The Waterbury Democrat., 1938-07-11
PITTSBURGH AND
 BOSTON RED SOx CROWD LEADERS
TraynOr's Team Has Won IS of 2l Games; Grove
 Beats YankS
By LESLIE AVERY United Press Staff Corresp0ndent)

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 New York, July 11-(UP)-Pitts- burgh's Pirates, whose mid-season comeback has the baseball world taking notice, sought their 18th straight victory and the seasons longest winning streak against the Chicago Cubs today.
 Pie Traynor's unpredictable Cor sairs, who year in and year out start out like ball of fire and fold up like punctured accordion when the going gets tough, have since May g lifted themselves from fifth to second place in the National league-two games behind the lead ing New York Giants.
 The Buccaneers started the season with their usual flash, winning sev- en in a row. They dropped six out of their next seven. The 18-2 shell lacking they took from the Giants on May g convinced Owner Bill Benswanger and Traynor that the time had come for drastic action. They decided that if the veteran stars couldn't win, they would ex- pertinent with youngsters. Since that day the Pirates have been play ing ball at a .718 clip, winning 28 out of their last 39 games. Eighteen of these victories have been rung up in their last 21 starts.
 Pittsburgh gained half-game yesterday when they took a double header from the St. Louis Cardinals 5-2 and 4-3. Cy Blanton pitched eight hit ball to win the opener and Russ Bauers, although relieved in the seventh, triumphed in the sec- ond.
 The Giants won, 5-2 over the Bos- ton Bees as Cliff Melton held the Beantown batsmen to eight hits Hank Lieber blasted two home runs, the only ones in the league yester- day, to drive in four Giants runs.
 Johnny Wander Nicer got revenge on the Chicago Cubs for breaking his winning streak week ago. He pitched the Cincinnati Reds to 3-1 victory. He roled out four hits, and the Cubs only run was unearned. It was his 11th win against three defeats this year.
 Brooklyn and Philadelphia split pair, the Dodgers taking the first 6-3 and the Phillies coming back for a 5-3 triumph in the second.
 In the American league the Cleve- land Indians increased thier lead to two games over the New York Yankees by nosing the St. Louis Browns 8-7 after Billy Sullivan's pinch home run in the ninth for the Browns had tied the score 7-7. Jeff Heath hit the game winning single, bringing Jimmy Webb home in the last half of the ninth.
 The Yankees succumbed to the eff fective pitching of Lefty Grove and bowed to the Boston Red Sox 6-4 Grove gave up II hits, but he kept them scattered to score his 18th win of the year. The victory left Boston only a game and a half out of sec ond place.
 Washington's Senators took over fourth place, dropping Detroit into fifth, as they took both ends of their twin bill with the Philadelphia Ath- letics, 5-2 and 8-7. u took a five run rally in the ninth to pull the last one out of the fire.
 Detroit's Tigers were stopped 5-4 by the nine-hit pitching of Chicagos veteran Ted Lyons. Two of the blows given up by Lyons were cir cult smashs by York and Greenberg. Kuhel got one for Chicago.
 Yesterdays Hero: Lefty Grove, Boston Red Sox's veteran pitcher in the twilight of his career, stopped the New York Yankees and scored his 18th victory, the most any ma for