[jksander]

MAY 17, 1956 . . . Robert Diehl (1-0, 1.20 ERA, 15.0 IP, 5 K’s, 0.93 WHIP) pitched today against Johnny Klippstein (1-4, 5.67 ERA, 33.1 IP, 14 K’s, 1.41 WHIP). Willie Mays opened the game with a two-run blast to left for his 12th homer of the year, putting us ahead 2-0 in the top of the first. But Bill Virdon hit a solo blast to right, his third of the year, to pull the Pirates to within a run in the bottom of the second, and they took the lead when Diehl threw a fastball to Billy Klaus, who hit a two-run homer (his third) that put them ahead 3-1. Willie Mays hit a two-run triple to give us a 4-3 lead in the top of the third, but in the bottom of the fourth Joe Garagiola batted in a run to tie it up 4-4. Jackie Robinson hit an RBI double to put us back up 5-4 in the top of the fifth, and with one out and men on the corners in the bottom of the inning we brought in Larry Jansen, deciding Diehl just didn’t have it today. Janson got the second out on a fielder’s choice, Bill Virdon taking first and driving in the tying run. And he got the final out by strikeout, sending us into the top of the sixth knotted again at 5-5. Jansen then came up big at the plate, hitting a hard shot to deep left, driving in two runs to give us a 7-5 lead. Kaline hit an RBI triple on two outs that made it a three-run lead, and Banks drove him home with a single. We went into the bottom of the sixth leading suddenly by a 9-5 margin, and Carl Erskine came in for his first Cubs relief appearance ready to hold this lead.

His appearance was a flat-out disaster, and it happened so fast, by the time we got Koufax warmed up and in there, he’d loaded the bases, walked in a run, given up a second run on a Ken Boyer RBI single, and then let ANOTHER single into right field, allowing the Pirates to pull to within a run, down 9-8. Jesus H. Christ, I’ve never seen a reliever come in so ready and then blow up so completely. Koufax, having rushed himself into this one, gave up the tying run on a walk, and then Bill Virdon hit a two-run triple to blast Pittsburgh back into the lead, as this game turned into my worst living nightmare. And yet, just like that, things calmed down -- Koufax got a flyout to center, and then Danny O’Connell hit into a double play. But in that bottom of the sixth, Carl Erskine gave up four hits and six earned runs with two walks (and ZERO OUTS), while Koufax came in and gave up a hit and a walk, though he surrendered no runs of his own. No matter, we headed into the top of the seventh trailing 11-9 and with a busted-to-hell bullpen.

Top of the seventh -- Al Rosen hits a two-out solo homer to left, his sixth of the year, to pull us within a run. Koufax got us through the bottom of the seventh, but surrendered our 12th run as Rip Repulski batted in a run with a single. Hersh Freeman came in for the bottom of the eighth, getting the three smoothest outs we’d seen in nearly an hour, sending us into the top of the ninth trailing by two with the heart of our order up to bat. Roy Face struck out Robinson and Mays swinging, but Roger Maris got a hit into the outfield and took first, and Al Rosen ALMOST had a homer, but settled for an RBI triple to make it 12-11. But Gene Baker batted out to first, ending this hellscape of a game as a 12-11 loss.

Robert Diehl started this eventual bullpen game out with 4.1 innings of five-hit, one strikeout, one walk baseball, giving up five runs (three earned) to give him a 2.33 ERA. Janson got us two outs with a strikeout, and I should have kept him out for the sixth inning, but our frame had taken so long I worried he’d no longer be warmed up enough to continue. Stupid mistake. Erskine took the loss, and though he survived this without an official earned run average, because you cannot divide by zero, his ERA is now effectively infinite. I’m going to have to hope this was a crazy fluke of nature, because everything I’ve seen from him since he joined the Cubs has suggested he still has major league potential. But putting him back out there is going to have to require careful consideration, or he’s going to be an expensive object lesson. Koufax handled a thankless job, giving up three hits, two walks and a run in two innings of work, while Freeman came in and got us through an inning with the three outs and nothing else. Insanely, we outhit the Pirates 14-12 in this nearly three-hour torture fest. Mays had two hits, a run and four RBIs, Rosen added two hits two runs and two RBIs, and Al Kaline hit twice and walked once, scoring three times and batting in a run.

