The Pirates came up short in the last game of their five-game series against Philadelphia. Johnny Morrison failed to retired a batter in the first inning and the Phillies eventually piled up a 7-0 lead before coasting to an 8-4 win. The Giants lost to St. Louis, so the Pirates remain a game and a half in first.
Morrison had an eminently forgettable start, as the Phillies’ first five batters singled. The last three — Russ Wrightstone, George Harper and Butch Henline — drove in a run apiece. Bill McKechnie went out to get Morrison and called for Tom Sheehan, who gave up the sixth straight single of the inning to Lew Fonseca, putting Philly up, 4-0. A force play and a line-drive double play finally ended the inning.
Sheehan ended up pitching a respectable eight innings in relief, but the Phillies did do some more damage. Most of it came in the fourth, after he’d retired the side in the second and third. One run came in on a sacrifice fly by Phillies’ starter Clarence Mitchell, then two more on a triple by Freddy Leach. Sheehan pitched mostly well after that, but gave up an RBI single to Mitchell in the eighth. Bud Culloton threw a scoreless ninth.
The Pirates made some headway against Mitchell, but not enough. They got on the board in the bottom of the fourth when Pie Traynor tripled with two out and Clyde Barnhart singled. In the sixth, Stuffy McInnis and Sheehan each singled in runs, making it 7-3 at the time. Roy Spencer, who’d replaced Earl Smith behind the plate, doubled to drive in a run in the eighth to end the scoring.
Morrison fell to 10-10 with the loss. Traynor reached base four times, with the triple and three walks, and scored three runs. Brooklyn comes to town tomorrow for the first of four games.
