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THE 1914 "MIRACLE" BRAVES
Atchison keeps the Braves in check
April 24, 1914 ... The Brooklyn team came back at the Braves and took satisfaction for the defeat of the day before. They hopped on Hub Perdue from the start of the game, and at the end of four innings had piled up
five runs. He was sent to the stable and Gene Cocreham was trotted out. He had poor control, and in the seventh inning, with Jake Daubert on first, Zack Wheat sent the ball sailing into the centerfield bleachers for a home run, and he then became wilder.
The Braves, with the exception of Johnny Evers, could not connect with Raleigh Atchison, the southpaw that Wilbert Robinson sent in the pitch. The only run made by the Braves did not score until the ninth-inning, as the result of a two bagger by Rabbit Maranville and a single by Evers.
What's threatened to develop into a rally in the sixth inning was stopped by a great one-handed catch by Wheat, of a line drive hit by Hank Gowdy with two men on. Wheat, running toward the ball, stuck up his gloved hand and block the ball. The ball bounced up into the air, and he nipped it
with one hand when it came down again. Butch Schmidt was on third at the time, saw the play, and thought the ball had bounced out of Wheat's glove, so he started for home. Wheat threw the ball over to second and got Charlie Deal, who had run over toward third on the hit, but headed back to
the bag. Deal got safely back to second but George Cutshaw threw the ball over the thirdbaseman, Red Smith, who touched the bag and Butch was ruled out.
Brooklyn got two runs in the top of the second. With two outs, Dick Egan doubled against the right-field fence. Perdue then passed Bill Fischer and then Atchison to load the bases. Jack Dalton scored both runners with a single to right. They added two more runs in the third inning, after
two were out, on successive singles by Wheat, Smith and Casey Stengel. Another run came in the fourth and three more in the seventh, to make it 8 to 1.
Gene Cocreham was sent in to pitch in the fifth inning, and got along very well until the seventh, although he showed rather poor control as he passed two men in the sixth inning. |
