RED HOT ROBINS FINISH SWEEP OF GIANTS
Grimes Wins 19th, Completes 26th
BROOKLYN, N.Y., August 31 (AP) - Brooklyn won its fifth consecutive contest,
completing a three-game sweep of the New York Giants in the process, before
26,180 at Ebbets Field Sunday afternoon. The loss knocks the Giants out of
a first place tie with Pittsburgh pending the outcome of the Pirates' makeup
contest against the Cubs at Wrigley Field in Chicago. The result of that
game was unavailable at press time.
Brooklyn starter Burleigh Grimes (19-10) went the distance for his major league
best 26th complete game of the season. Artie Nehf (14-4) went the route
but came up short for New York.
The Robins broke a scoreless tie in the fourth inning when Zack Wheat, who led
off the frame with a triple, scored on Jack Fournier's single to right. It
was Fournier's 125th run driven in on the year, far and away the best mark in
the National League.
Brooklyn extended the lead to three in the sixth. With one out, Andy
Mitchell walked. Wheat then advanced Mitchell to third on a looping single
to shallow center field. Nehf pitched carefully to Fournier before issuing
him a free pass to fill the bases and the strategy appeared to work when the
Giants lefty induced Eddie Brown to bounce a double play grounder to
short. But Travis Jackson kicked the ball, allowing Mitchell to score and
leaving all hands safe. It was Jackson's league-worst 57th error of the
season and it handed the Robins a 2-0 lead. Milt Stock then hit a tapper
up the first base line which Nehf fielded. Stock was tagged out, but Wheat
scored and Brooklyn's lead increased to three. The final two runs of the
inning were unearned.
Irish Meusel's long home run into the left-center field seats to lead off the
seventh put the Giants on the board and cut the lead to 3-1, but in the bottom
half of the inning the Robins appeared poised to break the game open. Zack
Taylor and Grimes rapped back-to-back singles to open the frame, putting runners
on first and second with the top of the order coming up. Andy High's long
fly to left-center was run down by Hack Wilson, but Taylor tagged and advanced
to third without a play. Nehf then kept his team in the game by striking
out Mitchell and retiring Wheat on a fly to Ross Youngs in right.
New York immediately capitalized on the Robins' failure to expand their lead by
tying the game in the top of the eighth. Hank Gowdy opened the inning with
a single to left and advanced to second when Wheat overran the ball for an
error. Nehf's tapper to third was successfully handled by Stock for the
first out but Gowdy moved to third on the play. Heinie Groh then drove a
hanging Grimes spitball off the left field fence for a double, plating Gowdy and
cutting the lead to 3-2. Frankie Frisch rolled a routine grounder to
second but High dropped the ball leaving runners at first and third with only
one out. When Youngs laced a single down the right field line, tying the
game and chasing Frisch to third, it appeared that the Giants were poised to
take the lead. But Grimes induced a fly ball to left off the bet of Meusel
that was too shallow to score Frisch. And then, with George Kelly at the
plate facing a 1-2 count, a fateful play that may have sealed the game's outcome
took place. Grimes fired a pitch in the dirt that Taylor couldn't handle
cleanly. The ball rolled several feet behind the plate and Frisch broke
for the plate. Taylor found the ball quickly and fired to Grimes who
alertly covered home and Frisch was tagged out to end the inning with the score
still tied.
The Robins were retired in order in the bottom half of the eighth and the Giants
failed to score in the top of the ninth.
The bottom half of the ninth started innocently enough when Tommy Griffith
rolled out to third but Taylor laced a one-out single to left. Brooklyn
manager Wilbert Robinson called on just activated Jimmy Johnston, who spent the
first half of the season as the club's starting shortstop before suffering an
injury, to run for Taylor, with the thought that the added speed of Johnston
might make a difference. Robinson would prove to be prophetic.
Grimes, an excellent hitter, remained in the game and blooped a single to
shallow center field. The speedy Johnston read the play perfectly and
zipped into the third ahead of Wilson's throw. That forced the infield,
which couldn't count on doubling up the swift-footed Andy High on a ground ball,
to come in to try to cut the winning run off at home plate. High foiled
the Giants, however, by lacing a sharp grounder past the drawn-in infield into
right, scoring Johnston with the game-winning run, much to the delight of the
partisan Brooklyn crowd.
Both clubs anticipate fattening their records over the next week or so as they
alternate playing the two worst teams in the NL: Philadelphia and Boston.
8/31/1924, NYN24-Brk24, Ebbets Field 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E LOB DP 1924 Giants 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 0 3 9 1 4 1 1924 Robins 0 0 0 1 0 2 0 0 1 4 10 2 8 1 Giants AB R H BI AVG Robins AB R H BI AVG Groh 3b 4 1 2 1 .320 High 2b 5 0 1 1 .311 Frisch 2b 4 0 1 0 .310 Mitchell ss 3 1 0 0 .301 Youngs rf 4 0 1 1 .350 Wheat lf 4 2 2 0 .371 Meusel lf 4 1 1 1 .276 Fournier 1b 3 0 1 1 .321 Kelly 1b 4 0 1 0 .299 Brown cf 4 0 0 1 .331 Wilson cf 4 0 1 0 .306 Stock 3b 4 0 0 1 .289 Jackson ss 4 0 0 0 .286 Griffith rf 4 0 0 0 .261 Gowdy c 3 1 1 0 .400 Taylor c 4 0 3 0 .344 Nehf p 3 0 1 0 .308 Johnston J pr 0 1 0 0 .267 34 3 9 3 Grimes p 4 0 3 0 .288 35 4 10 4 Giants INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Nehf L 14-3 8.1 10 4 2 2 5 142 87 3.18 8.1 10 4 2 2 5 142 87 Robins INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Grimes W 19-10 9.0 9 3 3 0 2 125 80 3.41 9.0 9 3 3 0 2 125 80 Brk: Johnston J ran for Taylor in the 9th E-Jackson, High, Wheat. 2B-Groh(34). 3B-Wheat(4). HR-Meusel(5). RBI-Groh(66), Youngs(52), Meusel(81), High(54), Fournier(125), Brown(47), Stock(59). CS-Wilson. K-Wilson, Gowdy, Mitchell, Fournier, Brown, Griffith, Grimes. BB-Mitchell, Fournier. GWRBI: High Temperature: 69, Sky: clear, Wind: left to right at 8 MPH. Attendance: 26,180 Game Time: 2:07