The Pirates lost a doubleheader to the Cardinals in St. Louis, closing out their five game series. The Cards won the last four, so the Bucs will leave town on a losing streak. They dropped each game of the doubleheader by four runs, game one by 8-4 and game two by 6-2. The second game lasted only five innings due to inclement weather.
Pirates’ starter Emil Yde didn’t last long in the first game. He got knocked out in the second, allowing five runs. They were all unearned, but he gave up seven hits while getting only five outs. The inning started with first baseman Stuffy McInnis muffing a throw from third baseman Pie Traynor. Yde retired the next two hitters, but mound opponents Duster Mails singled in a run. Another hit followed and backup outfielder Ralph Shinners, who hurt the Pirates earlier in the series, belted a three-run home run. A single, hit batsman and walk loaded the bases after the homer, and an infield single by Les Bell made the score 5-0. That chased Yde and Babe Adams got the last out of the inning.
The Pirates came back with a pair of runs in the top of the third. Eddie Moore reached on an error and Kiki Cuyler followed with his 16th home run of the season. The Cards, though, got those back off Adams in the bottom of the fourth. Chick Hafey led off with a double and Bell singled to score him. A double by Ernie Vick sent Bell to third and brought Tom Sheehan on to replace Adams. A sacrifice fly made the score 7-2.
The Pirates managed two more runs off Mails, both driven in by Glenn Wright. One came on a sacrifice fly in the fifth and the other on a ground out in the ninth. The Cards got one more, on a seventh-inning RBI single by Shinners. He finished with three hits and four RBIs.
Yde took the loss, his third straight, to fall to 15-9. Cuyler was the only Pirate with two hits.
In game two, Johnny Morrison, like Yde, got in trouble in the second. Morrison retired the first five batters he faced, but with two out in the second, Bell and Bill Warwick connected for back-to-back home runs. Warwick, a catcher, appeared in one game for the Pirates back in 1921. This was his third start of the series and the fifth major league game of his career, and the longball was the first of his career.
The Pirates got the runs back in the top of the third. Earl Smith singled and went to third when Max Carey reached on an error by St. Louis pitcher Art Reinhart. Carey stole second, his 33rd theft of the year, and Eddie Moore singled to drive in both runners. Moore was thrown out at second when Reinhart cut off the throw home, and that was the last offense the Pirates produced.
The Cards took the lead back with two in the bottom of the inning. After St. Louis loaded the bases with one out, Morrison balked in a run. He intentionally walked Jim Bottomley to set up a force at any base, but then he unintentionally walked Hafey to force in a run and put the Cards up, 4-2. Ray Kremer relieved Morrison and got out of the inning on a line-drive double play.
Kremer gave up two more in the bottom of the fourth on two-out, RBI singles by Ray Blades and Heinie Mueller, making it 6-2. After Reinhart retired the Pirates in the top of the fifth, Yde returned to set the Cards down in the bottom half. At that point, the rains came and the game, having lasted long enough to become official, was called.
The loss left Morrison 16-13. The Giants were off, so the Pirates’ first-place lead dropped by a game, to six. The Bucs will look to break their four-game losing streak tomorrow at Forbes Field, when they start a three-game series against Brooklyn.
