Johnny Morrison threw a complete game to help the Pirates to a 5-3 win at home against St. Louis. With the Giants losing to Boston, the Bucs are now in first by a game.
The Pirates shuffled their lineup a bit. With Carson Bigbee spelling Clyde Barnhart, who normally bats cleanup, Eddie Moore and Kiki Cuyler moved down to third and fourth. The move worked well enough in the early innings, as Pittsburgh built up a 4-1 lead against the Cards’ Flint Rhem.
The Cards had gone up, 1-0, in the top of the first when Rogers Hornsby doubled with two out and Jim Bottomley singled. The Pirates tied it in the bottom half when Max Carey singled and stole second, Cuyler walked with two out, and Pie Traynor singled to score Carey. Cuyler took third on the play and the Bucs then tried a delayed double steal, but the return throw from shortstop Specs Toporcer caught Cuyler at the plate.
In the second and third, the Bucs added three more. They got one in the second when Glenn Wright and Stuffy McInnis singled to put runners at the corners. Johnny Gooch bounced into a double play, scoring Wright. In the third, Carey led off with a single. The next two batters hit into force plays, but Toporcer booted Cuyler’s grounder to put runners at second and third. They both scored when Rhem uncorked a wild pitch into the “catcher’s outfield” at Forbes Field.
St. Louis got little going against Morrison throughout the middle innings. The exception was the top of the fourth, when Chick Hafey, Toporcer and Les Bell strung together one-out singles to cut the Bucs’ lead to 4-2. A double play ended that rally. From the second through the eighth, the Cards got nobody else past first.
The Pirates stretched the lead back to three in the seventh against reliever Art Reinhart, who had entered the game as a pinch hitter for Rhem. Carey led off with his third single and an error on Bigbee’s sacrifice attempt put Carey on third. Moore singled Carey home. The rally was cut short when Cuyler fanned and Bigbee got caught trying to steal third on strike three.
In the ninth, St. Louis gave Morrison a little trouble. An error on Moore, a single and a wild pitch put runners on second and third with two out. Hornsby, who replaced Branch Rickey as the Cards’ manager earlier in the year, stuck with Reinhart, who beat out a roller back to the mound. That cut the lead to 5-3, but Morrison got the next hitter on a fly to left, earning his ninth win against eight losses.
