The Pirates came from behind against the Cards in the eighth inning, then won the game in walkoff fashion in the ninth. The 6-5 final gave them their fifth straight win.
The game proceeded in seesaw fashion through the middle innings. The Bucs’ starter, 43-year-old Babe Adams, got hurt by three unearned runs. The first one he allowed was earned, as mound opponent Leo Dickerman and left fielder Ray Blades hit back-to-back doubles in the top of the third.
In the fifth, second baseman Eddie Moore fumbled a one-out grounder with a runner on base, leaving runners at the corners. A sacrifice fly brought in one run and Cards’ star Rogers Hornsby lined an opposite-field home run to account for two more.
Hornsby’s blast put the Cards up, 4-3. The Pirates had tied the game 1-1 in the bottom of the third when Max Carey singled to drive in George Grantham. They took a 3-1 lead the next inning. Two walks sandwiched around a Pie Traynor double loaded the bases with two out to Earl Smith. The pugnacious catcher grounded a single into right to score a pair.
After Hornsby’s homer, St. Louis held its 4-3 lead into the bottom of the eighth, as both pitchers settled in. The bottom of the eighth started innocently enough, with two outs and then an infield hit by Clyde Barnhart. That brought up Traynor, who belted one into the vast area of left-center at Forbes Field. Traynor circled the bases for his first home run of the year, putting the Pirates up, 5-4.
When catcher Bob O’Farrell led off the ninth with a double, McKechnie turned to Ray Kremer, but Kremer couldn’t hold the lead. A deep line drive moved pinch runner Eddie Dyer to third. The next hitter grounded to short and Glenn Wright threw home, but it was too late to get Dyer.
The Pirates came up in the bottom of the ninth with the game tied, 5-5. Cards’ manager Branch Rickey stuck with Dickerman, who walked Grantham and gave up a double to Smith to start the inning. With runners on second and third, Dickerman got pinch hitter Johnny Gooch to line out to left, too shallow to score Grantham. The Cards intentionally walked Carey to set up a force at home and got exactly that when Moore bounced back to the mound. With two out, though, Dickerman hit Kiki Cuyler to force home the winning run.
Kremer got the win and is now 4-1. Carey, Traynor and Smith each had two hits. The Pirates are now 19-16 and in third place, five and a half games behind New York. Their four-game series with St. Louis concludes with a doubleheader tomorrow.
In one other news item, the Pirates today signed first baseman Stuffy McInnis. The 34-year-old McInnis is a veteran of 16 major league seasons with a career average of .306. Along with Eddie Collins, Home Run Baker and Jack Barry, he was part of the famed “$100,000 infield” of the Philadelphia Athletics from 1911-14. A’s owner and manager Connie Mack sold off all but McInnis after the 1914 season and the A’s plummeted from 99 wins to 43. Before the 1918 season, the A’s traded McInnis to the Boston Red Sox. He went on to play for Cleveland in 1922 and the Boston Braves in 1923-24. McInnis batted 291/311/360 for the Braves in 1924 and was released this past April before appearing in any games. As a right-handed hitter, he could end up sharing first base with George Grantham.
