[jksander]

MAY 28, 1956 . . . Saul Rogovin (5-2, 2.54 ERA, 71.0 IP, 89 K’s, 0.86 WHIP) came up to start against Don Drysdale (3-5, 4.63 ERA, 56.1 IP, 31 K’s, 1.54 WHIP) in the first game at home against the Redlegs. And Cincy wasted no time, taking a 1-0 lead on an RBI double by Dick Groat in the top of the first. In the top of the third they added another, thanks to Gus Bell’s 11th homer of the year, but Saul Rogovin stunned everyone in the stands in the bottom of the inning when he nailed a two-run homer of his own that stayed just barely fair at right field, tying the score with his first homer just the seventh of his career! Ernie Banks hit his sixth homer of the year to put us up 3-2 in the bottom of the fourth, but a botched catch at first that should have led to the final out of the inning in the top of the fifth instead resulted in an error, as Frank Robinson took first and Bob Elliott came home from third to tie the game. Rogovin then surrendered a line drive to center that loaded the bases, before striking Dick Groat out to end the inning. Gene Baker hit an RBI single that put us up 4-3 in the bottom of the sixth, and Del Crandall hit another right after it to extend our lead to 5-3! Ed Bouchee pinch hit for Rogovin with two on and two outs, but couldn’t get it out of the infield and we went into the seventh leading by a pair and with Hersh Freeman coming in to pitch. He gave up a one-out hit, but then handled a double play to send us into the stretch. Willie Mays hit his 18th homer of the year, a three-run blast, in the bottom of the seventh to make our lead 8-3 heading into the top of the eighth. Freeman gave up a two-run triple to Hal Smith on two outs, and Koufax came in to stop this one from getting out of control, but he floundered and loaded the bases on walks, before getting us our final out on a throw from Banks to Baker as my blood pressure spiked a hundred percent. Koufax stayed out to protect the lead in the top of the ninth, pitching around a walk to complete the 8-5 win for us.

Saul Rogovin was able to come out of this with a win, improving to 6-2 with a six inning quality start, six hits, three runs (two earned) and eight strikeouts against a single walk, keeping his ERA at 2.57 for the year. Freeman got his first hold of the season, pitching 1.2 innings with three hits, two runs and a walk, giving him a 5.59 ERA. And Koufax earned his third save of the year, putting up 1.1 innings with three walks, no strikeouts and no hits. Not his finest effort, but he got the job done, and his ERA is now 3.63 through 34.2 innings in 13 appearances. Each team had nine hits in this one, Willie Mays leading the way for us with a hit, two runs scored and three batted in. He now has 18 homers and 55 RBIs, both leading our entire team by a wide margin. Rosen and Baker each hit twice as well.

Mays is now tied in the home run race with Boston’s Ted Williams. Cincy’s Ted Kluszewski is in third place with 16, still well ahead of Frank Thomas (12) and Gus Bell (11). He leads the entire league in RBIs by a dozen over Williams, leading Williams by two-thousandths of a point in slugging percentage, slugging .842 to Williams’ .840. Williams is now only eight homers away from breaking 450 in his career at age 37, which is pretty damned impressive.

MAY 29, 1956 . . . Tom Acker (1-1, 2.19 ERA, 12.1 IP, 6 K’s, 1.22 WHIP) got the start today against Cincy’s Vern Law (2-2, 5.40 ERA, 33.1 IP, 6 K’s, 1.50 WHIP). Kaline scored a run off a Willie Mays sac fly in the bottom of the first to put us in the lead, and Del Crandall hit his fifth homer of the year in the bottom of the second inning, extending our lead to 3-0. But an error at first and a passed ball advanced a runner to third in the top of the third, and Frank Robinson drove it home with an RBI double to put the Redlegs on the board, trailing 3-1 heading into the bottom of the third. Baker hit his second homer of the year, making it 4-1 in the bottom of the fourth, and in the bottom of the fifth Jackie Robinson hit a two-run blast, his sixth of the season, to expand the lead to five runs. Willie Mays hit one immediately following, his 19th of the season, and Ernie Banks made it back-to-back-to-back homers with his seventh! Del Crandall batted into a double play to end the inning, but we’d exploded offensively and led the Redlegs 8-1 heading into the sixth. Frank Robinson hit a homer for the Redlegs to start the sixth, pulling them within six runs, and Elmer Valo hit a homer off Erskine, making it 8-3. Larry Jansen came in with two outs in the top of the seventh, men on second and third, and Ted Kluszewski hit a two-run single off him to make it 8-5, but we got into the seventh inning stretch still leading 8-5, and in the bottom of the inning Jackie Robinson hit his second homer of the game to lead off, making it 9-5. Jansen stayed out to close things out in the top of the ninth as we held tough to beat the Redlegs by four runs, a 9-5 margin.

