[jksander]

MAY 31, 1954 . . . In game one this afternoon, Johnny Klippstein (7-1, 1.15 ERA, 70.2 IP, 46 K’s, 0.86 WHIP) faced off against St. Louis’s Bob Grim (3-3, 2.85 ERA, 79.0 IP, 54 K’s, 1.09 WHIP) in the first game of yet another doubleheader. The two Al’s (Rosen and Kaline) stayed on the bench, with Woody Smith and Hank Sauer getting starts, and Willie Mays was back in the lineup batting cleanup. Roger Maris got a hit into the outfield to start the game, and he put us up 1-0 thanks to a double by Banks that drove him home with just one out in the top of the first. Hank Sauer came up with the bases loaded in the bottom of the third, and he managed to beat out a throw to first on an infield hit, safely reaching base while driving Cavarretta home for our second run! Ernie Banks loaded the bases in the bottom of the fourth with a single to center, at which point Willie Mays walked in a run to make it 3-0 Cubs. Klippstein gave up a solo homer to Dick Sisler in the top of the seventh, but got out of the inning with three quick outs after that. Harry Dorish came in to pitch in the top of the eighth with the lead still 3-1, and though we didn’t score again, he stayed in through the last two innings, getting the outs we needed to secure the two run win!

Johnny Klippstein improved to 8-1 with a 1.16 ERA thanks to seven innings with just four hits and an earned run, against five strikeouts and a walk (all of the strikeouts coming in the first three innings). Harry Dorish threw 17 efficient pitches in the two innings he pitched, giving up just one hit and improving his ERA to 1.00 through 18 innings of work, earning his first save of the year! We outhit St. Louis 13-5, with Ernie Banks going 4-for-4 with an RBI, Sauer adding two hits and an RBI and Gene Baker adding another pair of hits.

Saul Rogovin (5-0, 1.36 ERA, 59.2 IP, 39 K’s, 0.94 WHIP) took the mound in our second game this afternoon, going up against Vinegar Bend Mizell (8-3, 2.11 ERA, 94.0 IP, 73 K’s, 1.13 WHIP) in a game everyone in attendance fully expected to be a pitcher’s duel. And they got that for sure -- Mizell gave up two hits to us in the third, but we couldn’t get anyone around to score. In the fourth inning that changed, when Ernie Banks hit a two-run blast over the center field ivy to put us up 2-0 with his 10th homer of the year! Rogovin gave up his first hit of the game in the top of the fifth, but it happened to be a solo homer for Dick Sisler, the second solo blast he’s hit in games today! Tom Ferrick came in to relieve Rogovin in the top of the seventh, Rogovin having thrown 102 pitches already, and he got through the inning with a double and three efficient flyouts to maintain our 2-1 lead. Ferrick was efficient again in the top of the eighth, looking like he was barely getting started as he got three quick outs, but Mizell was giving us nothing on offense so we went into the top of the ninth leading still by the slim 2-1 margin. Consuegra warmed up, but I kept Ferrick in to try and finish this one out since he was still fairly fresh. First batter struck out, second batter flew out to Banks at short, he walked the third and then got the final strikeout to end the three-inning save and keeping our streak alive with a 2-1 victory!

Saul Rogovin improved to 6-0 with his one hit game through six innings, including five strikeouts and four walks (the walks being the reason he’d thrown so many pitches and couldn’t stay in) -- the one earned run kept his ERA fairly steady at 1.37 on the year. Tom Ferrick, meanwhile, was incredible, lasting three innings with just one hit against two strikeouts and a walk, improving his ERA to 3.18 with his first save of the season! We outhit the Cardinals 6-2, making the most of our chances against Mizell, who threw a complete game, 128 pitches, with just six hits and the two earned runs, with eight strikeouts. Ernie Banks had two hits, including his homer, scoring one run and batting in two, reaching base for a third time with a walk. Cavarretta, Mays, McCullough and Smith each had hits as well.

We improved to 33-14 with the win and increased our win streak to seven games, extending our National League lead to 6.5 games over Philly, who we’ll be playing this week. After our dismal 7-7 start in April we went 26-7 in the month of May, setting us up for good things as we sprint into June and the warm days of summer.

JUNE 1, 1954 . . . Let’s keep the sweeps coming! This afternoon we played St. Louis for the third time in two days, led by Hy Cohen (3-1, 4.31 ERA, 39.2 IP, 25 K’s, 1.13 WHIP) from the mound, who faced off against Ron Kline (0-4, 6.58 ERA, 26.0 IP, 6 K’s, 1.85 WHIP). Banks and Maris got the day off, so Al Kaline will be batting in the leadoff position. Cohen had a rough start, giving up a solo homer in the top of the first to Andy Carey on only his 12th pitch of the game with two outs, but he got the third out without much fuss. He gave up a second run in the second inning, thanks to a pair of back-to-back doubles, and a three-run homer (again with two outs) gave the Cardinals a 5-0 lead as we came up to bat in the bottom of the second. Willie Mays batted in a run in the bottom of the third, with a single that drove Al Kaline around to score from second, but we went into the top of the fourth trailing 5-1 and I brought Harry Dorish in to pitch for Cohen who simply had not had his best stuff today. Vern Fear came in for the top of the seventh with the score still 5-1 Cardinals, and in the bottom of the seventh Willie Mays hit a two run blast to right that pulled us closer, down just 5-3! Vern Fear got us out of the eighth inning with three quick outs, and he did the same in the ninth, but we still needed three runs to win this one. McCullough came in to pinch hit for Fear, taking his base after being hit by a pitch, which brought up the top of the order, bottom of the ninth, a man on and no outs. Kaline struck out, but Cavarretta hit a ball right up the middle between the defenders, giving us a man in scoring position. And Willie Mays hit a three run blast to left of center, walking this one off as we won 6-5 and the fans here exploded! This was a game we clearly should have lost, but we came together as a team and did what needed to be done to keep our win streak alive!

Willie Mays was the star of the game by far, with four hits and two homers that batted in all six of our runs, giving him 13 homers on the season and 48 RBIs! He is currently hitting .369/.451/.676 on the season. Al Kaline and Hank Sauer each contributed two hits to keep our rallies going, and the fans absolutely loved it.

Honestly, we should have lost this one when I had to pull Cohen after three innings of seven hit ball with five earned runs and no strikeouts or walks, which ballooned his ERA to 5.06. But Harry Dorish played three innings of no-hit ball on 23 pitches, dropping his ERA to 0.86, and then Vern Fear came in on short rest after his six inning start over the weekend, throwing for three innings with only one hit and a strikeout to remain perfect through nine innings! Fear came away with the win as well, so he’s got a 1-0 record, further bolstering our NL-leading relief corps!