THOMSON'S BIG DAY LEADS GIANTS TO 9TH STRAIGHT WIN
Club's Hopes Remain Alive in Pennant Race
CINCINNATI, Sept. 18 (AP) - Bobby Thomson had three hits, including his 23rd
home run of the year, and drove in a season high seven runs as the New York
Giants ran out to a big lead and held on for an 11-8 decision over the
Cincinnati Reds at Crosley Field. The victory was the ninth straight for
the Giants who pulled to within 4 1/2 games of the league leading Dodgers,
pending the outcome of Brooklyn's game in St. Louis.
The Giants scored early and often, knocking Reds starter Willie Ramsdell out of
the game in the third inning and sending him, ultimately, to his major league
worst 22nd loss off the season.
The Giants pushed across a solo run in the top of the first on Monte Irvin's RBI
grounder, but the Reds came back to take the lead with two runs in the bottom of
the inning against New York starter Dave Koslo (10-9) on running scoring singles
off the bats of Wally Post and Ted Kluszewski.
The Giants tied the game in the second, on Wes Westrum's 18th home run of the
year and then took the lead for good with four runs in the third. With one
out, Alvin Dark and Don Mueller smacked consecutive singles, putting runners at
first and third. Irvin followed with a double to right-center, scoring
Dark and advancing Mueller to third. White Lockman walked to fill the
bases and Thomson followed with his first big blow of the game, a bases clearing
double to left-center. The Giants led 6-2 and Ramsdell's day was over.
New York extended its lead to 7-2 on Thomson's two-out RBI single and then
seemingly blew the game open with four more runs in the seventh. Dark was
hit by a pitch to open the inning, but was erased on a fielder's choice off the
bat of Mueller. But Irvin followed with a single--his third hit of the
game--placing runners at first and second. Lockman followed with a fly to
center that was inexplicably dropped by Post for an error. Mueller scored
and runners remained at second and third. Thomson then belted a three-run
home run, far over the the left field wall, to make the score 11-2.
The Reds rallied for four eighth inning runs--Post's three-run blast off George
Spencer was the big blow--and scraped across a pair of runs in the ninth, when
things got nervous for the Giants. With Sheldon Jones on the mound, Roy
McMillan reached on a one-out single. Johnny Pramesa hit what appeared to
be a game-ending double play ball right back to Jones, but in his haste to start
the twin killing, the Giants pitcher stumbled on the rubber and threw the ball
into center field, with McMillan taking third base. Pinch hitter Ted Tappe
singled to right, scoring McMillan and leaving runners at first and second and
Bobby Adams walked to fill the bases. Johnny Wyrostek grounded into a
fielder's choice, which scored a run, but kept the potential tying run off the
bases. Post then flied to right field to finally end the game.
Thomson has already hit more home runs (six) than in any other month of the
season, with nearly 1/3 of his RBI total (30) and the Giants still have eight
games remaining. Unfortunately for the New Yorkers, none of those games
are with the team they're pursuing: the crosstown Dodgers.
9/18/1951, NYN51-Cin51, Crosley Field 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E LOB DP 1951 Giants 1 1 4 0 1 0 4 0 0 11 12 3 4 2 1951 Reds 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 2 8 8 1 4 2 Giants AB R H BI AVG Reds AB R H BI AVG Stanky 2b 5 0 0 0 .264 Adams 2b 4 1 0 0 .253 Dark ss 4 2 2 0 .278 Wyrostek rf 3 1 0 1 .296 Mueller,D rf 4 2 2 0 .275 Post cf 5 2 2 4 .364 Thompson,H ph 0 0 0 0 .249 Kluszewski 1b 4 0 1 1 .280 Irvin lf 5 3 4 2 .328 Usher lf 4 0 1 0 .199 Lockman 1b 3 2 0 0 .259 Meeks 3b 4 0 0 0 .214 Thomson 3b 5 1 3 7 .260 McMillan ss 4 1 1 0 .276 Mays cf 3 0 0 0 .285 Pramesa c 4 2 1 0 .237 Westrum c 2 1 1 1 .194 Ramsdell p 1 0 0 0 .094 Noble ph 1 0 0 0 .250 Fox,H p 0 0 0 0 .074 Koslo p 4 0 0 0 .093 Adcock ph 1 0 0 0 .279 Spencer p 0 0 0 0 .091 Smith,F p 0 0 0 0 .000 Jones,Sh p 0 0 0 0 .037 Byerly p 0 0 0 0 .000 36 11 12 10 Hatton ph 1 1 1 1 .281 Perkowski p 0 0 0 0 .042 Erautt,E p 0 0 0 0 .333 Tappe ph 1 0 1 1 .333 36 8 8 8 Giants INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Koslo W 10-9 7.1 5 5 3 2 3 101 65 3.51 Spencer 0.0 1 1 1 0 0 2 1 6.57 Jones,Sh 1.2 2 2 0 1 0 30 16 2.81 9.0 8 8 4 3 3 133 82 Reds INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Ramsdell L 5-22 2.1 7 6 6 1 2 54 34 5.95 Fox,H 2.2 2 1 1 1 1 33 19 4.05 Smith,F 1.1 2 4 3 0 1 33 19 4.16 Byerly 1.2 0 0 0 1 1 18 10 3.98 Perkowski 0.0 0 0 0 1 0 4 0 3.84 Erautt,E 1.0 1 0 0 0 0 8 5 12.00 9.0 12 11 10 4 5 150 87 NYN: Noble batted for Westrum in the 7th Noble moved to c in the 7th Thompson,H batted for Mueller,D in the 9th Thompson,H moved to 3b in the 9th Thomson moved to rf in the 9th Cin: Adcock batted for Fox,H in the 5th Hatton batted for Byerly in the 8th Tappe batted for Erautt,E in the 9th E-Dark 2, Jones,Sh, Post. 2B-Irvin(22), Thomson(20), Pramesa(2). HR-Thomson(23), Westrum(18), Post(2). RBI-Irvin 2(92), Thomson 7(96), Westrum(67), Wyrostek(67), Post 4(5), Kluszewski(98), Hatton(35), Tappe(2). SB-Dark(10). K-Stanky, Mays, Westrum, Koslo 2, Wyrostek, Kluszewski, Meeks. BB-Lockman, Mays, Westrum, Thompson,H, Adams, Wyrostek 2. SH-Lockman. HBP-Dark. HB-Smith,F. GWRBI: Irvin Temperature: 70, Sky: cloudy, Wind: right to left at 11 MPH. Attendance: 4,310 Game Time: 2:49