The Battle for First Place
Pirates at Giants, May 3, 1949
The Battle for First Place
Both the Pirates and Giants have been spectacular so far.
The Pirates find themselves in first place as of this game, 1 1/2 games in front of the Giants. It’s been amazing - something that I never would have expected from this 1949 replay. We’ll see if it keeps up.
Now, the Pirates were nowhere near this good at this point in 1949. However, they apparently did have dreams of pennant glory:
We’ll see how long this lasts.
Big Beginning
The Giants started this one off hot. First came Willard Marshall, the leadoff hitter:
And, after Sid Gordon made the first out of the bottom of the first, up came Whitey Lockman:
That made this one 2-0 early, and really put the Pirates in a hole. New York managed another home run from Walker Cooper in the bottom of the 4th to make the score 3-1.
Comeback
But, of course, that wasn’t all.
Pittsburgh’s comeback started in the top of the 8th inning. After the Pirates had been completely shut down by Monty Kennedy, Wally Westlake came up and made his voice heard:
That was only the third hit Pittsburgh had managed all evening.
The Giants got out of the 8th inning, but faced another jam in the top of the 9th. Ralph Kiner, who is always dangerous, led off for Pittsburgh:
That was Kiner’s third walk of this game. Not pitching to Kiner is apparently the way to keep the Pirates at bay.
Up next was Eddie Bockman, with nobody out:
That was an absolutely amazing catch by Marshall, who really put it all on the line in this one.
Up came Clyde McCullough, the Pittsburgh catcher:
There were two out now, the score still 3-1 Giants, but with that potential tying run at the plate. The final chance for Pittsburgh was Monty Basgall:
Three straight balls hit deep to the corners, but none of them were hit quite well enough to tie the ballgame. Kennedy got his complete game and his third win of the season.
This was simply an amazing all-around defensive performance by the Giants. Kennedy only faced 32 batters, and managed to earn the win despite giving up 3 walks.
But don’t count Pittsburgh out quite yet.