The Pirates took on Cincinnati in a single game at Forbes Field, as a makeup of an April rainout. Johnny Morrison outpitched Reds’ ace Pete Donohue and Boots Grantham went 4-for-4 for the second time in four games. A seven-run sixth inning led the Bucs to an 8-2 win, their eighth straight.
Both pitchers held their opponents scoreless for the first five innings. The Reds got runners to second and third with one out in the top of the first, but Morrison got Curt Walker to pop up and former Pirate Al Niehaus to ground out. He got out of trouble again in the third. Billy Zitzmann and Babe Pinelli reached to start the inning. Edd Roush bunted in front of home for a single. Catcher Johnny Gooch fielded the ball and Zitzmann, running from second, tried to beat him to the plate, but Gooch got back in time to tag him out.
Morrison missed his own chance to get the Pirates on the board in the bottom of the fifth. Grantham tripled with one out and Donohue walked Gooch to get to Morrison. Jughandle Johnny, however, hit into a double play.
Nearly all of the game’s scoring took place in the sixth. In the top of the inning, Niehaus led off with a double. After an out and a walk, Bubbles Hargrave and Donohue singled, each driving in a run. That put Cincinnati up, 2-0.
The Pirates came back strong in the bottom half. A single by Eddie Moore, a double by Johnny Rawlings and a walk loaded the bases with nobody out. Clyde Barnhart drove in a run with a sacrifice fly, then another walk loaded the bases back up. Glenn Wright singled for two runs, then Grantham and Gooch each singled to drive in one more, putting the Pirates up, 5-2. That finished Donohue, but after a sacrifice by Morrison, Moore doubled to make it 7-2.
Morrison pitched out of trouble again in the seventh. He was helped when Roush led off with a double but Cuyler threw him out trying to stretch it to three. The Reds had two more hits in the inning, giving them a dozen on the day, but they didn’t score. Morrison set them down in order in the eighth and ninth.
The Pirates got one more run when Wright and Grantham hit back-to-back doubles in the bottom of the seventh, making it 8-2. Morrison’s record improved to 15-11. Grantham finished with a single, two doubles and a triple. Moore had three hits. Barnhart’s RBI gave him 100 on the season.
The Giants split a doubleheader with the Phillies, so the Pirates gained half a game. They now lead the NL by eight and a half. St. Louis arrives at Forbes tomorrow to start a three-game series.
