[jksander]

APRIL 25, 1957 . . . Hy Cohen (1-0, 2.81 ERA, 16.0 IP, 14 K’s, 1.19 WHIP) pitched in game two against the Redlegs, facing Don Drysdale (1-1, 4.02 ERA, 15.2 IP, 13 K’s, 1.28 WHIP). After just one out, Cohen gave up hits to Groat and Kluszewski, an E5 error led to loaded bases, and then Gus Bell was hit by a pitch, driving in a run. Chuck Tanner grounded into a fielder’s choice as we kept another run from scoring, and then Hal Smith popped out to center, sending us into the second inning trailing by a run and with Cohen looking unusually vulnerable. We got Banks to second base thanks to a fielding error at first, but Maris grounded out to first, stranding him there in the top of the second. Cohen settled in well and the game turned into a pitching duel, and Willie Mays came through in the clutch in the top of the sixth, hitting a solo homer to tie us up 1-1! That was his third of the season. And it stayed that way into the final inning, with Al Rosen leading off in the top of the ninth still knotted. Rosen led off with a walk, but Maris batted out to center, though Rosen advanced into scoring position off a wild pitch. Crandall walked, and Cohen successfully sac-bunted for the third time in the game. But Poppell, also for the third time, failed to bring the runners home, and we went into the bottom of the inning with no hope outside of extra innings. But Cohen did his part and got us there, getting three quick outs with Drott and Erskine waiting in the wings. Cohen stayed out in the bottom of the tenth with it still tied, getting three more quick outs, but we still couldn’t buy a hit. So he stayed out and got us two more in the bottom of the eleventh, but with two outs and a man on first, Chuck Tanner hit a two-run walk-off homer to give the Redlegs a 3-1 11th inning victory.

Cohen fell to 1-1, though his ERA improved to 2.70, allowing eight hits with five strikeouts and three earned runs through 10.2 innings. The game was a true deadlock, as that final homer broke the hits tie as well, Cincy outhitting us 8-7. Willie Mays led the way with three hits, a run and an RBI, while Rosen hit twice and was stranded both times. We return to Wrigley with a 4-5 record, and we’ve demoted a pair of benchwarmers to to make room to bring Vern Law and Tom Acker back up to give us extra depth in the bullpen to get us through the upcoming St. Louis series and then our extended road trip.

APRIL 26, 1957 . . . St. Louis comes into Chicago with a 6-3 record, just a game and a half behind the Dodgers in first. Sandy Koufax (0-1, 5.62 ERA, 8.0 IP, 4 K’s, 1.38 WHIP) got the start this afternoon against Larry Jackson (0-0, 1.50 ERA, 6.0 IP, 0 K’s, 1.00 WHIP). Kaline got us going with an RBI double in the bottom of the first, and Koufax came out firing on all cyllinders to start this game, striking out four batters in the first three innings! Jackie Robinson batted Poppell in to score our second run in the bottom of the third, making it a 2-0 ballgame, but the Cardinals got on the board in the top of the fifth thanks to a one-out RBI single by Gene Smith. They tied it up as Bill Sarni hit into a fielder’s choice, and Koufax continued to struggle in the inning, as Wally Moon hit a RBI single to take the lead 3-2. We got out of the inning with a strikeout, but in the process we blew all our momentum. Koufax got us into the stretch still trailing by the one run. Don Demeter got another hit pinch-hitting for Koufax in the bottom of the seventh, and Jack Poppell got a hit into center field, getting Demeter into scoring position. Kaline got a great hit into right and Demeter tried to make the slide safely into home, but Wally Moon made the throw just in the nick of time to pick him off and Jackie Robinson grounded out to end the rally attempt.

Carl Erskine came in to pitch in the top of the eighth, and he absolutely failed to deliver, quickly putting us in a deeper hole with an RBI single by Stan Musial before getting the remaining outs we needed. Al Rosen got a run scoring single to fall in the bottom of the eighth to get us back into it, however, and Maris got on base, reaching second on a balk that pushed two runners into scoring position. Crandall loaded the bases, and Ed Bouchee came in to hit for Erskine, hitting a line drive up the middle to tie it up 4-4! Jack Poppell walked in a run to give us the lead, and Del Crandall scored another on a sac-fly to deep left by Kaline. Jackie Robinson kept the rally going with an RBI single that gave us a three-run lead, and Dick Drott came in to close it out in the top of the ninth. He did what needed to be done, pitching around a mid-inning walk to get us the 7-4 victory at home -- our first win in front of the hometown faithful this season!

Koufax held his own tonight, giving us seven innings with six hits, six strikeouts, no walks and three earned runs, improving his ERA to 4.80. Erskine picked up the win, improving to 1-0, but he gave up two hits and a run, and his ERA remains at 10.80. Drott picked up a save, walking one but not allowing any other baserunners, bringing his ERA down to 9.82. We outhit the Cardinals 12-8, led by Kaline and Robinson, who each hit twice with two RBIs. Poppell had a hit, three walks and stole three bases, scoring twice and driving in a run, while Don Demeter picked up his second hit in a row as a pinch-hitter, living up to his potential as he settles into life as a bench player in the majors.
 
