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JUNE 3, 1953 . . . Pittsburgh went up 2-0 in the bottom of the first on a two-run homer by Ralph Kiner, and the game stayed that way until Cavarretta got a grounder through to left field in the top of the fifth which went all the way to the wall and allowed him to reach third, driving in three runs to put us in the lead! But Pittsburgh was able to drive in the tying and go-ahead runs in the bottom of the seventh, putting us in a 3-5 hole at the end of the inning and leaving Minner fuming over his continued control issues. Fondy got a triple with two outs in the top of the ninth, but Cavarretta left him stranded and we lost this one 3-5.
Paul Minner fell to 4-5 with a 4.94 ERA after this one, giving up 10 hits and five earned runs, walking two and not striking out a single batter over 106 pitches. Don Newcombe came in for an inning of relief, giving up one hit with a strikeout and a walk but keeping the score from bloating beyond where it already was. The Pirates out-hit us 11-9, with Fondy getting two hits in five at-bats with a run scored, and Cavarretta hitting twice in five to bat in three.
JUNE 4, 1953 . . . We close out the Pittsburgh series with Dick Brodowski in his third start of the season, hoping to eke out a series win before heading to New York. And we got out to a great start, with Hank Sauer hitting a much-needed single that batted in Fondy and Mays to put us up 2-0! And Clyde McCullough slammed a home-run to the upper decks beyond right field, scoring three more to really get this one going here in the top of the first! Brodowski gave up a solo homer in the bottom of the fourth, only his third earned run in 20.1 innings pitched to that point, but Pittsburgh couldn’t get anything going beyond that and we went into the top of the fifth leading 5-1.
Mays hit his 16th homer of the year to add an insurance run in the top of the fifth, and McCullough got us started in the top of the sixth with an amazing triple with one out, driving in Randy Jackson, followed by Eddie Miksis reaching first on an error to send McCullough in for run number eight -- and then in the most insane thing to happen today, our starter Brodowski hammered a 391-foot homer to left field, clearing the bases and putting us up 10-1. Willie Mays then hit his second homer of the night before the Pirates managed to get the third out and bring Brodowski back out for the bottom of the sixth, our Cubs leading by a staggering 12-1 margin.
The Pirates got a run back in the bottom of the sixth, unearned thanks to Cal Abrams reaching base on an error, but Sauer hit a three-run homer in the top of the eighth to absolutely destroy what morale they had left. A run scored for Pittsburgh in the bottom of the eighth, but the batter hit into a double play, so that limited any damage. Brodowski closed out his second complete game in three tries as we beat the Pirates 15-3 to win the series.
Brodowski, now 2-1 with a stellar 1.38 ERA, gave up just seven hits tonight for three runs, two earned. He struck out three batters but didn’t walk a single one in 111 pitches. Fondy hit three times and walked twice, scoring three runs, while Hank Sauer really broke out of his funk, hitting twice in five at-bats and driving in five runs to bring his year’s total to 25 RBIs to go with his seventh homer of the year. Willie Mays hit his two homers plus a third hit in five at-bats, scoring three and driving in three, giving him 45 RBIs and 17 homers in just 47 games! And McCullough, who hit the three-run homer in the first, finished with two hits in four at-bats to score two and drive in four. All around it was a great night for Cubs fans, let me tell you.
With this series win we are now 26-23 and in 4th place in the NL, just 5-1/2 games behind Milwaukee (33-19) in first place. We have a half game lead on the Giants, who we’ll now face four games against, and we’re tied with Philly, who we’ll have three games against next week. I’m liking our hustle, and see these games as a real opportunity to show that our start in April was less of a fluke than our slump in May.
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