[jksander]

SEPTEMBER 29, 1954
WORLD SERIES, GAME ONE
Cleveland Guardians (0-0) at Chicago Cubs (0-0)

1:00 PM -- Wrigley Field ... Attendance: 38,388
Weather: Clear, 65 Degrees, Wind blowing in from right, 9 miles per hour

CHICAGO STARTER: Hy Cohen (23-7, 2.91 ERA, 269.1 IP, 147 K’s, 1.07 WHIP)
CLEVELAND STARTER: Early Wynn (21-12, 2.61 ERA, 296.1 IP, 171 K’s, 1.14 WHIP)

Cleveland’s Bobby Avila got a hit in the first at-bat of the game, reaching first safely, and Hy Cohen struggled early on, giving up two more hits to load the bases, with only one out. A sharply hit drive into right field by Ray Boone allowed him to reach second and drive in three runs. Oof! He got the last two outs we needed, but we went into the bottom of the frame trailing the Guardians 3-0 in front of 38,000+ agitated Cubs fans. Kaline got a quick double to start things off for us, and though Cavarretta and Mays each batted out, Kaline was able to advance to third, with Roger Maris coming up to the plate. A flyout to right ended the inning with us trailing still by the three runs. Cohen got three quick outs to bring us back up to the plate! Banks and Rosen each took walks, but Elston Howard batted into a double play, advancing Banks to third. Gene Baker got a weak infield hit, nearly beat out the throw, but was tagged out to end the inning, Cleveland still ahead 3-0. Two flyouts and a strikeout for Cohen, bringing us back up to the plate with another chance to do some damage. Cohen struck out swinging, but Kaline singled into deep left, and Willie Mays hit one all the way to the Ivy in center field, doubling and giving us two in scoring position with two outs. But Maris batted out to first, and the score stayed the same. Ray Boone hit for the second time in the game, reaching first safely, but Jim Hegan bunted poorly, hitting it straight to Elston Howard for the first out. A flyout and a strikeout ended the frame and brought us back up for the bottom of the fourth inning. Ernie Banks hit a solo blast into the bleachers to make it 3-1, but Elston Howard hit into a double play to end the inning and we went into the fifth inning trailing by a pair.

Cohen got a great double play in the top of the fifth after giving up his sixth hit, getting us back up to the plate with a chance to narrow the gap, but we couldn’t’ find a hit. Maris walked in the bottom of the sixth, and Ernie Banks came up and slammed a double deep into center, driving Maris all the way around to make it 3-2, but Banks was picked off at third moments later, in an ill-conceived attempt at stealing a base. Al Rosen hit a two-out double, but Elston Howard hit one out to Lary Doby in center field, and we went into the top of the seventh trailing by a run. But Bobby Avila hit a two-run homer over the head of Roger Maris in the top of the seventh to expand their lead to three runs. Cohen got us through the top of the eighth without any further runs scoring, but we were running out of time to find some offense. We did not find any in the eighth, leaving Cohen to keep us in the game by getting the three outs we needed in the top of the ninth. He did just that, but we had the bottom of our lineup coming to the plate and we (and our fans) were feeling desperate. Three flyouts and it was over, game one went in the toilet as Cleveland took one from us 5-2.

Cohen gave up nine hits in his complete game, with five strikeouts, a walk and five earned runs. Cleveland outhit us 9-8, with Ernie Banks showing real poise in getting three hits for a run and two RBIs. Kaline had two hits but was left stranded each time, and we’re going to have to rally and take game two here or it’s going to be rough heading to Cleveland.