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RALEIGH AITCHISON |
THE 1914 "MIRACLE" BRAVES
Brooklyn shuts out the Braves
April 17, 1914 ... Brooklyn stomped on the Braves again today by a score of 5 to 0. It is difficult to account for swift kicks received by the Braves after today's disaster, but either the Braves are not a good team
or the Robins are in championship form. The Braves were outclassed and if Brooklyn continues to play the way they showed today, they are sure of a first division spot. Manager Stallings is insistent that once the Braves hit their stride, the fans will see a different picture.
In a nutshell, the Braves did not hit, they did not field, and the pitching of Dick Rudolph was weak at the critical stages of the game. He did manage to hold the Robins one run in seven innings, but he always had the possibility of impending disaster lurking over his shoulder, until the
eighth inning when everything fell down around him.
The Brooklyn pitcher, Raleigh Aitchison stood between the Braves and scoring runs. The Braves had three on base in the fifth inning, but were unable to get a run home, because Mister Aitchison was able to throw the pitches he needed at critical times. Hank Gowdy raised bright hopes in the
third inning, when he opened with a long triple over Zach Wheat's head. The best that Rudolph, Rabbit Maranville and Johnny Evers could do, following Hank, was rolling ground balls to the eager Brooklyn infielders.
In the fifth inning, Les Mann opened with a clean single to center and Gowdy smashed one at shortstop Dick Egan, that he could not make a play on. Following a pass to Maranville, Johnny Evers came to the plate and the best he could do was hit a pop up to Egan, ending the threat.
Butch Schmidt got a single in the sixth, with two down, and Rudolph beat out a grounder in the seventh, but in neither case were they able to advance. The run that Brooklyn got in the second inning, was good enough to win. The Dodgers were on the verge of scoring in every inning thereafter,
but good fielding by the Braves and bad luck for the home team, kept them down until the eighth when they scored four runs to lock up the victory.
One of the good plays by the Braves, was Maranville's stop off Wheat's hot smash, which looked like a clean base hit. There were two outs at the time and Jake Daubert, who had doubled, was on second base. It looked good for a run, but the "Rabbit" made a sensational stop and a good throw to
nail the runner. |
