BUCS BELT 6 HRs, WHIP GIANTS
Win Despite 5 Errors
NEW YORK, June 2 (AP) - The Pittsburgh Pirates hit six home runs--two of them
off the bat of Wally Westlake, the National League's leader--en route to a 7-2
win over the New York Giants at the Polo Grounds. Pittsburgh starter
Vernon Law (3-0) picked up the win, pitching around five errors by his
teammates. Law worked seven innings and allowed two runs, neither earned.
The six home runs--all solo shots--hit by the Pirates are the most by a single
team in one game in the National League this year and matches the major league
mark set by the New York Yankees in a game against the St. Louis Browns on May
5.
The defensive performance by Pittsburgh is more worrisome. The Pirates are
the only major league team to commit as many as five errors in a single contest
this year and they've done it twice. More remarkably, perhaps, is that the
other occasion was the previous day--the June 1 loss to the Giants. So
Pittsburgh fielders have committed ten miscues in the past two games.
The Pirates took the lead in the very first inning, without the aid of a home
run, in the first on an Eddie Stanky error, which allowed Catfish Metkovich to
score.
The Giants came back with their only two runs of the game in the bottom of the
first. A Clyde McCullough error prolonged the inning, allowing runs to
score on walk to Wes Westrum and an Al Dark fly ball.
McCullough's home run leading off the second tied the game and took the lead for
good on Westlake's leadoff blast in the fourth. The Pirates then seized
firm control of the game with three homers in the fifth, driving New York
starter Jim Hearn from the game in the process. Catfish Metkovich hit
Pittsburgh's third leadoff roundtripper of the contest to make it 4-2. One
out later Ralph Kiner roped his eighth home run of the year, deep into the left
field upper deck. That ended Hearn's day and brought George Spencer into
the game. Spencer retired Gus Bell but then surrendered Westlake's second
home run of the game--his seventeenth of the season to make the score 6-2.
Pirates reliever Junior Walsh added insult to injury by popping the club's
fourth leadoff circuit clout of the afternoon to start the ninth.
Law had to deal with errors in the first, third and fifth inning and was harshly
tested when Westlake booted a pair of balls in the seventh. With one
out, Westlake kicked consecutive grounders off the bats of Hank Thompson and
Westrum, but managed to induce an inning-ending double play ball from Dark.
The win returns the Pirates to the .500 mark 40 games into the season.
6/2/1951, Pit51-NYN51, Polo Grounds 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E LOB DP 1951 Pirates 1 1 0 1 3 0 0 0 1 7 14 5 7 1 1951 Giants 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 4 2 12 2 Pirates AB R H BI AVG Giants AB R H BI AVG Murtaugh 2b 5 0 0 0 .179 Stanky 2b 4 0 1 0 .212 Metkovich cf 5 2 3 1 .303 Lockman 1b 2 1 0 0 .205 Reiser lf 4 0 0 0 .277 Thomson lf 5 1 0 0 .271 Castiglione ph 1 0 1 0 .301 Thompson,H 3b 3 0 1 0 .276 Kiner 1b 4 1 3 1 .287 Westrum c 4 0 1 1 .255 Dusak pr 0 0 0 0 .400 Dark ss 4 0 0 1 .297 Bell rf 5 0 1 0 .310 Irvin rf 4 0 1 0 .331 Westlake 3b 4 2 2 3 .336 Mays cf 4 0 0 0 .306 Strickland ss 4 0 0 0 .227 Hearn p 2 0 0 0 .038 McCullough c 4 1 1 1 .248 Spencer p 0 0 0 0 .111 Law p 3 0 2 0 .467 Jorgensen ph 1 0 0 0 .211 Walsh p 1 1 1 1 1.000 Koslo p 1 0 0 0 .200 40 7 14 7 34 2 4 2 Pirates INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Law W 3-0 7.0 3 2 0 4 4 125 67 3.60 Walsh 2.0 1 0 0 1 3 35 17 3.07 9.0 4 2 0 5 7 160 84 Giants INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Hearn L 5-3 4.1 9 5 4 0 1 74 48 4.16 Spencer 1.2 1 1 1 0 0 12 8 6.19 Koslo 3.0 4 1 1 1 2 47 31 4.87 9.0 14 7 6 1 3 133 87 Pit: Castiglione batted for Reiser in the 9th Dusak ran for Kiner in the 9th Metkovich moved to 1b in the 9th Castiglione moved to 3b in the 9th Dusak moved to cf in the 9th Westlake moved to lf in the 9th NYN: Jorgensen batted for Spencer in the 6th E-Westlake 2, Strickland 2, McCullough, Stanky, Thomson. 2B-Law(2). HR-Metkovich(1), Kiner(8), Westlake 2(17), McCullough(5), Walsh(1). RBI-Metkovich(14), Kiner(32), Westlake 3(34), McCullough(9), Walsh(1), Westrum(31), Dark(20). CS-Lockman. K-Reiser, McCullough 2, Stanky, Thomson 2, Westrum 2, Mays, Koslo. BB-Kiner, Lockman 2, Thompson,H 2, Westrum. HBP-Stanky, Lockman. HB-Law 2. GWRBI: Westlake Temperature: 65, Field: wet, Sky: clear, Wind: out to center at 10 MPH. Attendance: 20,795 Game Time: 2:34