Evening star., 1934-09-18
ROCK SLABS WELL
IN TRIBES DEFEAT.
Vet SouthpaW, Like Bolton
and Harris, Seems Done
for Rest of Year.
By FRANCIS E. STAN,
Ntoa f-orr.spondapt of The Star


Stan Correspondent OF The Star.
~ LEvELAND, September IL
The jinx-pursued Nationals
were gulping another cup of
sorrow today, but for the first
time in many weeks they had an
antedote on hand.
To the record breaking list of Griff-
men rendered hors de combat was
added the name of Earl Whitehill. but
even as an X-ray of the ace SOUTH
paws injured finger depicted torn
ligaments and tiny fragment OF
Clipped bone. 18-year-old Reese Dlggs
spread a ray of cheer throughout the
ranks -thinned encampment pitched
here for four more skirmishes with
the Indians.
Whitehill, growing suspicious OF the
soreness remaining in the foreflnger
of his pitching hand. injured week
ago yesterday in Chicago, hied him
self to the Offices of DR.. H. M. Castle.
physician of the Cleveland club, late
Yesterday. There it was revealed that
the ligaments were badly torn as was
the bone covering. Doubt was eX-
pressed as to whether Whitehill would
do any more hurling this season, and,
if unable, Earl will become the third
National to be counted out for the
year by DR.. Castle on the same day.
Harris, Bolton Go Home.
DRIOR to Whitehill's visit, Dave
Harris and Cliff Bolton were
X-rayed by DR.. Castle and were
discovered in possession of a Clipped
finger bone and a fractured digit, re-
spectively, and they departed for their
homes in North Carolina last night.
But even as Whitehills loss was
casting another cloud on the horizon,
Diggs, youthful pride of Pimllco,"
was doing his part toward wip1ng 1t
out Minus any sort of experience ex-
cept a very brief stretch in the Blue
Ridge League, Diggs was given his
first professional starting slab assign
ment in the series opener yesterday
and responded with performance far
exceeding even fondest expectations.
AS raw as they come and utterly
lacking in slab form, Diggs neverthe-
less showed Manager Joe Cronin
plenty of promise as he burned over
a fast hop and occasionally a wicked
hook to end a. five-game losing streak
and defeat the Indians, l3 to 6. Diggs
allowed only eight hits. but contrib
uting factors to the Tribes run total
were seven bases on balls and Earl
Averill's twenty eighth home run over
the short right-field screen, account
ing for just half of Cleveland's runs.
Mats in Batting Mood.
~ EFORE the youngster even step
r. ped to the rubber for his first
pitching start of any kind IN
more than five weeks, the crippled
Croninites had banged out five hits
and used an error to score five runs
off Oral Hildebrand. who checked the
Yankees last out. In the second in
ming they touched Hildebrand for an
other run and then we're quelled in
the third by Bob Weiland, who relieved
Hildebrand.
Bob took his bumps in the fourth,
though, and gave up three more runs,
and in the fifth he was routed out and
replaced by Bean, the pair OF tneil
granting another brace of tallies. A
lone run in both the sixth and ninth
frames were added to touch off Wash
ington's mightiest offensive OF the
campaign.
Twenty-one hits bounced of the
Nationals bats, five going to Pete
Susko, fill-in first baseman who was
retired only once and shared scoring
honors with Jack Stone. Both counted
three times. The big run-batter-ln,
believe it or not, was Schnozzola Kerr,
who swatted four mates across.
Two Indians Hit Homers.
DIGGs sailed along serenely until
J the third, when Weiland hit a
low drive over shortstop and
Just between Manush and Stone in
side the park for a home run. Then,
IN, the fifth after RrenZel had walked