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April 4, 1947: We took the lead in the top of the fourth against Boston when Arky Vaughn hit a sac-fly to drive home Jackie Robinson, putting us up 1-0. And Dutch Leonard, having his best game of the spring, kept us in it from there, dominating batter after batter as he held the one-run lead into the sixth -- when he blew a pick-off play at first, an E1 error that allowed Johnny Peacock to tie the game on two outs: Tie Game. In the top of the eighth we got the lead back when Bob Dillinger hit an RBI single, driving in Wally Moses from third, and Dillinger later scored off a bases loaded walk by Vaughn, putting us up 3-1 heading into the bottom of the inning. Leonard got us thorugh the eighth with the lead intact, and with his arm still fresh we let him complete the game as we held tough to win 3-1. Leonard, in nine innings, allowed just nine hits and a run with two strikeouts and no walks, and we won while being outhit 9-6! Vaughn batted in two runs without a hit, and Dillinger led the team with two hits, a run and an RBI.
April 5, 1947: Against Cleveland, we again took the lead first, this time in the bottom of the second off an RBI single by Ellis Clary. We added a pair in the fourth, thanks to RBI doubles by Clary and Tommy Glaviano, and Ned Garver took the ball in the top of the eighth leading 3-0! Garver blew the shutout, as Lou Boudreau hit an RBI double to drive home Cleveland’s first run, but he got out of the inning with a hold. Les Moss hit an RBI double in the ninth to add a run back, and Al Jurisich took over in the bottom of the inning, pitching around a walked batter to get us the outs we needed to win 4-1. Sanford improved to 3-1 with a 3.00 ERA, allowing just three hits with three walks and four strikeouts in his seven innings, and we outhit the Guardians 8-5, led by Clary, who hit twice with a run scored and two batted in.
April 6, 1947: We played the Tigers today, with Spring Training nearly at an end, Tom Seats getting his last start to impress us before we set the opening day rosters. We traded a run apeice in the top of the first and the bottom of the second, Wally Judnich scoring the tying run for us, and Seats got us into the seventh still tied ... but with one out, he gave up a solo homer to Hoot Evers and the Tigers retook the lead. Stan Ferens took over from there, and he gave up a run in the top of the ninth to Jimmy Bloodworth -- another solo bomb -- but we tied the game with a two-run blast by Les Moss and this one went into extras tied 3-3. Ferens got us through the 10th safely, Sam Zoldak taking the ball in the top of the 11th. Cleveland retook the lead in the top of the 12th off an absolutely piss-poor defensive play (Johnny Outlaw getting them the lead) and a second run scored off a wild pitch ... and that was all she wrote, our guys losing 5-3 after 12 innings. Zoldak (4-2, 2.33 ERA) took the loss, pitching two innings with four hits and two runs, and Detroit outhit us 14-7 ... we had no business keeping it a ballgame as long as it was. Phil Cavarretta led the way with two hits and a run scored.
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