[jksander]

JUNE 14, 1954 . . . Pittsburgh comes into this series with a 24-38 record, 22 games back in seventh place, yet four games ahead of the hapless Giants. Tonight we’re starting Johnny Klippstein, just one night after his one game relief appearance yesterday. He is currently 9-1 with a 1.15 ERA through 93.2 innings, with 58 K’s and an exceptional 0.81 WHIP. He’ll go up against Roy Face (3-2, 3.86 ERA, 49.0 IP, 19 K’s, 1.37 WHIP) in the first of three games against the Pirates. Our roster is a bit depleted, with Baker, Rosen and Maris sitting out today’s game. But we have Ernie Banks back in the lineup and Mays is red hot, so I don’t expect a problem getting hits.

Unfortunately for Klippstein, our defense was uncharacteristically bad early on -- two errors in the first three innings, and a blooper hit to right in the bottom of the third put Pittsburgh ahead 2-0. A ground-out to first got him his first out of the inning, but a third run scored and two runners remained, both in scoring position. And his luck just worsened ... by the time he got the last two outs we were in a 4-0 hole against the Pirates, and he had thrown 58 pitches. Not enough that I was going to pull him yet and ruin our bullpen, but bad enough to be concerned. And hitting for us tonight was, in fact, proving to be a problem as Face got through the first four innings without giving up a single hit! We finally got a hit in the top of the fifth, from Russ Snyder, but Bill Serena batted into a double play to leave him stranded at first, and with Klippstein still struggling I brought Harry Dorish in for the bottom of the fifth, hoping he could get us some calm innings.

We got two men on in the top of the sixth but again batted into a double play to end the innning scoreless. Dorish got two strikeouts to start the bottom of the sixth but gave up a hit to right that scored a runner from second, making the Pirates’ lead 5-0. Al Kaline hit a run-scoring single in the top of the eighth to finally put us on the board, but Cavarretta struck out to provent us from formenting a rally. Tom Ferrick came in and faced three batters in the bottom of the eighth, giving up a run and only getting a single out. Vern Fear came in and got a quick out at first that kept the runner on third, unwilling to risk going for it, and a strikeout got us out of the innning with “only” five runs needed for a comeback in the ninth. Mays and Banks each hit, with Russ Snyder loading the bases with no outs, so Clyde McCullough came in to pinch hit for Elston Howard, but he hit it way up into the air, an easy catch at shortstop that kept us from letting any runners go for it. Bill Serena kept the bases loaded but Mays was thrown out at home for a quick out, and Al Rosen pinch hit but was robbed of a four-run blast by mere inches and Banks was thrown out at home, the game came to an end as a 6-1 loss for our Cubs. Welcome to June road trips in the National League, boys. Nobody said it was going to be easy holding this lead, we’ve just got to find a way to bounce back after tomorrow’s off day.

Klippstein took the loss, falling to 9-2 with a 1.38 ERA after giving up eight hits and four runs (three earned) with three strikeouts and a walk on a season-low 76 pitches. Harry Dorish held on for three full innings, giving up just two hits with three strikeouts, a walk and an earned run, improving his ERA to a stellar 1.35. Tom Ferrick only lasted a third of an inning and gave up a run on six pitches, dropping his ERA to 3.86, but Fear struck out a batter and got his two outs with little fuss, improving his ERA to 1.69. A poor hitting night killed us -- we gave up 12 hits to their five, and no Cubs batter got more than one hit. Al Kaline batted in our only run, and Bill Serena scored our only run, with not much else to be excited about. Kenneth Chapman got a hit and was walked twice but we left him stranded all three times.

Unfortunately, regarding Klippstein, the news is worse than just a tired arm leading to the bad outing tonight. Experiencing extreme pain in his shoulder while icing it down after the game, we had his shoulder scanned this evening and it turns out he tore his labrum during tonight’s game, which means at least four months of recovery time and the end of his season. That’s about as bad as it gets, a frustrating end to a really solid season for the 26-year-old starter. I’m calling up right fielder Max West as an extra pinch hitting option, and Joe Dobson is going to move into the fifth starting position, with Dorish, Fear, Ferrick and Consuegra as our bullpen options.