The Waterbury Democrat., 1946-08-19
Hard Western
 Trip Ahead For Dodgers


 Brooklyn Dodgers. who have over worked lady luck in hanging on to first place the past 88 days, headed west for Pittsburgh on their fourth, final and possibly fatal western tour bodybuilding a skimpy two- game lead over the onrushing Car dinals.
 The west is mo mans land" for the Dodgers. where they were mas sacred on their last trip. Even Manager Leo Durocher, who desper- ately tossed four pitchers against the Phillies yesterday to squeeze out 3 to 2 victory, is jittery about leaving honey Flatbush for the four-city tour with only a two- game margin.
 The last time they went west, Du- rochers men arrived at Chicago July II with five-game lead and | checked back into Ebbets Field July A deadlocked with the Cardinals for first place in the National League.
 The Dodgers were hard pressed to beat the Phils yesterday, scoring the winning run in the eighth in- | ming when Pete Reiser doubled for his third hit, moved to third on Dixie Walkers infield out and SCOT i ed when Emil Verban fumbled pinch-hitter Gene Hermanski's grounder.
 The RedblrdS, meanwhile, fresh from yesterdays doubleheader vic- tory over the worrisome Cincinnati Reds, are hitting their traditional down. -the-stretch pace with added and on the mound.
 Entering the first game as a pinch hitter, the southpaw-hitting rookie Dick Sisler hit Joe Beggs' i first pitch to single home Stan Mu- sial from third with the winning run and 3 to victory, relief hurler Alpha Brazle's eighth of the season. Harry Brecheen, the hard luck lefty from Broken Bow, Okla, gained his 10th victory by shutting out the Reds on seven hits in the nightcap, ? to 0, with Sisler's help. In the game-clinching second in- ming. Enos Slaughter doubled, Sis Ter singled, losing pitcher Ed Heus- ser cut loose a wild pitch, and Mar ty Marion singled for the two runs.
 In the American League, the New York Yankees remained 14 games behind the runaway Red Sox by splitting doubleheader at Boston. Pinky Higgins eighth inning dou- ble drove in the winning run in the second game for to 3 Bosox vic- tory after Floyd Bevens throttled the Beantown Bombers with six hits for a to shutout and his l4th victory in the opener.
 The third-place Tigers dropped two games behind the Yankees at Detroit when the St. Louis Browns swept both games, to 3, and 6 to 5. Nelson Potter's nine-hit pitching and catcher Frank Mancuso's eight inning single won the first game and Mark Christman's double dur ing tWo-run rally in the ninth accounted for the second victory.
 With Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb and Iris Speaker. three baseball inn mortals, looking on, the Indians walloped the Chicago White Sox at Cleveland, 13 to 3, in the second game after dropping the Thinning opener, to 4 The Sox's Taft Wright slammed four hits, including three doubles, in the first game while Pat Seery walloped two hom- CTS for the Indians, one each game. The Athletics and Senators Split, Philadelphia pounding three Wash ington pitchers for Is hits and an II to victory in the opener and the Mats taking the nightcap, to , f.
 In a single National League game, the Cubs routed Jack HaIlett with five runs in the first inning and went on to defeat the Pirates, to 0, as Paul Erickson turned in his finest pitching performance of the season by limiting the Bucs to one hit. At New York, John Sain gain- ed his l4th triumph of the season as the Braves defeated the Giants to in the second game after the Giants snapped a fOur-gane lOSinQ