Pitcher Has Record Batting Day in Lopsided Victory.
Louis Blackburn of the Sunderland club pitched well enough in eight innings to win the match against Grimsby Town at Roker Park yesterday, but it was at the bat where he had an especially momentous day.
Blackburn put himself down in the count early by conceding three runs in the first innings, and he made a ground ball out his first time up in the third innings, after which his club was still down three runs to nil. But then the runs started raining down, and Blackburn was a full participant.
In the bottom of the next innings, Blackburn came to the bat with bases loaded and made a single, batting in the Black Cats’ first two runs. He came up in the next innings with the bases loaded again and nearly made the most of the situation by slamming a 3B, batting in three more runs. In the sixth innings, he made another single for another run batted in. In the seventh he approached the home plate again, the fifth consecutive innings he came to the bat, and this time made a sacrifice hit to send his runner to third, despite the twelve runs advantage Black Cats had against the Mariners.
Blackburn pitched through eight and was replaced for the ninth by Thomson, who retired Grimsby Town one two three to seal the win for Sunderland by the margin of 22 runs to 5.
A check of the record indicates that this is the first time a League pitcher has ever batted home as many as six runs in a game.
