BRONX BOMBERS BOMBED; ROSEN, TRIBE RESTORE 3-GAME LEAD
4 Cleveland HRs; Lemon Wins 20th
NEW YORK, Sept. 17 (AP) - Al Rosen hit a pair of home runs--one a grand
slam--part of a four-roundtripper effort by the Cleveland Indians who hammered
the New York Yankees at the Stadium by a score of 15-5. The Cleveland
victory pushed the American League lead over the Yankees back to three full
games. The Indians' magic number is now eight.
Bob Lemon became the first AL hurler to win 20 games, though he didn't pitch his
best. Still, the avalanche of runs scored on his behalf was more than
enough.
The Indians took a lead they would never relinquish in the very first inning
when Bobby Avila's one-out single was followed by Larry Doby's 15th home run of
the year, giving Cleveland a 2-0 lead.
The advantage was doubled in the top of the third. Avila led off with a
single and, one out later, stole second. After a Luke Easter ground out
advanced Avila to third, Rosen hit his first home run of the game, making it
4-0.
The Yankees pushed across a run in the bottom of the frame when Mickey Mantle
tripled to pen the inning and scored on Gil McDougald's ground out.
Following three consecutive scoreless innings, the Indians blew the game open in
the seventh. Lemon drew a lead off walk. Dale Mitchell flied to
center, but Avila doubled into the left field corner, advancing Lemon to
third. Doby walked to load the bases and then came the key play of the
game. Luke Easter hit a two-hopper right at first baseman Joe Collins, who
was playing even with the bag. Had Collins come up with the grounder, it
was almost a sure 3-2-3 double play with the lumbering Easter running. But
Collins let the ball go right through his legs for an error. Lemon scored,
making it 5-1, and the bases remained loaded with one out. Easter then
followed with a line shot into the the left field grandstand for a grand slam
and Rosen's second long ball of the game, and it drove Yankees starter Eddie
Lopat from the mound. The Indians pushed another run across before the
inning was over, scoring six times in all, extending their lead to 10-1.
The Yankees rallied for four runs in the bottom half of the seventh, knocking
out Lemon, but it was far too little too late. The Indians scored three
more times in the eighth, on Luke Easter's 24th home run of the year, and two
more times in the ninth for good measure.
Cleveland heads to Boston to take on the Red Sox in a two-game series. The
Yankees host the White Sox for three games.
9/17/1951, Cle51-NYA51, Yankee Stadium 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E LOB DP 1951 Indians 2 0 2 0 0 0 6 3 2 15 17 1 8 0 1951 Yankees 0 0 1 0 0 0 4 0 0 5 8 2 6 1 Indians AB R H BI AVG Yankees AB R H BI AVG Mitchell lf 6 1 1 1 .346 Mantle rf 5 2 2 0 .298 Avila 2b 3 3 3 0 .291 Collins 1b 5 1 1 1 .281 Stirnweiss ph 2 1 2 0 .247 McDougald 2b 4 1 2 4 .270 Doby cf 3 2 1 2 .281 Berra c 4 0 0 0 .274 Kennedy,Bo ph 1 1 1 0 .235 DiMaggio,J cf 3 0 0 0 .262 Easter 1b 5 2 1 3 .234 Woodling lf 2 0 0 0 .298 Simpson cf 1 0 1 1 .277 Ostrowski p 1 0 0 0 .167 Rosen 3b 6 2 2 6 .253 Brown,B 3b 3 0 1 0 .273 Boone ss 4 0 1 0 .239 Coleman,Je ph 1 0 1 0 .289 McCosky rf 3 0 1 0 .239 Rizzuto ss 3 0 0 0 .289 Chapman ph 2 2 2 0 .180 Mize ph 1 0 0 0 .313 Hegan c 5 0 1 1 .232 Martin,B 2b 0 0 0 0 .271 Lemon p 3 1 0 0 .237 Lopat p 2 0 0 0 .227 Brissie p 1 0 0 0 .286 Bauer lf 2 1 1 0 .353 45 15 17 14 36 5 8 5 Indians INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Lemon W 20-10 6.2 7 5 5 2 3 97 64 3.16 Brissie 2.1 1 0 0 0 3 35 23 3.92 9.0 8 5 5 2 6 132 87 Yankees INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Lopat L 13-11 6.1 8 9 8 4 3 115 67 3.37 Ostrowski 2.2 9 6 6 1 1 63 40 4.17 9.0 17 15 14 5 4 178 107 Cle: Chapman batted for McCosky in the 7th Chapman moved to rf in the 7th Stirnweiss batted for Avila in the 8th Kennedy,Bo batted for Doby in the 8th Stirnweiss moved to 2b in the 8th Kennedy,Bo moved to rf in the 8th Simpson inserted at cf in the 8th Chapman moved to 1b in the 8th NYA: Bauer inserted at lf in the 7th Coleman,Je batted for Brown,B in the 8th Mize batted for Rizzuto in the 8th McDougald moved to 3b in the 9th Coleman,Je moved to ss in the 9th Martin,B inserted at 2b in the 9th E-Avila, Collins, Rizzuto. 2B-Avila(23), Hegan(16), Chapman 2(7), Kennedy,Bo(13). 3B-Mantle(9). HR-Doby(15), Easter(24), Rosen 2(23), McDougald(17). RBI-Mitchell(61), Doby 2(68), Easter 3(101), Rosen 6(98), Hegan(52), Simpson(45), Collins(45), McDougald 4(65). SB-Avila(15). K-Doby, Easter, Hegan, Lemon, Mantle 2, Collins 2, DiMaggio,J, Ostrowski. BB-Avila, Doby, Boone, Lemon, Kennedy,Bo, DiMaggio,J, Woodling. GWRBI: Doby Temperature: 64, Sky: clear, Wind: right to left at 14 MPH. Attendance: 26,841 Game Time: 2:29