The Pirates fell back to a game under .500 after dropping a 12-7 game to Brooklyn. The loss stopped their winning streak at five.
Vic Aldridge continued to cast doubts on the wisdom of the big trade that brought him to Pittsburgh. He lasted just three and a third innings, giving up six runs.
The Pirates got the early lead, scoring single runs off Robins’ starter Burleigh Grimes in each of the first three innings. Max Carey scored in the top of the first after starting the game with a single. He came around on a walk, a sacrifice and a ground out. In the second, two singles put runners at the corners for the Bucs with no out and Johnny Gooch hit into a double play, plating the lead runner. In the third, Clyde Barnhart singled to drive in Kiki Cuyler, who’d singled and stolen second.
Aldridge meanwhile was fine through two innings, but he started coming unglued in the bottom of the third. His mound opponent, Grimes led off with a double. A single put two on, then Jimmy Johnston, Zack Wheat and Eddie Brown all hit RBI singles, tying the game.
Things went from bad to worse in the fourth. A walk and another hit by Grimes put two on with one out. When Johnny Mitchell singled in a run, Bill McKechnie turned to Emil Yde. The lefty faced four hitters and didn’t retire any of them. A walk was followed by singles from Wheat and Jack Fournier, driving in three runs, then Brown doubled in two more to put the Robins up, 9-3. McKechnie brought in Don Songer, who gave up another RBI single before getting out of the inning, leaving the score 10-3.
The Robins added one more in the fifth when a Wheat line out brought Grimes in from third.
The Pirates added two runs each in the seventh and eighth to make the score a little more respectable. A walk, a Cuyler single, and outfield error and a ground out produced two in the seventh. In the eighth, Gooch tripled in a run and then scored on a ground out.
Brooklyn picked up an unearned run in the bottom of the eighth off Lou Koupal, making it 12-7. Grimes, despite allowing a dozen hits, finished the game out.
Aldridge took the loss to fall to 0-2. Cuyler had three hits.
