The Pirates had a chance to open their home stand with a four-game sweep of Boston, but they couldn’t solve Braves’ starter Joe Genewich. They ended up with a 5-1 loss.
The Bucs managed only eight hits off Genewich, all of them singles apart from a pair of doubles by Stuffy McInnis. One of them, in the fourth inning, accounted for the team’s only run. McInnis doubled with two out, sending Pie Traynor, who’d singled, to third. The Braves walked Earl Smith to get to Pirates’ starter Vic Aldridge, but third baseman Andy High threw away Aldridge’s grounder. Traynor scored, but first baseman Dick Burrus recovered the ball and threw home in time to nail McInnis.
At the time, the run narrowed the Braves’ lead to 2-1. They’d scored a pair in the top of the inning off Aldridge. With one out, Burrus tripled, Gus Felix doubled and High singled. In the top of the fifth, Burrus extended the lead to 4-1 when he launched a two-run home run to right.
Aldridge got through the sixth, but the Braves knocked him out in the seventh. With one out and one on, Jimmy Welsh tripled for a run. Tom Sheehan replaced Aldridge and got the last two outs without letting Welsh score.
After the run in the fourth, the Pirates got just three more hits. They didn’t get another runner past second.
The loss dropped Aldridge to 6-5. New York beat the Cubs and ace Pete Alexander, cutting the Pirates’ first-place lead to a game and a half. Philadelphia comes to town tomorrow to start a five-game series.
