1919 AL - Games of Friday, 30 May

Eight games on the Memorial Day schedule and, fittingly, the biggest fireworks of the afternoon came in the Nation's Capital . . .

Nationals 5, Yankees 2: AL-leading hitter Mike Menosky added three more hits to his impressive start to the season and Dick Robertson gave Washington eight strong innings in a Nationals victory. The home team strung together four singles in the bottom of the 7th to turn a 3-2 lead into a 5-2 one, and Robertson (and Walter Johnson in the 9th) retired the Yankees quietly over their final six outs. Patsy Gharrity also had three hits for Washington. [box]

Yankees 18, Nationals 2: New York came out after the between-game Memorial Day festivities with cannons blazing, scoring sixteen runs in the course of three early innings to force the Nationals to wave the flag in surrender at home. The visitors ran wild in the 2nd with seven hits and three bases on balls on their way to seven runs, and scored four more in the 3rd thanks in part to Frank Baker's (3-for-5, 5 RBI) fifth home run of the season. The 4th saw more of the same as the Washington pitching continued to deteriorate, issuing four more free passes that led to five more runs. The home team could manage only singletons in the 6th and 9th off of the slants of Jack Quinn, while Sammy Vick, Wally Pipp and Muddy Ruel all joined Baker in the three-hit club. [box]

Frank Baker, NYA

Red Sox 4, Athletics 3: Babe Ruth pitched nine solid innings and Wally Schang hit a key two-run double to allow Boston to edge the A's at Shibe Park. Schang's two-bagger capped a three-run 1st inning that gave Boston a lead that they (barely) managed to hold for the rest of the game. Ruth wobbled a bit in the bottom of the 9th, allowing two runs while getting only one out to cut the Philadelphia deficit to a single run, but he put away the big A's hitters, Braggo Roth (three hits) and George Burns, to end the game. Ruth also had three hits, two of them doubles. [box]

Athletics 4, Red Sox 3: Whitey Witt and Braggo Roth combined for seven hits, three runs and three knocked in and Scott Perry stranded thirteen Sox in a close win that earned Philadelphia a split of the twin bill. Witt's single and Roth's fourth home run provided two runs in the 5th that jumped the A's in front and Witt's RBI hit in the following frame provided an insurance run that would come in handy when Boston scored a run in the 9th before Perry induced a double-play grounder from Mike McNally for the game's final outs. Ruth (3-for-4, two doubles) and Roth (3-for-4, triple, homer) again had big games at the bat. [box]

Tigers 10, Browns 1: Harry Heilmann stroked four singles and knocked in three runs while Howard Ehmke throttled St. Louis on five hits. Heilmann started the scoring with an RBI hit in the 2nd and then provided the final blow in a three-run rally in the following inning, It was 7-0 Detroit through five and Ehmke had everything he would need. He retired thirteen in a row at one point and held the Browns scoreless from the 2nd inning forward. Ralph Young chipped in three hits for the Tigers, but George Sisler went hitless for St. Louis to end his 25-game hitting streak to begin the season; as far as the local scribes could recall, this was the longest such streak in big league history.  [box]

1919 Memorial Day parade in Detroit

Browns 2, Tigers 1: St. Louis pushed two runs across the plate in the 7th inning to grab a narrow victory over the Tigers. Urban Shocker and Hooks Dauss were untouchable until Detroit managed to scrape a 5th inning run out of a walk and Dauss' own run-scoring double, and it looked as if that might be enough until the 7th. Dauss hit Severeid with an inside pitch to begin the inning and, one out later, Herman Bronkie tripled him home for the tie and Jack Tobin followed with the single that moved the Browns in front. Harry Heilmann tripled to start the bottom of the 9th but Shocker struck out Ira Flagstead and then Bob Jones lofted a fly ball to left; Heilmann was off for home as Tobin made the catch, and the throw home beat him by a step to cut down the run and end the game. [box]

White Sox 3, Indians 1: Nemo Leibold knocked in the first two runs of the game and stole a base to drive the White Sox and Red Faber to the win in Chicago. A three-run outburst in the 3rd inning was more than sufficient for Faber, who surrendered only five hits (only two after the 3rd inning) and a walk on the way to his fifth win. Eddie Collins and Ray Schalk had two hits apiece for Chicago, while Doc Johnston and tough-luck loser Jim Bagby did the same for Cleveland. [box]

White Sox 5, Indians 4: Shano Collins, in the game as part of a double switch, singled home Swede Risberg in the bottom of the 14th inning to give the League-leading White Sox another tight triumph. The Sox were leading 4-1 through six behind Lefty Williams, but one Cleveland run in the 7th and two in the 8th (helped by two bases on balls) brought the scores level, and there they stayed for the next five innings. Grover Lowdermilk and Dickey Kerr kept things tight for Chicago, while Guy Morton did the same for the Indians, at least until the 14th. The sharp-eyed Kerr coaxed a walk to start the inning, but was forced at second by Risberg. After Ray Schalk moved him to second on a ground ball, Collins poked his second hit of the game into right field and Swede flew home for the game-winner. Eddie Collins and Joe Jackson batted safely three times each, and catchers Steve O'Neill and Ray Schalk gunned down a total of five would-be basestealers in as many attempts. [box]