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MAY 3, 1953 . . . The Phillies quickly got on board in the bottom of the second to take an early one run lead in the first game of the afternoon. We out-hit them in the early going, but couldn’t get any of our gues home -- at the end of four we trailed the Phillies 0-2. The Phillies added a third run in the bottom of the seventh, and we never got any run support from our lineup at all. Philly dominated this one 3-0 to take the first of four.
Hacker pitched a complete game with three earned runs given up on eight hits, falling to 3-1 with a 2.45 ERA. He fanned six batters but walked four, throwing 123 pitches. Cavarretta had a triple in the first inning but no one else hit, so he was stranded. In total the Phillies out-hit us 8-5.
After an hour off to lick our wounds, we were back out there for game two, with Bob Rush (2-2, 3.62 ERA) on the mound. Willie Mays doubled to send Fondy, who had doubled earlier in the inning, home to score in the bottom of the first. Sauer promptly then sent his first pitch into the bleachers, giving us a 3-0 lead with only one out. Ernie Banks hit into a double play to end the top of the inning, but at least we’d woken our bats. We added a run in the fourth, and Sauer hit a two-run homer in the fifth for his second of the game and third of the year, giving us a 6-0 lead heading into the botom of the fifth. Rush gave up a pair of runs in the bottom of the inning, spoiling the shut-out, but we added two more in the eighth to make it an 8-2 lead heading into the bottom of the eighth. The Phillies added a third run in the bottom of the eighth, but in the bottom of the ninth they still trailed by five, with Baczewski on the mound to close the game out. Of course he gave up a solo homer to Connie Ryan to narrow the gap, but he got out of the inning one-two-three after that as we finished out the big win, 8-4!
Sauer had his two homers and a walk, scoring three runs and batting in four. Ernie Banks added two hits in three at-bats, scoring twice, and Rush was solid all night with 7.2 innings pitched with two strikeouts against two walks with seven hits given up. He improved to 3-2 with a 3.60 ERA. The team will enjoy a few hours of downtime tonight before we’re right back at it tomorrow and Tuesday to finish out this series. This road trip is gruelling, but we’re fighting everyone off -- fans better be out in support when we get back into Chicago next week, because at 14-4 we’ve been exceeding expectations in a big way.
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