Ton Acker lasted 5.1 innings with four hits, three strikeouts and two runs (one earned) to improve to 2-1 with a 2.04 ERA. Erskine remains hit or miss, giving us 1.1 innings with three hits and a walk for three earned runs. But Jansen came in and held our ground, giving us 2.1 excellent innings, one hit and a strikeout improving his ERA to 4.82. We outhit the Redlegs 13-8, outhomering them 6-2 thanks to Crandall, Baker, Robinson, Mays and Banks. Baker led us with four hits for two runs and an RBI, while Robinson had two homers for two runs and three RBIs. Mays added two RBIs to his tally while staying in front of the homerun race, taking the lead over Ted Williams who has 18.
 
MAY 30, 1956 . . . We have two games tonight and one tomorrow against Milwaukee (17-20) and then get three shots at Brooklyn (31-9), our boys still trailing the Dodgers by six and a half. Camilo Pascual (3-3, 3.80 ERA, 45.0 IP, 32 K’s, 1.29 WHIP) got the start in game one this afternoon against Johnny Antonelli (4-4, 2.61 ERA, 69.0 IP, 36 K’s, 1.09 WHIP).

Pascual started out well, getting two quick outs, but then gave up a single to Hank Aaron, who stole second base. He then hit Eddie Mathews with a pitch, an E6 fielding error allowed Joe Adcock to reach first and load the bases, and then he walked Johnny Logan to put the Braves up 1-0. A visit to the mound seemed to calm him, but he then walked Hal Smith, giving the Braves their second free run. A pop fly to center that was out of Mays’ range scored two more runs, and this one was turning into a full-on fire. Pascual finally got the last out, but we went into the bottom of the first trailing 4-0, and I had to strongly consider whether he had a second inning in him after a 38-pitch first inning. Jackie Robinson hit a solo homer to center, putting us on the board with a run in the bottom of the inning, And I gave Pascual a chance to stay in and clean up his mess, and he settled in with a 14-pitch, two strikeout second inning. Banks hit a solo blast to left of center to make it a 4-2 ballgame, matching Robinson with eight homers on the year, and we went into the third inning trailing by two. But the Braves got an RBI single out of Johnny Logan in the top of the third. Bill Serena pinch hit for him in the bottom of the inning though we were able to get no runs from it, Larry Jansen coming in to pitch starting with the top of the fourth.

Jansen got us through three innings with the score still 5-2, and we brought Hersh Freeman in for the top of the seventh, hoping to keep the margin where it was so our bats could get us back in this one. But he gave up a double, got a groundout to first, and then surrendered an RBI single to Hank Aaron, digging our hole deeper. Eddie Mathews added to the damage with a homer, and we went into the stretch trailing by six runs. Our bats stayed weak, and with the game a blowout we brought in Erskine to throw in the eighth, staying in to finish the ninth as well, bringing up Roger Maris in the bottom of the ninth with six runs to make up. Maris batted out to short, but Gene Baker got a hit into center, reaching first. Crandall reached base on a fielder’s choice that picked off Baker, and Erskine picked up a two-out single, moving Del Crandall to second with two outs. And Al Rosen ended this sad affair with a weak hit to the left fielder. Milwaukee won this one 8-2.

Pascual took the loss, falling to 3-4 with a 3.75 ERA thanks to a three inning outing -- three hits, two K’s, three walks and five runs, only one of which was earned. Jansen pitched three innings with two hits and two K’s, and Freeman gave us an inning with three hits, giving up three runs in the process. Erskine had two really solid innings with the game out of reach, only surrendering one hit while striking out a pair.

Robert Diehl (1-1, 3.33 ERA, 27.0 IP, 12 K’s, 1.26 WHIP) got the start in game two, facing Richard Sovde (2-1, 3.79 ERA, 19.0 IP, 12 K’s, 1.37 WHIP). Diehl got two outs and then Hank Aaron nailed one into the bleachers to put the Braves up 1-0. Jackie Robinson hit an RBI triple in the bottom of the fourth to tie things up 1-1, and an error on a flyout by Banks allowed Robinson to come around and score, putting us up 2-1! But with two outs in the top of the fifth, Diehl gave up a two-run homer to Joe Adcock, staying in one batter too long and putting the Braves back up 3-2. Harry Dorish came in and got the final out, sending us into the bottom of the inning trailing by a run. Gene Baker got it back, hitting his third homer of the season to tie things up 3-3. Dorish gave up a solo blast to Adcock in the top of the eighth, his second of the game, to make it 4-3 Braves, bringing in Hersh Freeman with one out. A groundout to first and a strikeout ended the inning, sending us into the bottom of the frame with a run to make up. We came up empty, and Koufax came in for the top of the ninth and kept us from losing any ground. Ernie Banks had his hero moment in the bottom of the inning, hitting his ninth homer of the year to tie this one up 4-4 with one out. Maris reached first safely on a fielding error, and Gene Baker got a hit into right field, sending Maris to third. And a fielding error by the shortstop with two outs allowed Koufax to reach first safely, driving in the winning run as we took this one from them 5-4!

