by Scott Fennessy
Pittsburgh, PA
10/7/1905
The Cubs face the Pirates in their final road game of the season, and this is basically a must win situation. The Cubs loss yesterday, coupled with the Giants annihilation of the Phillies in a double header sweep puts the Cubs down by one game with only two left to play. The Giants finish their regular season set later in the day with another twin billing against the Philadelphia.
Mordecai Brown steps to the hill against Charlie Case and this should be a very close game. Charlie has been surprisingly good this year and the Pirates would not have had a third place year without him.
Both pitchers get scoreless first innings and the Cubs strike fast in the second inning. Johnny Evers hits one in the hole between short and third for a leadoff single. Chance calls for the hit and run with the red hot Joe Tinker at bat and he hits a textbook hit and run single and runners are on the corners. With the hit and run on again Art Hofman hits a grounder that Claude Ritchey makes a fine stop on, but his only play is at first and the Cubs score their first run of the day.
With Tinker on third and only one out Johnny Kling hits a one hopper at Ritchey and he throws this one into the seats. Tinker scores and Kling moves to second. Brown draws a walk and the pressure is on Case now, and he delivers with two quick outs to end the rally.
The Pirates begin the comeback in the 3rd inning as Ginger Beaumont slaps a double into the right center gap and pulls into second with a one out double. Honus Wagner continues his torrid second half with a double of his own and the score is cut in half. Brown gets saved by Tinker as he makes a great diving stop on Fred Clarke’s one hop grounder. Wagner is caught in a rundown and Clarke takes second on the rundown. Brown gets out of the inning as he overpowers Bill Clancey for the third out.
With the score still 2-1 Cubs in the top of the fifth Frank Chance hits another grounder that Ritchey boots. It has been a tough day for Claude as he now has three errors today. Chance steals second and is still on second when Tinker hits one hard that goes all the way to the wall in center field. Beaumont chases it down, but Tinker has a double and his third straight hit and the Cubs get their 4th run of the day. Kling grounds out to end the inning, but the Cubs look to be in charge now.
The game was still 4-1 Cubs as the Pirates come to bat in the bottom of the seventh inning. Case hits the second pitch of the inning into foul territory down the first base line and it continues to drift towards the wall. Frank Schulte is charging in, but won’t make it in time, but Chance continues to pursue and makes a great over the shoulder catch just in front of the fence. That was big as Beaumont gets his second double of the day with two out and scores on Wagner’s third hit of the day to cut the score to 4-2. Fortunately Brown keeps the Cubs on top and ends the inning.
The Cubs get the run right back in the 8th inning as Kling gets a leadoff single and moves to third on Billy Maloney’s single that is just over Ritchey’s head at second. Billy steals second and now the pressure is on Case again. Jim Casey hits a grounder that looked like it was headed into the outfield but Ritchey makes a good stop and while the run scores it slows the momentum and the inning ends with the Cubs on top 5-2.
Both teams try to get runs in the ninth inning but come up short. So the Cubs win 5-2 and force the Giants to have to win both games of their double header to win the pennant. As I have said for almost 6 months it may come down to the final out of the regular season to decide this, and the scenario where the Giants and Cubs meet in a one game playoff is still possible as well.
Meanwhile in the AL things have gotten very interesting. The White Sox swept a double header over the Browns, and the Browns played uncommonly well in the losses. This leaves the White Sox 1 ½ games back with two to play and the Indians play the Tigers in the season finale for both teams with the leagues three best hitters involved. Who will win the AL batting crown? Harry Bay, Napoleon Lajoie, or Sam Crawford?
