Washington DC Baseball

[GeoPoto]

The very first batter of the game, Jo-Jo Moore, singled off Crowder and made it to third on a Bill Terry single. Crowder, though, got out of the inning by striking out the deadly Mel Ott and inducing Kiddo Davis to hit the ball on the ground for an infield force-out. When the General again gave up a lead-off single in the second inning, to Travis Jackson, the Giants, for the fourth time in five games, were the first to score. After Gus Mancuso walked and Blondy Ryan sacrificed for the first out by advancing the runners, pitcher Hal Schumacher, not a particularly good hitter even for a pitcher, singled to center to drive in both runners.

After a 1-2-3 Washington second, Bill Terry opened the Giants' third with, predictably, another single. But Alvin Crowder got nine straight outs and surrendered just a walk in the fourth. The Nats, however, were not generating any kind of offence in support of him. Until the fifth, the only one to get on base was Goose Goslin, who singled past short in the first inning and walked in the fourth.

With two out in the fifth, the Nationals did mount what looked like a serious threat, getting the first two batters on. Fred Schulte had opened with a single, beating a slow roller toward Travis Jackson at third. Schulte quickly found himself on second when Joe Kuhel singled cleanly to left.

With nobody out and the fans entranced now, Ossie Bluege followed the book and attempted to bunt the runners ahead. When Hal Schumacher got two strikes on him, the Nats decided to try again anyway. The bunt attempt went foul, and Bluege was out. After Luke Sewell lined to left, failing to advance any runner, Prince Hal let a pitch slip off his fingers and Schulte made it to third while Kuhel held first. With two out and baserunners on the corners, it was the pitcher's turn to bat, and Joe Cronin let General Crowder take his turn.

In the manager's defense, it was less common in this era to pinch hit for starting pitchers in the middle innings. Nevertheless, Lefty Stewart was on the bench, and so was Jack Russell, who'd already pitched very well in his two appearances, and obviously, the Senators were in desperate need of some runs. In fact, they'd scored but one run since the seventh inning of the third game. The options were Sam Rice, a .294 hitter during the regular season, or Cliff Bolton, a super hitter in a pinch in '33, as the batter in Crowder's stead. But Cronin stuck with his man Crowder, decidingly a poor-hitting pitcher. The Prince got the General to ground out to short.

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