GARCIA BESTS RAIN DROPS, BROWNS' BATS
Hurler Wins 17th, Earns 4th Shutout
CLEVELAND, Sept. 2 (AP) - Mike Garcia overcame a 55-minute rain daily to fire a
three-hit shutout, leading the Cleveland Indians to a 4-0 victory over the St.
Louis Browns at Municipal Stadium in front of a crowd of better than
38,000. It was the eighth win in the last nine decisions for Garcia who
now is in a first place tie in the American League in wins (17) and shutouts
(4).
Garcia completely stifled the Browns, who had only one man reach second base in
the entire game. Garcia's opponent, Ned Garver, put up a fairly strong
effort of his own, but the Indians conjured up enough offense to win the game,
with solo runs in the fourth, fifth, sixth and eighth innings.
With the game scoreless in the fourth, Cleveland's Larry Doby reached with one
out on shortstop Bill Jennings' two-bas error. One out later, Luke Easter
singled through the box, scoring Doby with the unearned run that gave the
Indians a lead they wouldn't surrender.
Ray Boone's ninth home run of the year led off the bottom of the fifth and
extended Cleveland's advantage to 2-0. Bobby Avila matched Boone's feat in
the sixth--leading off with his ninth home run of the season--to make it 3-0.
It was still 3-0 in the bottom of the eighth. Dale Mitchell led off the
frame with a walk, then stole second base and Avila sacrificed him to
third. It was at that point when the drizzle, which had been falling on
and off all day, picked up and the game was halted for nearly an hour.
Garver was replaced on the hill by Duke Markell when play resumed and he
immediately surrendered a run-scoring fly out to Doby, which capped the scoring
at 4-0.
Speculation turned to the question of whether Garcia would pitch the top of the
ninth but there was little doubt, as the Cleveland bullpen was quiet after play
began again. Bobby Young reached on a one-out infield single, but Garcia
essentially cruised through the final inning to nail down his 19th complete game
of the year.
The 17th win tied Garcia with teammate Early Wynn and Vic Raschi of the New York
Yankees atop the AL leader board. Garcia and Billy Pierce of the Chicago
White Sox share the shutout lead. The Cleveland right-hander is now 12-2
since mid-June and has lowered his ERA from 4.41 to 2.89 over the course of his
last 15 starts. In six starts against St. Louis this season, Garcia is 5-1
with a 1.57 ERA.
9/2/1951, SLA51-Cle51, Cleveland Municipal Stadium 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E LOB DP 1951 Browns 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 1 3 1 1951 Indians 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 1 x 4 5 0 4 1 Browns AB R H BI AVG Indians AB R H BI AVG Young,B 2b 4 0 2 0 .292 Mitchell lf 3 1 0 0 .353 Delsing cf 4 0 0 0 .257 Avila 2b 3 1 1 1 .284 Batts c 3 0 0 0 .255 Doby cf 4 1 1 1 .281 Mapes rf 3 0 0 0 .266 Rosen 3b 3 0 0 0 .242 Wood lf 3 0 0 0 .266 Easter 1b 4 0 1 1 .229 Markell p 0 0 0 0 .000 McCosky rf 3 0 0 0 .243 Arft 1b 3 0 1 0 .300 Boone ss 3 1 2 1 .234 Marsh 3b 3 0 0 0 .226 Hegan c 3 0 0 0 .227 Jennings ss 3 0 0 0 .208 Garcia p 2 0 0 0 .229 Garver p 2 0 0 0 .208 28 4 5 4 Rapp rf 1 0 0 0 .077 29 0 3 0 Browns INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Garver L 11-13 7.1 5 4 3 2 3 98 59 2.85 Markell 0.2 0 0 0 1 0 7 2 0.00 8.0 5 4 3 3 3 105 61 Indians INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Garcia W 17-8 9.0 3 0 0 1 4 126 82 2.89 9.0 3 0 0 1 4 126 82 SLA: Mapes moved to lf in the 8th Rapp inserted at rf in the 8th E-Jennings. HR-Avila(7), Boone(9). RBI-Avila(53), Doby(60), Easter(85), Boone(63). SB-Young,B(8), Mitchell(9), Boone(5). K-Mapes, Wood, Marsh, Jennings, Easter, Hegan 2. BB-Batts, Mitchell, Rosen, Garcia. SH-Avila. GWRBI: Easter Ned Garver was removed after a rain delay Temperature: 67, Field: wet, Sky: threatening, Wind: in from center at 11 MPH, Rain Delays: 55 minutes. Attendance: 38,049 Game Time: 1:51