1956 Index    1956 Post Season        Game 2    Game 3    Game 4    Game 5    Game 6      Statistics

 

baseball logo strip

 

 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