MAY 18, 1956 . . . After yesterday’s 11-12 loss to the Pirates, we’re now on a two-game skid, off to a 10-5 start in May, after starting Apri out at 8-4. With two games left at Pittsburgh before heading to Brooklyn and Philly, we need to figure things out quickly or we risk digging a real hole here as we try and get back into the pennant lead. Tom Acker (1-0, 0.00 ERA, 7.0 IP, 4 K’s, 0.86 WHIP) got the start today against Gene Conley (2-3, 4.81 ERA, 43.0 IP, 22 K’s, 1.47 WHIP). Willie Mays scored a run on a flyout by Rosen to put us up 1-0 in the top of the second, and it stayed that way until an RBI single by Ricky Nelson tied us up in the bottom of the sixth. Acker gave up a line drive to left by Danny O’Connell, who stretched a double into a triple and drove in two more runs, and with just one out we had to bring in Larry Jansen to get us out of this mess. Jansen got a groundout to first and a strikeout, and we went into the top of the seventh trailing 3-1. We loaded the bases in the top of the inning, and a Kaline flyout to left gave us two outs but scored a run to cut their lead to one heading into the stretch. Koufax came in for the bottom of the seventh, and he got three outs on 10 pitches to get us into the eighth, and he got us through the bottom of the eighth as well, though our bats continued to struggle. Top of the ninth, Del Crandall strikes out looking, and Bill Serena, pinch-hitting for Koufax, grounds out to first. Kaline does the same and the game is over as another loss, again by a one-run margin, as the Pirates beat us 3-2.

Acker fell to 1-1 with a 5.1 inning six hit performance, striking out two, walking three and giving up all three of our runs, to give him a 2.19 ERA through two starts. Jansen got us the two outs we needed in the sixth, striking out one and dropping his ERA to 4.35, while Koufax pitched two one-hit innings to improve his to 4.30. The Pirates outhit us 7-5, with Mays leading the way with two hits for a run while Rosen had a hit and a walk, scoring a run and batting in another. Kaline never got a hit, but was credited with a sac-fly that batted in a run.
 
MAY 19, 1956 . . . We only lost 36 games all year in 1955, and this year we’re almost a third of the way there and it’s not even June. Tonight we were looking for a win to avoid being swept by the now sixth place Pirates, with Hy Cohen (6-1, 1.72 ERA, 62.2 IP, 79 K’s, 0.77 WHIP) up in the rotation. He faced off against Hank Aguirre (0-2, 3.46 ERA, 13.0 IP, 6 K’s, 1.68 WHIP). Both pitchers were locked in early in this one, but at least Pittsburgh had picked a pair of hits -- Aguirre got through five innings without a baserunner! Top of the sixth, Gene Baker finally broke the spell and reached base on a single that rolled just barely into the outfield, but Baker popped up to first and Cohen grounded into a fielder’s choice that got Baker out at second. Kaline came up for the third time and popped out to center, keeping it 0-0 heading into the bottom of the sixth. With two outs and a man on first in the bottom of the inning, disaster struck -- Rocky Nelson hit a single on a 1-2 count, a line drive that sent Colavito to second, and then on an E7 throwing error as Colavito tried to steal third, he was able to come around and score all the way from first to put the Pirates up 1-0. That happened fast. Cohen then gave up a hit into left field that Maris couldn’t grab, which turned into an RBI double for O’Connell, and this soured quickly. We got the final out, but the sixth inning has been murder for us lately; we headed into the seventh trailing 2-0.

We woke up in the top of the inning, with Banks getting a base hit and then Robinson slamming a triple into deep left, batting Banks in for a run. Willie Mays got a hit into center field that drove Robinson in to score the tying run, and then Aguirre got three quick flyouts to escape into the stretch with the score again knotted 2-2. Cohen stayed out and got us safely through the seventh, and he got us through the eighth as well, though we were still trying to get someone on base to take the lead. Top of the ninth, with Aguirre still on the mound and Banks coming up to bat, we at least had the heart of our order up at the right time. Banks took his base on balls, and Robinson got a hit into the outfield, deep, and Banks was able to reach second as Robinson’s hit was caught at the wall for out number one. They walked Mays intentionally, and Maris flew out to second for our second out, though Banks was able to make it safely to third. But Rosen flew out to left and our chance melted away. Cohen got a pair of strikeouts in the bottom of the ninth, however, and we headed for extra innings for just the third time this season.

Pinch hitters for the bottom of our order all failed to get on base in the top of the 10th, and we brought Hersh Freeman in for the bottom of the inning hoping to get one more chance for the top of our lineup. Facing their three leadoff batters, however, he struggled. Ken Boyer and Rip Ripulski each got on base with singles to put us in a tight spot. He walked Colavito, and then it was like you could see us just give up completely, as Bill Virdon walked it off with a shot into left, winning this one for the Pirates 3-2 as they swept us. So apparently this is what a tailspin looks like ...

Cohen escaped with a no-decision, pitching nine innings with six hits, nine strikeouts, two walks and two earned runs to bring his ERA to 1.76 so far this season. Freeman took the loss and fell to 0-1, giving up three hits and a walk without securing a single out. Nine pitches and it was over, his ERA falling to 2.45 through 7.1 innings. They outhit us 9-4, Mays leading with a hit and a walk for an RBI, and Robinson hitting and scoring a run with an RBI. Ernie Banks hit once and scored a run, and that was the extent of our aenemic offense. We’ll now head into the doubleheader against the Dodgers on the road, having lost four games in a row for the first time in a long time, knocking us to 3.5 games out of first and with the Phillies (15-13, 6 GB) right on our heels.