The Waterbury Democrat., 1942-06-11
RUNNER-UP RACE NEW THRILL TN
 AMERICAN LOOP
Red SOx, Indians, Tigers and Browns Bunched;
 Cramer Tops 2,OOO
By OSCAR FRALEY

(Unlse0 Press Stan COFrespOndent)
 New York, June il. (UP)-The New York Yankees and the monot- onous manner in which they spread eagl ethe field were forgotten mo- mentarily by the American League today as 1t concentrated on a red- hot second place battle among the Boston Red sox, the Cleveland In- dians and the Detroit Tigers.
 Ten games out in front, the Tanks were too distant to worry about. But the interest in the three-way rIlnner-up flgh-with the St. Louis Browns atempting to crowd into the picure-produced the fevered inter- est of a close pennant fight. Boston thumped St. Louis, 10-3, yesterday, and remained one-half game ahead of Cleveland adn De-. troit. The Tigers held the pace with @ 4-1 victory over the YankS, beat ing the champions in their favor ite department, home run hitting. Cleveland rallied and nosed out the Senators, 4-3, in a 12-inning tilt at Washington last night. The Browns loss put them two games below Cleveland Detroit.
 Ned Harris belted his fifth home run of the season with two mates aboard in the 1lth inning for the Tiger triumph over the Tanks. De- troit touched Marvin Breuer and Johnny Murphy for eight hits, iIl- cluding Jimmy Bloodworth's seventh homer. Roger Cramer got three for five and became the seventh active major league player to pass the D. OO0.hit mark. He now is one over, joining Joe Cronin, Charley Geh-. ringer, Jimmy Foxx, Mel Ott, and Lloyd and Paul Waner in this se- lect group.
 Joe Gordon's batting streak bare- ly was preserved when he waited until the 11th to single and stretch 1t to 27 games. It was one of the 10 hits Al Benton gave up in win ming his third game. Two players were injured, Yankee Catcher Bill Dickey hurting his foot during bat ting practice and Tiger Shortstop Murray Franklin wrenching his ankle while fielding a ninth inning single.
 Plenty of Action
 Buck Newsom had Cleveland well in hand until the ninth inning, coasting on a 20 lead. The Indians rallied for three runs but Washing ton came back with one sending the tilt into overtime. Then in the 12th, Pitcher Red Embree hit 8 slow roller and Ray Mack beat the throw home for the winning run. Les Fleming and Roy Weatherly led the l4-hit Indian attack with three each while the Senators got 13 safeties.
 A flve-run explosion in the sixth inning on Q single, three doubles and a home run let Boston in with an. easy 10-3 conquest of the Browns. Dom DiMaggio and Bill Conroy both hit round-rtippers as the Sox touched Johnny Niggeling and Loy flaming for 10 hits. Tex Hughson went the route for the winners, allowing eight hits. The Brown runs scored on Q three-run homer by Mike Chartak, playing his first game for St. Louis.
 The Chicago White SoX regained seventh place, dropping the Athle- tics into the cellar again with a Al defeat. Johnny HumphrieS held the As to eight hits and blasted triple that accounted for 8 two-run up- rising which put the Sox out in front for good. Chicago pounded three As hurlers for 10 safeties. Giants Gain
 A crucial game between the Na- tional League leading Brooklyn Dodgers and the second place St.. Louis Cards again was postponed because of weather but the New York Giants moved up into 8 third place deadlock with Cincinnati by blasting the Reds, Gel. Big Johnny Mize led the nine-hit Giant bar rage on three Red tossers with three for four, two of them doubles, driv- ing in two runs and scoring pair. Hal Schumacher took the win, ale though Ace Aadms was called in to help him set the Reds down with 10 safeties.
 Rip Sewell allowed only four hits and drove in two runs leading the Pittsburgh Pirates to their sixth straight triumph, A 80 night vic- tory over the Boston Braves. Only one man reached second as Boston suffered its ninth straight loss. Paul Waner got one of the four safetieS for his 2,905th hit. The Pirates col- Ilected nine hits of Jim Tobin.
 Bill Lee registered his eighth win, hurting the Chicago Cubs to 8 5-2 triumph over the Philadelphia Phils. Johnny Podgajny held the Cubs hit less until the seventh when he was