The Pirates pulled out a dramatic, ten-inning, 13-11 win over New York in front of a home crowd of 21,000. The victory gave them a four-game sweep of the Giants and a five-game winning streak overall. The home team blew an early six-run lead and saw New York tie the game in the ninth, then fell behind by two in the tenth before rallying to win. In the process, the Bucs climbed to within two and a half games of first.
The Pirates made short work of New York starter Walt Huntzinger. Max Carey tripled and Eddie Moore doubled for a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first. In the second, a Glenn Wright single and an Earl Smith double put two in scoring position for starter Vic Aldridge. The Bucs’ pitcher drove in Wright with a single and Carey singled home Smith to make it 3-0.
The Giants quickly tied the score against Aldridge. Huntzinger led off the top of the third with a single and, after another single, Bill Terry doubled and George Kelly singled for three runs and a 3-3 tie.
Kiki Cuyler quickly untied the game, leading off the bottom of the inning by belting one into the vast space of Forbes’ left-center field and circling the bases. That was Cuyler’s fifth home run and fourth of the inside-the-park variety. John McGraw had seen enough of Huntzinger by then and brought in Kent Greenfield. He didn’t fare much better, as a single, a walk and a force play put runners at the corners. Smith, the pugnacious former Giant who had too many run-ins with McGraw, singled in a run and a second run scored on a bad throw by left fielder Irish Meusel.
In the fourth, the Pirates extended their lead to 9-3 with another three-spot, this one off Hugh McQuillan, who’d replaced Greenfield. Carey, Cuyler and Pie Traynor all doubled to bring in two runs, and Traynor took third on an outfield error. An infield hit by Wright brought Traynor in with an unearned run.
Starting in the top of the fifth, Aldridge couldn’t keep the Giants off the board. In fact, New York scored in every inning the rest of the way. They started with a solo home run by Kelly and a two-run blast by Terry, in the fifth and sixth innings, respectively. That made it 9-6, then 9-7 in the seventh when Meusel led off with a double and came around on a wild pitch and a sacrifice fly.
McQuillan and then Jack Wisner kept the Pirates in check through the eighth. After batting for Aldridge, Bill McKechnie put in Ray Kremer for the top of the eighth. Kremer gave up a leadoff home run to Billy Southworth to cut the lead to one run. New York got two more runners in the inning before Kremer got the third out.
Kremer almost held on to the lead in the ninth. A single and a ground out put a runner on second with one out. Kremer fanned pinch hitter Hack Wilson, but Carey muffed Southworth’s line drive to center and the score was 9-9.
The Pirates had a chance in the bottom of the ninth against the Giants’ fifth pitcher, Art Nehf. They loaded the bases with two out, but Carey grounded out to send the game to the tenth.
Having hit for Kremer in the ninth, McKechnie went with his ace, Lee Meadows, in the tenth. After throwing a complete game three days earlier, Meadows didn’t appear to have much. He gave up a pair of one-out singles, with a run scoring on another error by Carey. Meusel then tripled to give the Giants an 11-9 lead. Meadows managed to strand Meusel by getting a popup and strikeout.
With things looking bleak, the Pirates wasted no time coming back against Nehf. Cuyler led off the bottom of the tenth with a walk and Clyde Barnhart tripled to make it a one-run game. Traynor followed that with a game-tying double. That brought up Wright, who sliced a drive deep down the right-field line, inside the foul pole for his eighth home run and a 13-11, walkoff win.
Despite going just one rough inning, Meadows got the win to improve his record to 9-3. The Pirates had 20 hits, half of them for extra bases. Carey went 5-for-5 and Wright was 4-for-6 with three runs and three RBIs. He now has 47 RBIs through the team’s first 50 games. Oil Smith had three hits against his old team. The Giants had 17 hits, all but two of them by Southworth, Terry, Kelly and Meusel.
The Pirates are now 8-3 on their 15 game homestand. Brooklyn comes in tomorrow to start a four-game series.
