June 16, 1915
Phillies @ Pittsburgh Pirates
Athletics vs. Detroit Tigers
This afternoon the Tigers played their final game in Shibe
Park until August. Detroit was one of
the most consistent teams in the American League, finishing each day no more
than 4 games out of first since the season began. In their previous series, they dropped two of
three games to the Boston Red Sox, allowing the Chicago White Sox to overtake
them for first place. They probably
weren’t too upset about it, though.
After all, they were making the trip down the Eastern Seaboard to take
on the Athletics, the worst team in major league baseball. A long train ride, a quick sweep of the
Mackmen, and with a little luck they would be leading the league before they
hopped the train on Thursday to ride the rails down to Washington to finish off
their road trip. Easy as pie. But, as these things sometimes go, it wasn’t
that simple. For whatever reason the A’s
fought hard against Detroit, battling them to a 13-inning victory in game one. Then, despite committing five errors, the
Athletics held the vaunted Detroit offense to just two runs. Alas, Philadelphia was only able to manage
one of their own and lost a close game.
The two games that Detroit thought would be cakewalks turned into
barnburners. They would have to win
today to avoid losing their second straight series (they only lost three all
season before running into the Sox and A’s).
Connie Mack tapped Weldon Wyckoff (or, as the Evening Ledger called him after his
performance, “Well-off” Wyckoff) as the starter for Philadelphia. Fans in attendance certainly didn’t think
they were well off in the first after Wyckoff walked Ossie Vitt and Ty Cobb
with one out. “Yahoo” Sam Crawford was
up next and he hit a shot past Stuffy McInnis that was destined for right field
and runs for the Tigers had it not been for Lew Malone’s amazing sprint, dive,
and throw to get Crawford for the second out.
It was said to be the most athletic play to be made at Shibe Park the
entire season and it saved the A’s bacon in the first. Wyckoff did allow a run when he walked the
next two Tigers, forcing in Vitt. In the
third inning the Tigers scored again.
Cobb struck out but made it all the way to second when the third strike
was missed by A’s catcher Jack Lapp.
After another walk and a sacrifice fly, Cobb made the score 2-0
Detroit. Amazingly, Wyckoff was losing
and had not let up a hit yet; it was his six walks that killed him.
Philadelphia tied the game up in the bottom of the
fourth. With two outs and McInnis on
first, Rube Oldring smacked a triple to the opposite field for not only the A’s
first run, but also the first hit of the game.
Detroit’s pitcher Hooks Dauss took this opportunity to do his best Wyckoff
impression when he walked the next three Athletics, forcing in Oldring to tie
the game. There was one hit between the
teams, two bases loaded-walks, and four runs.
What a strange game. But the weird
occurrences didn’t stop there! Oh,
no. In the bottom of the eighth, game
still tied at two, Jack Barry hit a routine single out to deep
centerfield. The normally sure-handed
Cobb fielded the ball and, on his attempt to throw it back to the infielders,
had it slip from his grip and shoot away from him. No Tiger was able to get to the ball before
Barry crossed home plate for what wound up as the game-winning run. Just a crazy way to lose a ball game. Looking at the pitching lines, it looked like
both pitchers threw well enough to earn the win. They surrendered only six hits combined but,
to continue the weird game theme, they walked thirteen batters! There must have been a full moon over Shibe
Park or something.[1]
As for the other Philadelphia club, they were in Pittsburgh
playing a decidedly more standard game of baseball. Yesterday’s game had been rained out and
would be made up June 21st between the Phillies series in Cincinnati
and New York, so today’s match served as getaway day on a two-game series. Bob Harmon took the mound for the Pirates
and, after giving up a RBI single to Fred Luderus in the second, baffled the
Phillies all afternoon. Dave Bancroft
worked a walk in the third, but was thrown out trying to steal second. Beals Becker beat out an infield single to
second, but was the first leg in Gavvy Cravath’s groundball double play. That, in its entirety, was the Phillies
offense today. At one point Harman
retired 10 Phillies in a row. It was a
masterful performance by one of the best pitchers in baseball, but it’s still
disappointed that the offense couldn’t take better advantage of even the tiny
fragments of opportunities they were given.
George Chalmers was the Phillies pitcher that was tasked
with throwing a shutout to get the victory today. Unfortunately, he would not able to
accomplish this goal. In the fourth, a
triple by Zip Collins and a grounder to short cost Philadelphia the lead. A bunt for a single, a sacrifice bunt, and a
wild throw by Bancroft resulted in the Pirates taking the lead without getting
the ball out of the infield. Chalmers
was unlucky today. He pitched much
better than the result he was pinned with, allowing only six hits and three
walks while striking out four in his complete game effort. But it was just one of those games where the
winning team was only slightly better than the losers.[2]
If the Phillies were unlucky in Pittsburgh, they must have
had four leaf clovers in Boston. A fifth
inning rally put the Braves over the Cubs, meaning the loss to the Pirates
didn’t affect the Phillies in the standings.
They would leave Pittsburgh how they arrived: in first place. Philadelphia travelled to Cincinnati for
their next series, and while the Reds were currently residing in the basement
of the National League and weren’t playing great ball as of late, they still
should not be taken lightly. Their
Pythagorean Win-Loss was .414, which would have put them in the middle of the
pack in the American and Federal Leagues.
The Cubs were to host Brooklyn, which at face value seemed like the
harder test, but the Dodgers had been falling apart for weeks, dropping like a
brick in the standings since they were only two games out of first on June 9th. But it doesn’t matter who looks like they
should beat whom, we’ll just have to wait for the results to play out. As for the Phillies today, the loss certainly
stung, but the ride to Cincinnati signaled the last western city on their
25-game road trip. The end of this
monstrosity was in sight.
[1]
“Athletics Win 3-2 Battle From Tigers,” Evening
Ledger, June 16, 1915, accessed June 16, 2015, http://1.usa.gov/1G0zOYz.
[2]
“Pirates Nose Out Phillies In Hot Pitchers’ Battle,” Evening Ledger, June 16, 1915, accessed June 16, 2015, http://1.usa.gov/1G0zOYz.
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