Evening star., 1941-08-20
Double Shufout
Puts Focus on
Hurting Staff
Win Eight Straight. u
Of Last 20 Contests;
Di Maggie Injured
By JUDSON BAILEY,
Associated Press Sports Writer.

The finest pitching staff in tbs
major leagues this year belongs 10
the Chicago White Sox.
This has been no secret, but this
feat of lefty Thornton Lee and big
Johnny Humphries in pitching
double shutout yesterday against
the Philadelphia Athletics served TO
switch the spotlight in the direction
of the SoX.
ObScured by such developments
as the fancy pennant fight in the
National League and the collapse of
the cleveland Indians, the Whits
Sox nevertheless have won straight
games and II of their last 20 in
squirting from fifth place to second
in the American League since Au-
gust 2.
/ This was accomplished almost en-
| tirely on superb pitching. The SoE
| still are the weakest hitting outfit
and the next to the worst fielding
| club in the circuit. They haven't
| hit a homer in their last IA con-
tests and have smacked only SO all
/ season.
But their pitchers have hurled .
shutoutS ana p one-run tilts and
in 30 instances the starting pitcher
went the full distance
Lee Scores Sixteenth Win.
Lee, recognized as the outstanding
! left-hander of the year. achieved
his sixteenth victory by holding the
Athletics TO six singles. He let only
| one man reach second and hit
| double himself TO drive home Chi
| Cago'S first run in a 4-to-0 victory.
Humphries. a 26-year-old right
| handler acquired from Cleveland last
winter in exchange for Clint Brown,
allowed only four hits. II was his
| third starting assignment and his
second straight Shutout. John
Babich opposed him with shit
job, but walked four batters. one
Intentionally. to force across the
only run of the game in the third
/ inning.
/ This lifted the Sox 10 Is games
| behind the New York Yankees. who
/ divided a double-header at Detroit
and lost their great star. Joe Dl
Maggie. for perhaps week with a
| strained ankle.
The Tigers broke loose for eight
runs in the second inning of the
| opener and won, 1913, with Lefty
Hal Newhouser pitching shit ball,
! Charley Keller hit his 30th homer
while Charley Gehringer led De-
troit's I6-hit attack with a homer
and a double good for four runs. j.
Di Mag Hurt Tagging Base. &;
New York banged back with
16-hit bombardment to take the
| nightcap 8-3. Di Maggie hurt his
left ankle tagging second base after
hitting a double III the fourth in
ming. He had not missed an inning
till then.
The injury tended to push him
out of the American League hitting
competition as Lanky Ted Williams
came up with three home runs dur
ing a double header between the
Boston Red Sox and St. Louis
Browns. Williams big day, which
included a couple of singles, boosted
his batting average to .4l0. gave him
total of 26 round-tripperS. one be-
hind Di Maggie, and a total of 80
runs batted in, third-highest in his
league.
In spite of Williams show the
best Boston could do was split the
twin bill. The Browns took the
opener, 80, as Dennis Galehouse
held his former teammates to six
hits, one less than Jack Wilson gave
up to ST. Louis. John Berardino
hit a homer and then singled home
the winning run for ST. Louis IN
the ninth. Boston won the night
cap, 10-7, with a 19-hit offensive,
Brooklyn Bolsters Lead.
Brooklyn barged two full games
in front of the National League by
battering the Pittsburgh Pirates, 90
and 6-2, in a double-header while
the rest of the league was kept idle
by rain in the East.
Curt Davis obtained his fourth
Shutout by holding the Buccaneers
to five hits in the opener His team
mates provided him a Seven-run lead
in the first inning. The second
game was a tight hurling duel be-
tween Ken HeintZelman and Rookie
Tom Drake for seven innings. Pete
ReiSer'S two-run double and Dolph
Camillis 25th homer with two on
settled it.