Evening star., 1931-04-19
FANS TEN, But AS
ARE LICKED, z TO |.
Fielding Mix-up in Fourth
Tells Marberry WhiffS
Simmons in Pinch.
BY JOHN b. KELLER.

BISHOPS SLlOuIQeE Oy Ding
~ Miller in the right field of
Griffith Stadium yesterday
meant a ball game for the Ma
tionalS.
When with two out in the
fourth inning, Joe Cronin on third
base and the home side and the
Athletics tied at 1-all OSSie Bluege
put up puny fly to short right it
looked as though the inning was
over.
Bishop, Mack Second-sacker,
raced back to get under the fall
ing sphere, but just as it landed in
his hands Miller, the right fielder,
bumped him, the ball fell safely to
give Bluege double that tailed
Cronin and that proved the ball
game.
The contest ended with the Nation
ais on the good end of a 2-to-1 count
That nudge was sufficient to give the
johnson band three-out-of-four count
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series Of the season and a flying start
toward the pennant they are shooting
for. The victory left them in q tie for
fire place with the Yankees, Indians
and Browns.
Right now the Nationals figure beat
ing the AS means about twice as much
as it will to beat their other rivals, and
in the series just concluded they played
that way. The game yesterday was as
fI1l nf thrills for the ~ mn q hand q c
any Of the preceding contests, with the
visitors fighting and threatening to the
last out.
AS Best in All but Scoring.
The AS got more out Of the game
than the Nationals in every way except
scoring. They nicked Sad Sam Jones,
making his first hin start of the cam
paign, for seven hits before he was re-
lieved by Fred Marberry in the seventh
inning. They CLEANED an eighth hit OF
Fred. They got three passes and had
one batter hit by a pitched ball, and
an error helped them. On the other
hand, the Nationals got only i've hits
and two passes, and the AS did not err.
for the world champions, and Lefty had
one of his great days. He was as fast
as ever, which meant the fastest pitch
ing in the league-So fast and deceptive
he pitched 10 strikeouts. And, outside
Of one inning, he kept the Washington
hits scattered. Each Of the i've hits
Of him was an extra-base affair,
though, three being triples and two
doubles. One Of the two passes ne
issued, too, was converted into run.
Groves hurting was so flne that
Cronin was the only one hitting to
advance beyond the base to which he
had batted his way. Harry Rice dou-
bled with one out in the second In
ming, but Bluege and Roy Spencer were
helpless before the left-hander. Spen-
Ger famed after Bluege's two-bagger
seventh with a triple, stuck at third
as Bluege was thrown out, then
watched Spencer and Marberry fan.
Sam Rice hit for three bases with
one out in the eighth, but Heinie
Manush whitfield and Cronin grounded
out.
Marberry Stops Simmons.
The Nationals show no pitching so
consistently good as Groves but Mar
berry performed a hill feat in the
seventh that just about saved the day
for the home side. Jones, plainly tir-
ing at that time, had been reached
for o single by Grove after one was
out, then hit Bishop on the foot. The
sad one cl1ucked two wide ones to Mule
Haas so Marberry was hustled to the
slab.
Fred's start was not auspicious, for
with two throws he completed the pass
to Haas, filling the bases. He followed
with two wide Of the plate when Mickey
Cochrane came up, then rallied to get
two strikes before the batter hoiSted
TO Harry Rice in such short center
that Grove had no chance to score
after the catch.
Up came the slugging Al Simmons
and Marberry buckled down to work.
He fired with everything he had on
the ball and Simmons swung with all
his power. A foul Strike one
Another foul. Strike two. A ball
pitched far outside. Then two more
fouls. Marberry speeding the pitches
and Simmons swinging from his heels
each time. Then pitch high and
inside and Simmons swung for third
strike. A single strike -out that meant
more than all of Groves 10.
Jones kept the Athletics hits scat
tered outside the third inning and
might not have been scored on then
had Cronin not erred. There were two
out when Haas singled and Cochrane
walked. Simmons rtfled a grounder to
the left Of second base. but the Wash
ington shortStop hustled back for
1iaShy stop that held the blow to a
single only good enough to advance
Haas to third.
Scores as Cronin Errs.
But Joe thought he had a chance to
s.-A- -