by Scott Fennessy
7/10/1905
Pittsburgh, PA
The Cubs travel to Pittsburgh to play the Pirates in what was a 3 game set that was trimmed to 1 to get to the 140 games I wanted. The Cubs have been struggling lately between Pitching issues and injuries, and the Pirates are coming on strong as Honus Wagner and Ginger Beaumont are leading the charge as Fred Clarke is slumping a bit but having fine season just the same. Herb Briggs goes for the Cubs. He pitched well in relief last time out and gets a final chance to make the 2 remaining starts while Jake Weimer is out with an injury. Charlie Case goes for the bucs and is having a fine year at 12-6 with an ERA in the low 2.00 range.
The Cubs get off to a typical start as Billy Maloney strokes a single to center. He moves to second on a grounder and is still there with two out when manager Frank Chance who is really on fire right now drives him home on a single that gets just out of Claude Ritcheys’ reach at second scoring Maloney. Case however gets the final out and only one scores as the Pirates come to bat. The Pirates however give the Cubs a taste of their own medicine in the bottom of the first as Beaumont hits a single to left and the normally sure handed Jimmy Slagle’s cut off throw sails into the Pittsburgh dugout and Beaumont takes second. Tom Leach then gets a single of his own as Beaumont comes around to score. Evers does not cut the throw home and Leach moves to second on the play. Wagner gets a walk and this could become a big inning for the Pirates. Fortunately for the Cubs Clarke hits one right at Evers at short, and the famous Evers to Tinker to Chance double play happens once again with Leach moving to third. Dave Brain then flies to Frank Schulte in right and the inning is over and the score tied at 1.
Both pitchers toss scoreless second innings, but the Cubs break through in the third when Maloney who is starting to heat up again puts one into the gap in left and gets an easy double to lead off. Evers then gets a single to right and Maloney scores as the Cubs regain the lead, Evers takes second on the throw. Frank Schulte then hits one to right center field, and it drops in and Evers is rounding third, Clarke fires it home and it’s a strong throw, and Evers just beats the throw and the Cubs extend the lead. Chance then gets his second hit of the day, a soft single to center, and Schulte is headed for third and runners on the corners, but Case shuts the door and nobody else scores. Briggs and Case continue to throw scoreless innings from this point, but while Case is getting 1-2-3 innings Briggs is getting peppered on and is almost always in some form of trouble. Eventually the Pirates make him pay in the 7th when Ritchey gets a leadoff double. Heinie Pietz draws a walk and both runners advance on Case’s sacrifice bunt and Beaumont delivers the goods with a single to right and both runners score to tie the game at 3. Unfortunately for Briggs they are not done though as Wagner gets a two out single scoring Beaumont to give the Pirates a 4-3 lead. Clarke is retired to end the inning and he is clearly not seeing the ball well lately.
The Pirates continue to pound Briggs in the 8th as Brain gets his second single of the day and Ritchey does two with a single to left putting runners on 1st & 2nd with one out. The Cubs catch a break though when Brain misses a sign and tries to steal third and Kling’s throw down to Hofman at third is in plenty of time for the first out and Ritchey moving to second on the play. The weak hitting Pietz then smokes a single to left center scoring Ritchey and the lead is extended to 5-3 as Case whiffs to end the inning. The Pirates get another scoreless inning from Case to finish the game off with a 5-3 victory.
For the Cubs it was not a total loss as Maloney, Evers and Chance continue to hit well right now, but Briggs blew another chance to get a win and keep his spot as the main back up for the top 3. This was a big loss as they really needed momentum coming into this critical series in New York against the red hot Giants. We will see. For the Pirates they continue to rapidly gain on the Cubs, and while they have a way to go to be within sight of the Giants they finally have established this as a three team race. Wagner had two more hits and is now hitting a more Wagnerish .284. Beaumont, just as he did in 1901 is the catalyst hitting a solid .321 with 21 steals.
If the Pirates can get within .100 points of second place I will add them to the standings update part.
Giants 48 14 .774
Cubs 44 19 .698
