After struggling for eight innings against Cincinnati’s Dolf Luque, the Pirates rallied in the ninth only to come up a run short. The result was a 5-4 loss.
Just a year removed from a big, 27-8 season, Luque has gotten off to a strong start this year. It continued today, as he allowed only three hits through the top of the eighth. The only thing resembling a rally that the Pirates managed came in the top of the first, when a walk, a sacrifice and an infield hit put runners at the corners. That threat ended when Clyde Barnhart bounced into a double play. The only other time the Bucs got a runner to second before the ninth inning came when a George Grantham pinch-hit single put two on with two out in the fifth, but they didn’t score.
The Reds meanwhile chipped away at Johnny Morrison, scoring single runs in each of the first four innings. In the first, Reds’ star Edd Roush followed a double by Babe Pinelli with an RBI single. Three straight singles in the second, the last by Luque, brought in a second run. Roush tripled in the third and scored on a grounder. The fourth run scored in the fourth on a two-out single.
After Grantham hit for Morrison in the top of the fifth, the Reds got a single run once again in the bottom half off Ray Kremer. That came when Roush led off with another triple, then scored on a single by Rube Bressler.
Kremer and Emil Yde kept Cincinnati kept the Reds off the board the rest of the way and the Pirates finally showed some life in the ninth. A walk, a double by Eddie Moore and a Barnhart single brought in one run. Moore scored on a sacrifice fly, then a triple by Glenn Wright drove in Barnhart.
With the score 5-3, Luque got Al Niehaus to ground out, but Earl Smith doubled to bring the Pirates to within a run and put the tying run on second. The Reds replaced Luque with Pete Donohue, who was knocked out in the first inning yesterday. Bill McKechnie left Yde in to hit and Donohue struck him out to end the game. Morrison took the loss, dropping to 2-2.