APRIL 27, 1957 . . . Bob Purkey (1-0, 3.00 ERA, 9.0 IP, 2 K’s, 1.00 WHIP) started this afternoon against Dave Hillman (0-0, 7.42 ERA, 13.1 IP, 5 K’s, 1.80 WHIP) in our second game of the series against the Cards here at Wrigley. St. Louis quickly got on the board, a Frank Bolling triple followed by a Stan Musial groundout allowed them to take a quick 1-0 lead in the top of the first. Jackie Robinson tied it up in the bottom of the fourth, however, with a solo bomb out at center, his fifth four-bagger in two weeks! Purkey was remarkably efficient, throwing just 51 pitches through his first six innings of work, and we were still deadlocked 1-1 heading into the seventh inning stretch. The Cards got men on the corners in the top of the eighth, but a perfectly timed double play got us out of it with the tie still in place. Bottom of the ninth, Al Rosen led off with a base hit, but the wind kept a hard-hit Maris ball inside the park and allowed for an easy catch at the warning track, and we weren’t able to advance Rosen, going into extras still tied 1-1. Purkey, who had only thrown 78 pitches, stayed in for the 10th and quickly gave up a pair of hits and the lead, a Tony Klubek RBI single putting them ahead 2-1. He got the outs to get us through the rest of the inning, and we came up to bat with Poppell hitting first. Incredibly they made the mistake of putting him on base with four balls, and he stole second and third to get quickly into scoring position, but he was taken out at the plate on a fielder’s choice, leaving Jackie Robinson alone on first with Willie Mays up to bat, two outs. Mays got off a great hit, but it too was held inside for an easy catch on the warning track by their center fielder, and we lost this one 2-1 in 10 innings.

Bob Purkey fell to 1-1 with a 2.37 ERA, allowing just seven hits in a 10-inning complete game, striking out one and walking nobody, throwing just 92 pitches. They outhit us 7-6, with Robinson leading the way with a pair of hits, a walk, a run and an RBI, along with his first stolen base of the season. Al Rosen added two hits and a walk but got nowhere, while Poppell went hitless but got the 10th inning walk, picking up two steals to give him 13 already this season.

APRIL 28, 1957 . . . Saul Rogovin (1-1, 2.81 ERA, 16.0 IP, 18 K’s, 0.75 WHIP) pitched today against Vinegar Bend Mizell (0-1, 5.54 ERA, 13.0 IP, 10 K’s, 1.62 WHIP). This will be our last home game for a couple weeks, so we really need to make it count. So of course it turned into a red-hot pitching duel, both teams combining for three hits in the first five innings, though Kaline finally got us to break the stalemate with an RBI single that gave us a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the sixth. Smelling blood, we loaded the bases with just one out, but they played great defense and kept us from doing anything with all those baserunners. Don Demeter pinch hit for Les Moss to lead off the bottom of the seventh with a base hit, and Rogovin hit a sac-bunt to move him into scoring position, but again we couldn’t drive him home. Rogovin stayed out for the ninth and then collapsed, loading the bases, and we had to bring in Erskine, who got the out at home when Dick Stuart hit into a fielder’s choice. Ditto for Russ Nixon, who hit one straight to Poppell, who threw home for the second out, though the bases stayed loaded. Unfortunately, pinch hitter Willie McCovey hit one out into center and gave them a 2-1 lead, continuing our terrible stretch in close games. We got out of it without any further damage, but now had real work to do in the bottom of the inning, and let’s be frank -- we have NOT been hitting well. Maris led off with a strikeout, but Del Crandall walked, bringing up Ed Bouchee who was pinch-hitting for Erskine. He got off a good hit, but it went straight to the center fielder for out number two, at which point Poppell hit one straight to the right fielder and this one was over. Another one-run loss, this time 2-1.

Rogovin took the loss, falling to 1-2 with a 2.62 ERA, allowing only four hits with eight strikeouts and three walks, all three walks coming in the final frame. He wound up being credited with both runs scored, while Erskine earned the blown save, allowing just one hit and performing as well as anyone could expect considering how Rogovin set him up. The Cardinals out hit us 5-4 in this duel, with Kaline being the only player to bat in a run, Poppell being the man to score it, while adding two stolen bases to his tally to do so.

Our start this year has not been optimal, losing three of our four rare home games, setting us up for a brutal slog to end the month of April and start out the month of May. We’re currently 5-7 heading into our first series with Brooklyn (on the road, of course), which puts us in a tie for fifth in the NL. Brooklyn (8-3) leads the way, followed by St. Louis (8-4), Cincinnati (6-6) and the Giants (6-7). Pittsburgh is tied with us in fifth, with Philadelphia and Milwaukee only a game behind. This is definitely going to be a really challenging season, and we’ve got to get to the bottom of our run-scoring issues. Yes, we’re +12 overall in Run Differential through our first dozen games, but we’re 0-3 in extra innings, and we’re 0-4 in one-run games, which is unacceptable with our current batting lineup.