[jksander]

JUNE 12, 1955 . . . Doubleheader day! Hy Cohen (11-4, 1.57 ERA, 126.0 IP, 105 K’s, 0.71 WHIP) is up in game one against Brooklyn’s Connie Johnson (3-3, 4.35 ERA, 51.2 IP, 30 K’s, 1.43 WHIP), who has started five times this year and saved four games during 11 relief appearances. Kaline and Maris got back to back hits to start the first inning, and Jackie Robinson took a base-on-balls to load the bases. Ernie Banks then hit a 430-plus foot grand salami, going nearly out of the park, to put us up 4-0 and giving him his 15th homer of the year! Hits were hard to get from there -- we had two in scoring position in the top of the fifth but came up empty. But Cohen had the lead to work with and had blanked the Dodgers to that point, and he continued to pitch lights-out baseball. We loaded the bases in the top of the seventh and again came up empty, the Dodgers praying for a Hy Cohen meltdown late in this game to get them back in it. But he is our ace for a reason, and they remained scoreless heading into the ninth. In the top of the inning we added a fifth run via Roger Maris’ fifth homer of the season, and Ernie Banks hit HIS second of the game, a solo shot to left, to make it 6-0 via his 16th of the season. Cohen went into the bottom of the ninth with a six run lead and he struck out the side! That did it, we dominated game one of the day with a 6-0 shutout victory!

Cohen is now 12-4 with a 1.47 ERA as he continues to fight for consideration as the best pitcher in the National League. Tonight he pitched a complete game two-hit shutout, striking out nine and walking no one. Aside from the perfect game he threw on May 2, 1954, Cohen has now thrown EIGHT complete game shutouts in his career, this being just his second two-hitter and his fourth no-walk shutout. We notched 11 hits ourselves, led by Ernie “Mr. Cub” Banks, who had three hits and two homers, giving him five RBIs today. He already led the team in homers, but now has a three-RBI lead on Willie Mays as well despite only hitting .234 so far this year. Roger Maris came back from his recent down stretch, hitting three times with a homer himself, scoring twice and batting in another -- he’s now hitting .251/.346/.348, and though his slugging is down he’s hitting more consistently and getting on base very well.

For game two we brought out Camilo Pascual (7-3, 3.06 ERA, 70.2 IP, 67 K’s, 1.13 WHIP), saving Diehl and Rogovin for our return to Wrigley on Tuesday. He started against Brooklyn’s Larry Jansen (7-5, 2.62 ERA, 96.1 IP, 49 K’s, 1.03 WHIP). This game is also a chance to rest some of our batters, as we then get a day off and can go into our two weeks at Wrigley refreshed and ready. So we did not go into this one expecting a ton of offense. But we loaded the bases in the top of the first off a hit and two walks, making Larry Jansen throw nearly 30 pitches, so even though we didn’t score quickly, we did a good deal to wear one of their best starters down early. Al Kaline had a solo jack into the center field bleachers, his sixth homer of the year, to put us up 1-0 in the top of the third, and Grady Hatten added an RBI triple, sending us into the bottom of the third with a 2-0 lead. And Pascual struck out the side in the bottom of the inning, staying red hot as we looked to extend our lead. Elston Howard hit a solo blast to center in the top of the fifth, giving us a 3-0 lead and Howard just his third homer of the season. Pascual continued to have the best game of his young career, finally putting his great stuff together with excellent control and movement to completely leave the Dodgers on their heels. They kept Larry Jansen out way too long, and in the top of the seventh Grady Hatton hit his first homer of the year to the right-field side, driving in two more runs to give us a 5-0 lead. Al Kaline batted Gene Baker in to score with a single in the top of the eighth to extend the lead, and that six run advantage allowed us to go into the bottom of the ninth with Pascual still in firm control from the mound, only his second time going the distance so far this season. A flyout, a strikeout and a groundout helped him get around a hit and a walk, closing this one out as we beat the Dodgers 6-0, sweeping the four-game set!

Camilo Pascual showed us what he’s made of, pitching a complete game three-hit shutout, striking out 14 batters with just three walks! That beat his career high by three K’s, and he threw 113 pitches, two more than his previous best. He now holds a very solid 8-3 record with a 2.71 ERA through 13 starts. This was his second career three-hit shutout with more than 10 strikeouts and three or fewer walks -- glad we got him locked up on that seven year $375,000 deal! We outhit the Dodgers today 8-3, led by Grady Hatton’s three hits for a run and three RBIs. Kaline and Howard each hit twice as well. Scoring three runs with three RBIs between them.

Having gone a stunning 12-3 on this last road trip, we now come back to Wrigley for 14 games in a two week stretch, including a four-game series against Philadelphia next weekend that is going to be critical if we want to put some distance between us and secure a strong lead in the National League. We’ve won four in a row, but the Phillies (43-18) are now on a seven game win streak, which has them just four games behind us. Right now it looks to be a two-team race, with Cincinnati (30-29, 16 GB), Pittsburgh (31-32, 17 GB) and Brooklyn (28-31, 18 GB) all falling further behind. Over in the AL, Cleveland (37-21) has retaken the lead, half a game up on Boston (37-22), but with New York (34-24, 3 GB), Detroit (31-25, 5 GB) and Washington (33-27, 5 GB) all right there in the mix.