Kiki Cuyler and Earl Smith each had four hits to lead the Pirates to a 9-7 win over Boston at Forbes Field. With the Giants winning over Chicago, the Pirates maintained their seven-game NL lead. Their magic number for clinching the pennant is now six.
The Pirates’ pitching was shaky throughout the game, as three hurlers combined to allow 11 hits and six walks, without striking out anybody. Fortunately, the Bucs pounded out 18 hits.
The scoring started early as the home team got a pair of runs in the second. An error, a single by George Grantham and another Boston error on the play produced one run, then Smith doubled Grantham home.
The hitting continued in the third, as the Braves scored three times to take a 3-2 lead, but the Pirates came back with three more. In the top half, a single, fielder’s choice and walk loaded the bases with nobody out. Singles by Bernie Neis and Jimmy Welsh produced three runs, and knocked Pirate starter Johnny Morrison out in favor of Tom Sheehan. A force play and double play ended the inning with no more damage.
The Pirates quickly got the runs back in the bottom half when Cuyler tripled to drive in Max Carey, then scored on a double by Clyde Barnhart. The latter chased Boston starter Skinny Graham. Two fly balls brought Barnhart home, the second one giving Glenn Wright his team-leading 116th RBI.
The back-and-forth scoring continued, as neither Sheehan nor Boston reliever Rosy Ryan could hold the other team down. The Braves got single runs in the fifth and sixth. Welsh had another RBI single in the fifth, making the score 5-4. In the sixth, Sheehan walked the first three batters, leading Bill McKechnie to turn to Emil Yde. Like Sheehan, Yde got a force out and a double play, although the former brought in a run.
The Bucs, though, scored in both the fifth and sixth themselves. In the fifth, they scored a pair off Ryan after singles by Pie Traynor and Wright. Grantham got Traynor home with a sacrifice fly and Smith’s second double of the day scored Wright. In the bottom of the sixth, they scored a run to extend their lead to 8-5. Carey led off with a double, then got picked off but reached third when Boston’s third pitcher, Ike Kamp, threw the ball away. Cuyler doubled to score Carey and leave himself one RBI short of the century mark.
Yde had his own difficulties, but finished out the game. In the eighth, the Braves again loaded the bases with nobody out on a Gus Felix double and two walks. Yde got a break when Felix tried to score on a fly ball to right and Cuyler threw him out at the plate for the Bucs’ fourth double play of the game. With Bob Smith batting for Kamp, though, Yde gave up a two-run double, cutting the Pirates’ lead to 8-7.
In the bottom of the eighth, the Bucs got Yde an insurance run when Cuyler singled off former Giants’ star Rube Marquard and scored on a double by Barnhart. Yde got his and the Pirates’ second 1-2-3 inning of the day — Boston had none — in the ninth to bring the game to an end.
The win technically could have gone to Sheehan, but the scorer awarded it to Yde. That ran his record to 16-9. Cuyler reached base five times on two singles, a double, a triple and a walk. He’s now batting 353/420/596. Smith had two singles and two doubles, and Barnhart had two doubles. The Pirates go for the three-game sweep tomorrow.
