LAKE’S 3 HRS LEAD BENGALS IN DH OPENER
Newhouser Wins 18th, Fans 11
CHICAGO, Aug. 11 (AP) – Eddie Lake belted three home runs and Hal Newhouser struck out 11 in 7-2/3 innings as the Detroit Tigers whipped the Chicago White Sox 7-2 in the opening game of a doubleheader at Comiskey Park. The Tigers completed the twin bill sweep, 7-1, in the nightcap, behind Virgil Trucks’ four-hitter.
Lake entered the day with just three long balls, but doubled his season’s output against White Sox starter Eddie Lopat, who fell to 12-6 with the loss. Lake also became the first major league player this season to lead off more than one game with a home run when he took Lopat deep into the lower left field grandstand in the top of the first inning. His two-out solo blast in the third gave Detroit a 2-0 advantage.
Lake continued his heroics during the three-run Tigers fifth. Roy Cullenbine led off with a base hit and advanced to second on Skeeter Webb’s sacrifice. Birdie Tebbetts flied to the warning track in left, with Cullenbine tagging and moving to third with two outs. Newhouser followed with a double to right-center, scoring Cullenbine to make it 3-0. Lake then ripped his third home run of the contest, into the seats in left-center, to put Detroit on top 5-0. The blast by Lake marked the first time this season that a player had homered in three consecutive plate appearances in the same game.
The White Sox got two runs back in the bottom of the frame when Lopat tripled and scored on Thurman Tucker’s ground out, and Whitey Platt’s two-out single plated Luke Appling, who had doubled.
But the Tigers matched the two runs surrendered in the seventh when George Kell’s two-out triple brought home Webb and Tebbetts, who had rapped out back-to-back base hits to open the inning.
Newhouser struggled with control problems throughout—he issued six free passes—but also had his strikeout pitch working, fanning at least two Chicago batters in four different innings. Visibly tiring late in the contest, he was replaced by George Caster with two on and two out in the bottom of the eighth. Caster retired pinch hitter Ralph Hodgin to end the threat and then retired the White Sox in order in the ninth to close out the game.
Lake is the fifth major leaguer and second Tiger to hit three home runs in a single contest. Teammate Hank Greenberg accomplished the feat on June 12 at Yankee Stadium in a 9-2 Detroit victory.
8/11/1946, Det46-ChA46, game 1, Comiskey Park
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E LOB DP
1946 Tigers 1 0 1 0 3 0 2 0 0 7 10 1 2 0
1946 White Sox 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 2 5 0 10 1
Tigers AB R H BI AVG White Sox AB R H BI AVG
Lake ss 4 3 3 4 .214 Tucker cf 4 0 0 1 .277
Kell,G 3b 4 0 2 2 .349 Appling ss 5 1 1 0 .309
Evers cf 4 0 0 0 .284 Kuhel,J 1b 4 0 0 0 .252
Greenberg 1b 4 0 0 0 .275 Platt rf 2 0 1 1 .223
Wakefield lf 4 0 0 0 .342 Hayes,F c 4 0 2 0 .223
Cullenbine rf 4 1 1 0 .376 Kennedy,Bo lf 4 0 0 0 .209
Caster p 0 0 0 0 .000 Lodigiani 3b 3 0 0 0 .195
Webb 2b 3 1 1 0 .289 Michaels 2b 3 0 0 0 .282
Tebbetts c 4 1 2 0 .234 Lopat p 3 1 1 0 .217
Newhouser p 3 1 1 1 .133 Maltzberger p 0 0 0 0 .000
Mullin rf 1 0 0 0 .238 Hodgin ph 1 0 0 0 .226
35 7 10 7 Hamner,R p 0 0 0 0 .100
33 2 5 2
Tigers INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA
Newhouser W 18-7 7.2 5 2 2 6 11 153 86 2.42
Caster 1.1 0 0 0 0 1 21 14 5.00
9.0 5 2 2 6 12 174 100
White Sox INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA
Lopat L 12-6 6.2 9 7 7 0 0 94 67 3.19
Maltzberger 1.1 0 0 0 0 0 16 8 2.95
Hamner,R 1.0 1 0 0 0 0 11 7 4.37
9.0 10 7 7 0 0 121 82
Det: Mullin inserted at rf in the 8th
ChA: Hodgin batted for Maltzberger in the 8th
E-Greenberg. 2B-Newhouser(2), Appling(20). 3B-Kell,G(7), Tebbetts(1),
Lopat(1). HR-Lake 3(6). RBI-Lake 4(23), Kell,G 2(29), Newhouser(9),
Tucker(33), Platt(24). K-Tucker, Appling 2, Platt, Hayes,F, Kennedy,Bo 2,
Lodigiani 2, Michaels 2, Lopat. BB-Tucker, Kuhel,J, Platt 2, Lodigiani,
Michaels. SH-Webb.
GWRBI: Lake
Temperature: 81, Sky: clear, Wind: left to right at 11 MPH.
Attendance: N/A
Game Time: 2:36