[jksander]

JULY 14, 1955 . . . Hy Cohen (18-4, 1.44 ERA, 188.0 IP, 164 K’s, 0.69 WHIP) is up in the rotation for his 23rd start this season, facing the Giants’ Jack Harshman (8-9, 3.65 ERA, 145.1 IP, 87 K’s, 1.38 WHIP). Al Rosen got us on the board in a big way in the top of the third, hitting an inside the park homer to put us up 1-0! It was his 14th homer of the year, and was the first hit of the game for anyone in this pitched pitching battle. Del Crandall reached first in the top of the fourth thanks to a throwing error, allowing a second run to score, and Jackie Robinson hit his 29th homer of the year to put us up 3-0 in the top of the sixth. By the time Hy Cohen struck out the side in the bottom of the sixth, we could tell something special was happening. No one wanted to say anything, but by the bottom of the eighth we were all superstitiously paying attention. Ernie Banks had hit his 21st homer of the year to make it 4-0 as Cohen came up to the mound -- flyout to Mays, groudner to Baker who .... botched a throw to first, allowing the baserunner on an error and blowing the perfect game. A flyout to Banks got the second out, and he notched his ninth strikeout of the game to get us out of the inning with his no-no still safe. The crowd was hushed as Cohen took the mound for the bottom of the ninth -- most of the Giants fans were still there in spite of themselves, as Cohen struck out pinch-hitter Zeke Bella. Then Jim Gilliam stunned us all by slamming a ball into left, in between Maris and Mays, and he legged out a triple as Cohen’s face slumped. He struck out Hector Lopez and getting the final out by a pop-up to Kaline in right field. We won this one 4-0, but it was so close to being so much more.

Only two baserunners for the Giants made it through tonight, and Cohen was magnificent, throwing 109 pitches in the complete game one-hit shutout, striking out 11 with no walks. We had nine hits ourselves, three of them for home runs, led by Ernie Banks with three hits a run and an RBI, and by Kaline with a pair of hits and a walk. Robinson, Banks and Rosen each had solo homers.

JULY 15, 1955 . . . Saul Rogovin (14-5, 2.04 ERA, 172.1 IP, 195 K’s, 0.77 WHIP) had to follow up Cohen’s amazing performance from yesterday, pitching this afternoon against the Giants’ starter Ted Abernathy (4-9, 4.73 ERA, 123.2 IP, 82 K’s, 1.53 WHIP). This one was close from the beginning, with both pitchers locked in, so it came as a surprise when New York got on the board first in the bottom of the fourth, thanks to an RBI double by Bill White to make it 1-0 Giants. Rogovin threw his 200th strikeout of the year in the bottom of the fifth, and he struck out the side in the bottom of the sixth, but our bats weren’t giving him any support at all. Then in the top of the seventh, Mays and Robinson had back to back hits, Robinson’s being an RBI triple, and suddenly we were knotted up 1-1! Robinson scored on a flyout by Del Crandall to put us in the lead 2-1 heading into the stretch. Kaline hit a solo blast to left in the top of the eighth to make it 3-1, just his seventh homer of the year, and Del Crandall batted in a run with a single in the top of the ninth to increase our lead to three runs. Rogovin closed the game out and we won easily, 4-1, another dominant performance against a very non-dominant NL opponent.

Rogovin gave up three hits with 12 strikeouts and a pair of walks, only allowing one run as he improved to 15-5 and brought his ERA back under 2.00 for the year. We only had four hits ourselves, but took advantage of five walks, with Robinson leading the way with a hit and a walk for two runs and an RBI, while Kaline added a hit and a walk for a run and an RBI (thanks to his homer). We now have to focus on Philadelphia. With single games tomorrow and Monday sandwiching a double header on Sunday, we’re not going to get anything easy out of the Phillies on their field.