Evening star., 1924-09-28

tenders having only a pair OF engag
Today's battle was indeed a des-
perate one. At the outset. the Ma
tionals performed as real champions.
but mediocre pitching lost them a
tirSt-inning lead that Howard Ehmke,
premier hurler of the Red Sox, made
difficult to regain. But what the Ma
tional regulars could not accomplish
at bat the reserve force did, and when
poor pitching again threatened to rob
the club of victory. the reserve,
drawn upon again. saved the day.
Wade Letter, recently recruited
by the club from Worcester of the
Eastern League, and Jezebel Tecum-
sch Zachary, veteran southpaw slab
man, pulled this game out of the fire
for the Nationals.
Letter was called upon for his bit
as a pinch batter in the fifth frame,
when the club, two runs down to the
Red Sox, had managed to fill the
bases, but with two men out and
Pitcher Fred Marberry, weak bat
ter, due at the plate.
wnIIop Scores Three Runs.
The Eastern League draftee re-
sponded with two-b base crash past
Ike Boone to deep right field driv-
ing three Nationals to the scoring
block. Letters hit put his club in
front never to be headed again in the
fray. The Red Sox managed to tie
the score in the same round. but that
timely blow proved Just the kick the
Nationals needed to spur them on to
success
Zachary's big part in the proce ed :
inSs came in the eighth inning when
the Fohlmen seemed about to spoil
the afternoon for the hunt
Ing Harrismen. When Allen Russell
lost control of his pitching and
crowded the sacks with Crimson
Hosed runners after two had been
retired prospects of happy game
ending for the Nationals were not so
bright.
1t was Pitcher Ehnke's turn to bat
but Manager Harris knew substi-
tute hitter would be rushed to the
plate. He had had Zachary and
Walter Johnson warming up since
the start of the inning, and when
Manager Fohl sent Danny Clark~a
left-handed clubswinger of Consider
able ability in to bat. Harris called
the southpaw Zachary to the slab
Much Strategy Employed.
The Red Sox, anxious to ma&e the
Nationals play out the string and earn
their victory that no cry of dishonest
base ball be raised after the league
championship race is ended, had
withdrawn from the base paths the
slow Steve O'Neill. recipient of Rus
sells last pass, ard substituted Val
Picinich, that there might be more
speed on the runways in the event OF
hit from the pinch batsman. And
when Manager Harris brought Zach
AIRY t. the hill Clark was taken away
from the plate and Howard Shanks,
right-handed batter, sent up to face
the portsider.
II seemed the irony of fate that
Shanks, who had toiled faithfully for
the Nationals Cor many seasons be-
fore being traded to the Red sox,
should get the opportunity to snatch
from the grasp of his former team
mates a victory in a game so impor-
tant-perhaps keep from them a
league championship. But Shanks
took his stance at the plate, ready to
win for Boston, though a win really
meant nothing in the way of position
to his team.
Zachary. though. was too clever in
his work to afford the erstwhiIe Ma
tional much of a chance to over
throw the league leaders, He
curved strike across the plate, then
heaved the ball in close to the bats
man. ShankS met the second pitch
but on the handle of his bat, and.it
rolled to Roger Peckingpaugh at
shortstop. an easy chance tor an easy
out. Zachary had stepped into the
game in the crisis and virtually
saved the day. ~,
A Nerve-Wracking Affair.
The game was a nerve-wracking
affair, with National pitchers gem
orally unable to quell Red Sox bat
ters or even keep them off the bases
when they could not hit, and the
pepnant aspirants in the early part
of the struggle finding Ehmke a COM
plete puzzle when an effective clout
was needed. 3
Ehmke and George Mogridge, the
latter a left-hander, were mound op-
ponents at the outset of hostilties,
but Mogridge's term on the slab was
of brief duration. A two-run lead
earned off Ehmke in the first frame
was quickly swept aside by the Red
Sox in their opening round against
Mogridge. George, who has failed to
last a game started by him during
the present trip. got through two
thirds OF the inning with but one
runner on. then lost his cunning al
together and the end of the session
found the Red Sox a pair of tallies
to the good.
Fred Marberry, young Texan, who
has been a most valuable pitching as
set to the Nationals this season,
checked the Red Sox during the next
three innings, but Ehmke, following
his poor getaway, was almost air
tight in his pitching in pinches in
the meanwhile. The Boston ace did
not keep men off the paths. but his
slabbing vas of such fine order
that seven Nationals were stranded
on bases in the first four frames.
Ehmker. Slip Is Costly.
Then came break in Ehmke's
work that paved the way to a Ma
tional lead and incidentally brought
about Marberry's retirement in favor
of a substitute batsman. Allen Rus
sell followed Marberry and was
reached almost Immediately for ty-
ing run. But Ehmke made fielding
slip in the sixth session that restored
the Nationals to the lead, although he
went on to pitch well through the
eighth. Zachary and the venerable
John Picus Quinn were pitching op-
ponents in the final frame.
n - 49,