[jksander]

MAY 6, 1957 . . . For our final game of the series against the Giants, Saul Rogovin (2-2, 2.18 ERA, 33.0 IP, 35 K’s, 0.91 WHIP) started against Herm Wehmeier (1-1, 2.84 ERA, 31.2 IP, 17 K’s, 1.33 WHIP). And this game quietly became a pitcher’s duel with Willie Mays picking up the first hit for either team in the top of the fourth, driving Roger Maris (who had reached second on an error and then stolen third) home to put us up 1-0. Rogovin walked three batters in the first six innings, but did not allow anyone on base via a hit, and every runner was properly stranded. Willie Mays picked up our second hit of the night in the top of the seventh, stealing second to get into scoring position with one out. They walked Banks intentionally, and then Kaline batted into a double play to send us into the stretch leading 1-0. Rogovin walked his fourth batter to start the bottom of the eighth, but a groundout to first and a pair of strikeouts kept the Giants off balance and hitless. Bottom of the ninth: Jim Gilliam hit a pop-out to Mays at center for the first out, Bill White struck out swinging, and then Norm Sullivan hit a line drive to left that blew the no hitter one out away from completion. Damn! Don Blasingame struck out swinging to end the game as we held tough to beat the Giants in a one-run shutout.

Rogovin allowed seven hits and four walks but struck out ten batters in the one-hit shutout, bringing his ERA down to 1.71 for the year, improving his overall record to 3-2. There were only four hits total in this game, with two of our three coming from Willie Mays who hit twice, stole a base and drove in a run. Roger Maris walked once, stole two bases and scored our only run. We’ll head into the two-game road set at Pittsburgh with an 11-9 record, sitting half a game behind the Cardinals and three games out of first (Brooklyn still leads with a 13-5 record). The Pirates sit in fifth place in the NL with a 9-10 record.

MAY 7, 1957 . . . Sandy Koufax (1-1, 3.68 ERA, 22.0 IP, 16 K’s, 1.14 WHIP) went up against Bob Friend (3-0, 1.05 ERA, 34.1 IP, 13 K’s, 0.90 WHIP) in another battle of exceptional young pitchers. Poppell opened the game with a base hit, taking second on a wild pitch. Roger Maris hit one hard, the ball rolling to the right field wall and allowing him to leg out a triple, driving in a run to give us a 1-0 lead. Willie Mays hit a sac-fly to center that quickly made it 2-0 Cubs, already giving Koufax a nice cushion when he came out to pitch in the bottom of the first. He gave up a pair of hits, so no talk of a no-hitter tonight, but was able to get out of the inning without much fuss. We loaded the bases in the top of the second, Al Rosen walking in our third run with two outs. Roger Maris got his first homer of the year in the top of the seventh to make it 4-0 Cubs. Al Rosen hit an RBI double in the top of the ninth that added another run to our tally, with Maris loading the bases with a walk, though three pop-outs in a row ended the frame. Koufax held tough and we were able to shut out the Pirates tonight by a 5-0 margin.

Koufax improved to 2-1 with a 2.61 ERA, pitching a complete game three-hitter with one walk and seven strikeouts. We outhit Pittsburgh 10-3, led by Roger Maris with two hits, a walk, two runs and two RBIs. Jack Poppell added a pair of hits and scored a run, this being his third game in a row without a stolen base after having at least one steal in eight of the ten games prior. But he’s still only been caught four times, good for an 88% success rate.

MAY 8, 1957 . . . Just one more road game and then we can head back to Chicago and give our home crowd a chance to see the team now that we’re starting to click as a unit! Bob Purkey (1-1, 2.08 ERA, 26.0 IP, 6 K’s, 0.77 WHIP) gets the start this evening, going up against Gene Conley (3-1, 2.06 ERA, 39.1 IP, 17 K’s, 1.07 WHIP). Roger Maris got a homer in his second consecutive game, scoring two runs to put us up 2-0 in the top of the first! But the Pirates got on the board quickly themselves, Leon Wagner hitting an RBI single in the bottom of the inning to make it a one-run lead. Ernie Banks tripled to start the top of the second, and a Lee Moss sac-fly to deep left drove him home to increase our lead to 3-1. Purkey loaded the bases in the bottom of the fourth, and a line-drive into left field by Billy Klaus tied us up at 3-3 with a two-RBI double. But we got out of the inning without giving them a lead, thanks to solid infield defense. Don Gross came in to pitch in the bottom of the sixth, getting three outs off just eight pitches, and we quickly loaded the bases in the top of the seventh, with Al Rosen batting in the go-ahead run to make it 4-3 heading into the stretch. Gross made efficient use of his pitches in the seventh as well, getting three outs by contact on three pitches that inning, and he struck out a pair in the eighth to keep our one-run lead safe! Carl Erskine came in with one out and a man on first in the bottom of the ninth, giving up a hit that put runners on the corners before striking out Rocky Nelson to end the game as a 4-3 Cubs win!

Purkey held tough for five innings with seven hits and three walks, allowing all three of our runs to ding his ERA up a tad to 2.68. But Don Gross came in and gave us 3.1 innings with just one hit, striking out a pair and keeping his ERA unblemished through 4.1 innings. Erskine allowed one hit with one strikeout and improved his ERA to 7.11 on the season with his first save of the year. We outhit Pittsburgh 12-9, with Poppell, Rosen, Banks and Kaline each hitting twice, while Mays led the team with three hits, a walk, a stolen base and a run scored.

We get a much-needed day off tomorrow, and then return to Wrigley for a four-game set against the Redlegs. Over the next two-and-a-half weeks, we’ll play every NL team but the Cardinals on our field. At 13-9 we trail the Dodgers (15-5) by just three games. Over in the AL, the Yankees (15-4) have a three game lead over Detroit (14-9), with Baltimore (11-10, 5 GB) trailing behind. Both Sox teams are at the bottom of that league, with Boston (8-12) and Chicago (7-14) looking like they’re on the verge of collapse.