Pete Donohue, one of Cincinnati’s trio of outstanding pitchers, held the Pirates to one run and Bucs’ starter Ray Kremer recorded only two outs in an 8-1 Reds’ win. Even worse, the Bucs may have lost Max Carey for a while. The game was the last of a long home stand that saw the Pirates go 12-7.
The game went bad quickly. With one out and one on in the top of the first, Reds’ star Edd Roush launched a home run to right. With two out and one on, second baseman Hughie Critz sent a drive over Carey’s head in center and circled the bases for a two-run, inside-the-park home run. That brought Bill McKechnie out to replace Kremer with Red Oldham. One more run scored when the first two batters Oldham faced hit singles and an error by Carey let one come home. The Reds led, 5-0.
Oldham ended up throwing five and a third innings, allowing ten hits. He gave up two each in the third and fourth without any further damage. In the sixth, though, Cincinnati added three more runs. A walk and a bunt fumbled by catcher Roy Spencer put two on. Donohue doubled to drive in both and then scored on a single, making it 8-0.
The Pirates got their only run in the bottom of the sixth. With a runner on first, Mule Haas — a 21-year-old rookie just added to the roster — batted for Carey and hit into a force play. Carey apparently is hurt and may be out for a couple weeks. Stuffy McInnis and Kiki Cuyler followed with singles, driving in Haas.
The rest of the game was uneventful. Donohue and, for the Pirates, Babe Adams and Tom Sheehan faced just one batter over the minimum collectively in the last three innings, thanks to a double play on each side.
Kremer took the loss to fall to 9-8. The Pirates had eight hits, all singles. The Giants lost, so the Bucs remain in first by four games.
The Pirates and Reds travel to Cincinnati to meet for two games starting tomorrow. This will start an 18-game road trip.