Koufax won this one with his arm AND his bat, improving to 1-2 with a strikeout and no hits or runs against him. Diehl gave us 4.2 innings to start the game, with six hits and three walks contributing to three earned runs. Dorish then came in and kept it a game, going 2.2 innings with two hits, two K’s and one run. Freeman got us two outs when we needed them, setting up Koufax to still have a shot at turning this one into the win. The Braves outhit us 8-7, but we made ours count. Jackie Robinson (two hits, one run, one RBI thanks to his triple) and Gene Baker (two hits, one one, one RBI via homer) were our offensive leaders, while Banks batted in two and scored once with a homer of his own.

MAY 31, 1956 . . . We’ve brought Bob Porterfield up as a spot starter, so we can keep Cohen and Rogovin fresh for the Brooklyn series. He only played in one game at the major league level this year, getting us the final out of a 2-5 loss to the Redlegs on April 20, giving up one hit before getting a flyout from Dick Groat. He’s gone 1-2 for AAA Los Angeles through 28.1 innings, striking out 18 with a 1.34 WHIP and a 4.76 ERA. He pitched this afternoon against Bob Turley (4-4, 3.63 ERA, 67.0 IP, 44 K’s, 1.34 WHIP). Ernie Banks got us on the board with his 10th homer of the year, a solo blast to right that put us up 1-0 in the bottom of the second. In the bottom of the sixth, Jackie Robinson walked, reached second on a wild pitch, successfully stole third after an intentional walk of Willie Mays, and then made it home on an E8 throwing error off an Ernie Banks flyout, giving us a 2-0 lead with Mays now in scoring position. Maris Walked, and then Mays managed to steal third with the count 1-1 on Baker. Mays made it home as they chose to throw Baker out at first instead, and then Turley walked Crandall and Porterfield to load the bases. He walked Al Rosen, scoring our fourth run of the game via Turley’s NINTH WALK, and when they didn’t pull Turley, Kaline took full advantage and belted one into left to score another run and keep the bases loaded for Robinson, who flew out to second -- we’d go into the top of the seventh with a 5-0 lead. Carl Erskine came in for the seventh inning, and Joe Adcock got the Braves on the board with an RBI single with one out. Johnny Logan hit a two-run blast to make it 5-3, and with two outs and a man on second we brought Jansen in, getting the final out to protect what was left of the lead. Joe Adcock got himself an RBI single in the top of the eighth to cut our lead to a run, but Jansen got us through the jam and Koufax started warming up for the ninth. The top of our order got us nowhere in the bottom of the eighth, so Koufax came in to save it, getting three outs with relative ease as we closed out the 5-4 victory.

Porterfield did his job, lasting six innings with three hits and a strikeout, no runs, giving him a 1-0 record and a still-perfect ERA. Erskine got another shot with a big lead and nearly blew the whole thing, giving up four hits and three runs with one strikeout and only two outs completed. Jansen got a hold, his second of the year, lasting 1.1 innings with three hits and a strikeout, with just the one earned run. And Koufax notched his fourth save of the year with two strikeouts and a walk, giving him a 3.44 ERA through 36.2 innings pitched in 15 appearances. Milwaukee again outhit us, this time 10-7, but we’re getting better at manufacturing runs, with Robinson and Mays each getting their first stolen bases of the season. Banks hit three times for a run and two RBIs, and Maris added a pair of hits and a run on the ground. But he’s struggling this year, hitting just .189/.249/.358 through 42 games, with two doubles, two triples and seven homers.

We head into the three-game Brooklyn series with a 26-16 record, seven games behind the Dodgers who currently are 33-9 and 4-1 against our Cubs. They are 9-3 in one run games to our 7-5, and they’ve won nine of their last ten. They’re also 19-6 on the road, and in general they’ve had our number this year. It’s time for our team to step up and show we’re serious about getting into this playoff race for real. Our rotation is fully rested, with Cohen, Rogovin and Pascual ready to go in the series.

In the AL, the Yankees (32-13) have a 3.5 game lead on Detroit (27-15) and an 8.5 game lead on Cleveland (22-20). Their +76 Run Differential is the only one better than Brooklyn (+69) or ourselves (+56) in the majors.