The Pirates won their eighth straight game with a 14-4 win over Philadelphia. Kiki Cuyler led the onslaught, going 4-for-4 for the third time in four games. The hits included a pair of home runs.
The scoring started in the third, when a single by Cuyler and an outfield error brought Max Carey in from first. The Bucs got two more in the fourth on a sacrifice fly by Boots Grantham and an RBI single by starter Ray Kremer.
In the fifth, the Pirates put the game away with seven runs, all of them off Phillies starter Jimmy Ring. Cuyler started the inning with his 17th home run of the season. Five straight singles followed, the last three — by Glenn Wright, Grantham and Johnny Gooch — driving in runs. After a sacrifice by Kremer for the inning’s first out, Eddie Moore drove in Grantham with a sacrifice fly, then Carey singled to drive in Gooch, taking second on the throw. Carey stole third, then Cuyler walked and the two pulled off a double steal, with Carey stealing home. All that thievery left Carey and Cuyler tied for both the team and league lead with 40.
Philadelphia manager Art Fletcher mercifully removed Ring after the fifth, but it didn’t stop the scoring. The Pirates got two off reliever Jack Knight on an RBI single by Gooch and a sacrifice fly by Kremer. Two more scored in the sixth when Carey walked and Cuyler belted his 18th home run.
With all that offense, Kremer was able to coast. He didn’t allow a hit until the top of the sixth. The one real glitch came later in that inning when Freddy Leach connected for a three-run home run. The only other run came in the ninth, on a two-out RBI single by Chicken Hawks.
The win boosted Kremer’s record to 15-8. Cuyler’s big day gave him 14 hits in his last 16 at-bats. Wright and Pie Traynor also had four hits apiece, each going 4-for-5. Carey and Traynor each scored three times, and Cuyler drove in three.
The Giants were off. The win increases the Pirates’ NL lead to eight and a half games and reduces their magic number to two.
