Braves 2, Pirates 1: Joe Kelly ripped an RBI double in the bottom of the 10th inning to cap a late comeback for the home team at Braves Field, on a day when the hurlers had the upper hand. Pittsburgh got an early lead when light-hitting Billy Zitzmann lined one under the glove of a diving Joe Riggert in center field and ran all the way to third base to lead off the 3rd inning, and scored on Walter Schmidt's ground ball to first base. And so the game stood well into the afternoon, as Ray Keating and Bill Evans filled the linescore with goose eggs - Keating retired eleven Pirates in order at one point, while Evans escaped a leadoff Walter Holke triple in the 4th unscathed. With the Braves running low on outs, Red Smith drew a bases on balls off of Evans with one away in the 8th and then another .200 hitter, catcher Art Wilson, lifted one over the head of Zitzmann in left that rattled off the wall and into deep LCF. Smith scored, Wilson steamed into third with the game's third three-base hit, and the Braves were 90 feet away from taking the lead with only one out. But Evans got Joe Kelly to pop into shallow right field, holding Wilson at third, and then forced Keating to bounce back to the box for the third out. Pittsburgh got runners to second and third with one out in the top of the 9th, but suffocated the threat by handling Fritz Mollwitz's grounder to short with the infield pulled close and then getting Tony Boeckel to watch a called third strike. Boston likewise could not score despite getting two men on in the bottom of the 9th and it was on to extra innings. In the last of the 10th, Smith greeted new pitcher Earl Hamilton with a base hit, and was bunted to second by Wilson. That left it up to Kelly, 0-for-3 on the day, and he lined one between the center- and right-fielders and Smith rounded third and headed home with the walk-off run. [box]
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| Red Smith, Boston |
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