 0 0 0 0 2 12 21 0 19 0 Phillies AB R H BI AVG Pirates AB R H BI AVG Waitkus 1b 6 0 3 1 .274 Reiser 3b 8 3 5 5 .344 Miller p 0 0 0 0 .333 Saffell cf 7 1 2 1 .267 Ashburn cf 7 2 1 1 .336 Bell rf 9 0 2 2 .301 Jones,W 3b 5 2 2 3 .303 Kiner lf 6 0 1 0 .293 Pellagrini 3b 4 0 0 0 .252 Phillips 1b 4 1 1 0 .289 Ennis rf 8 1 1 0 .321 Queen p 0 0 0 0 .125 Sisler lf 7 0 3 2 .268 Castiglione ph 4 0 0 0 .308 Hamner ss 7 2 2 0 .227 McCullough c 4 1 2 0 .266 Caballero 2b 7 0 1 1 .164 Metkovich ph 1 0 0 1 .298 Wilber c 7 2 1 1 .259 Fitz Gerald c 4 0 1 0 .273 Johnson,K p 3 1 3 1 .316 LaPalme p 0 0 0 0 .125 Candini p 1 1 1 0 .333 Strickland ss 3 2 1 0 .228 Konstanty p 0 0 0 0 .000 Wilks p 1 0 0 0 .000 Nicholson ph 1 0 0 0 .253 Nelson ph 1 0 0 0 .280 Heintzelman p 0 0 0 0 .032 Walsh p 1 0 0 0 .600 Brown,T ph 1 0 0 0 .207 Garagiola ph 1 0 0 0 .249 Hansen,A p 1 0 0 0 .000 Basgall 2b 2 0 1 1 .176 Bloodworth ph 1 0 0 0 .088 Howerton ph 5 2 2 1 .309 66 11 18 10 Dickson p 2 0 1 0 .294 Werle p 0 0 0 0 .261 Murtaugh ph 7 2 2 1 .194 70 12 21 12 Phillies INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Johnson,K 5.2 10 5 5 5 5 105 62 4.47 Candini H 1 1.2 1 2 1 4 1 60 31 4.18 Konstanty BS 3 1.2 4 3 3 2 1 45 27 5.11 Heintzelman 2.0 3 0 0 0 2 28 20 3.42 Hansen,A 5.0 1 0 0 0 1 47 31 1.88 Miller L 2-4 1.0 2 2 1 1 0 26 15 4.29 17.0 21 12 10 12 10 311 186 Pirates INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Dickson 5.1 9 7 7 3 1 91 64 4.59 Werle 0.2 1 0 0 0 0 8 5 4.59 Queen 2.0 3 3 3 1 1 41 20 3.01 Wilks 4.0 1 0 0 1 0 49 33 2.29 Walsh 5.0 2 0 0 4 2 69 37 5.19 LaPalme W 2-5 1.0 2 1 1 0 1 17 10 7.83 18.0 18 11 11 9 5 275 169 PhN: Pellagrini inserted at 3b in the 9th Nicholson batted for Konstanty in the 10th Brown,T batted for Heintzelman in the 12th Bloodworth batted for Hansen,A in the 17th Bloodworth moved to 1b in the 17th Pit: Howerton batted for Basgall in the 6th Murtaugh batted for Werle in the 6th Reiser moved to lf in the 7th Kiner moved to 1b in the 7th Howerton moved to 3b in the 7th Murtaugh moved to 2b in the 7th Castiglione batted for Queen in the 8th Metkovich batted for McCullough in the 8th Castiglione moved to ss in the 9th Fitz Gerald inserted at c in the 9th Nelson batted for Wilks in the 12th Garagiola batted for Walsh in the 17th Garagiola moved to c in the 18th E-Waitkus, Hamner. 2B-Jones,W(22), Ennis(18), Hamner(13), McCullough(4), Strickland(11). 3B-Reiser 2(4). HR-Jones,W(17), Johnson,K(1), Reiser(5), Howerton(7). RBI-Waitkus(35), Ashburn(36), Jones,W 3(83), Sisler 2(47), Caballero(3), Wilber(20), Johnson,K(1), Reiser 5(27), Saffell(4), Bell 2(67), Basgall(12), Howerton(44), Murtaugh(13), Metkovich(25). SB-Ashburn(21), Hamner(8), Candini(1). CS-Caballero, McCullough. K-Sisler, Wilber 2, Pellagrini, Hansen,A, Reiser, Saffell 4, Bell, Phillips, Strickland, Howerton, Wilks. BB-Waitkus 3, Ashburn, Ennis, Sisler, Caballero 2, Wilber, Reiser 2, Saffell 2, Kiner 3, Strickland 2, Howerton 2, Castiglione. SH-Ashburn, Sisler, Hamner 2. PB-Fitz Gerald. WP-Candini, Dickson. GWRBI: Reiser Temperature: 81, Sky: clear, Wind: out to center at 18 MPH. Attendance: 15,441 Game Time: 4:54