1956 Index
1956 Post Season Game 2 Game 3 Game 4 Game 5 Game 6
Statistics
Wednesday, October 3, 1956, Milwaukee @
Cleveland – Cleveland Municipal Stadium
SPAHN, MATHEWS DOMINATE; BRAVES TAKE TRIBE IN OPENER,
3-0
Eddie
Mathews homered and singled to drive in three runs, and Warren Spahn tossed a complete game shutout, leading the Milwaukee
Braves to a 3-0 whitewash of the Cleveland Indians in the opener of the 1956
Fall Classic.
Spahn took the assignment on three days rest, while his
counterpart Early Wynn hadn’t thrown a pitch since September 25, giving Wynn
the apparent edge in terms of rest. And
for the first five innings, the two aces were sharp, delivering shutout
baseball, a grand old pitchers duel in front of 73,000 plus. Both hurlers kept their infielders busy as
they had the offenses driving the ball into the ground for routine outs, with
scoring threats kept on the margin.
But in the
sixth, Eddie Mathews managed to lift a fastball from Wynn and sent it soaring
to break the scoreless string. The frame
started when Wynn hit Danny O’Connell on the wrist with a pitch. Johnny Logan executed a perfect sacrifice
bunt to move O’Connell to second base.
Hank Aaron followed with a fly ball to the warning track in left field
that Al Smith tracked up against the wall for the second out, but O’Connell
tagged and moved to third base. Mathews
then sent a 3-1 fastball from Wynn the other direction, down the right field
line, a bit higher and deeper than Aaron’s drive, clearing the fence for a
two-run homerun. Wynn shut the door
there, but that would be all Spahnie would need on
this day.
Trailing
2-0, Cleveland threatened to dent the scoreboard in the bottom of the sixth
when Vic Wertz and Al Rosen both singled, setting up runners at the corners
with nobody out. But Spahn
retired Rocky Colavito and Jim Busby on foul pops to the catcher Crandall, then
blew a third strike past Mike Hegan to end the threat, keeping the Tribe off
the scoreboard.
After a
quiet seventh inning, the Braves added an insurance run in the top of the
eighth against the Indians bullpen. Cal McLish retired the first two batters he faced to begin the
frame, but then walked Logan. Aaron
followed with a line drive into the left field corner for a double that Al
Smith played well to keep the speedy Logan from scoring from first base. But Mathews made that effort moot when he
legged out an infield single that second baseman Bobby Avila could only stick
in his back pocket, making it a 3-0 game.
Spahn continued to look sharp in the eighth and ninth,
pitching around a two-out walk in the eighth and a two-out single in the ninth,
but avoiding the hard contact with ground ball after ground ball, 16 ground
ball outs in all on the day. Of the
eight fly balls, three came in the for of foul balls gathered in by Crandall
from behind the plate, and only two saw an outfielder have to take a step back
behind him.
Spahn and the Braves finished off the Indians with a 3-0
decision, taking away the home field advantage to start the series.
1 2
3 4 5
6 7 8
9 R H
E LOB DP
Milwaukee 0
0 0 0 0 2
0 1 0
3 7 0
5 0
Cleveland 0
0 0 0
0 0 0
0 0 0
8 1 9 2
Braves AB R H
BI AVG Indians AB R H
BI AVG
O'Connell 2b
3 1 1
0 .333 Smith,A lf 4
0 1 0 .250
Logan ss 2
1 1 0 .500 Avila 2b
4 0 0
0 .000
Aaron rf 4
0 1 0
.250 Wertz 1b
4 0 1
0 .250
Mathews 3b
4 1 2
3 .500 Rosen 3b
3 0 2
0 .667
Adcock 1b
4 0 1
0 .250 Colavito rf 4
0 0 0 .000
Torre 1b
0 0 0
0 .000 Busby cf 4
0 1 0 .250
Covington lf 3
0 1 0
.333 Hegan c
4 0 0
0 .000
Thomson lf 1
0 0 0
.000 Carrasquel ss 4
0 2 0 .500
Bruton cf 4
0 0 0
.000 Wynn p 1
0 1 0 1.000
Crandall c
4 0 0
0 .000 Mele ph 1
0 0 0 .000
Spahn p
3 0 0
0 .000 McLish p
0 0 0
0 .000
32 3 7 3 Mossi p
0 0 0
0 .000
Averill ph 1 0
0 0 .000
34 0
8 0
Braves INN H R ER
BB K PCH STR ERA
Spahn W 1-0 9.0
8 0 0
1 3 129 84
0.00
9.0 8
0 0 1 3
129 84
Indians INN H R ER
BB K PCH STR ERA
Wynn L 0-1 7.0
5 2 2
0 4 81
57 2.57
McLish 0.2 1
1 1 1
0 14 9 13.50
Mossi 1.1 1
0 0 0
2 14 10
0.00
9.0 7
3 3 1 6
109 76
Mil:
Thomson inserted at lf in the 7th
Torre inserted at 1b in the 8th
Cle:
Mele batted for Wynn in the 7th
Averill batted for Mossi in the 9th
E-Carrasquel.
2B-Aaron(1), Busby(1). HR-Mathews(1). RBI-Mathews 3(3).
K-O'Connell,
Adcock 2, Bruton, Crandall, Spahn, Busby, Hegan,
Carrasquel.
BB-Logan,
Rosen. SH-Logan, Wynn. HBP-O'Connell. HB-Wynn.
GWRBI:
Mathews
Temperature:
66, Sky: clear, Wind: left to right at 3 MPH.
Attendance:
73,550
Game
Time: 1:55