Brooklyn catcher Zack Taylor had only three career home runs coming into this game, but he chose a dramatic time for his fourth. The clout gave the Robins a 4-3 win over the Pirates in the second game of four in Brooklyn.
Both starters, Ray Kremer for the Bucs and Tiny Osborne for the Robins, had solid outings. Osborne had help, though, as the Pirates got nine hits and six walks, but stranded 11 runners.
The pattern started early, as the Bucs stranded two in the first and three in the second. In the latter inning, they got runners to the corners with nobody out, but Johnny Gooch bounced back to the mound and Kremer fanned, then Eddie Moore flied out after a walk. Kiki Cuyler finally got them on the board when he led off the top of the third with his tenth home run of the year.
Cuyler’s blow tied the game, as the Robins got a run in the bottom of the second on doubles by Eddie Brown and Cotton Tierney. The run was unearned because Gooch dropped Tierney’s foul popup prior to the double.
The Pirates took a 2-1 lead in the top of the fourth, but again missed a chance. After a pair of walks, Moore singled in a run with two out. Cuyler beat out an infield hit to load the bases, but Clyde Barnhart grounded out.
Kremer kept the Robins off the board in the third and fourth, but in the bottom of the fifth, Zack Wheat followed a walk with a two-out home run to put Brooklyn up, 3-2. The next batter, Jack Fournier, doubled, but he was the last runner Kremer allowed through the eighth, apart from one who reached on an error.
The Pirates continued to miss chances. Gooch led off the top of the sixth with a triple, but Kremer struck out again, and Max Carey bounced back to the mound and Moore also grounded out.
In the top of the seventh, Pittsburgh tied the game, 3-3, when Cuyler led off with a triple and Barnhart doubled. The Bucs, though, left two more stranded.
The tie held into the ninth. Cuyler led off for the Pirates with his fourth hit of the game. Barnhart forced him and, with Pie Traynor up, pinch runner Carson Bigbee got caught in a strike-em-out, throw-em-out double play.
That set the stage for Taylor. Kremer retired the first batter in the bottom of the inning, but Taylor homered to left to end the game.
Despite a good effort, Kremer dropped to 8-5. Cuyler’s 4-for-5 day left him batting 354/430/629. The Giants lost a heartbreaker to the Cubs; after New York scored five runs in the last two innings of regulation to tie the game, the Cubs won in 16 innings. That left the Pirates in first by a game.
