Evening star., 1950-07-24
Pitchers Will Win II,
SAYS Indians Pilot as
Lemon Beats Mats
By Burton HoWkins

peIlIlauC 1Or his 4uQla1lS. MINUS
the customary hemming and haw.
ing of many managers, Cleve-
lands pilot says:
Were going to win. If we
catch them we can beat them
and we're going to catch them"
Only 31a games behind Detroit
Cleveland will grab the nag or
pitching, Boudreau says.
We're four deep in good start
ing pitchers, declared Lou after
the Indians bumped of the Mats
Ga. yesterday.
Detroit and New York are
three deep and it gives us the
edge.
Injuries figure in pennant
fights, too," continued Boudreau
land ! think we have better re.
serves and can afford injuries
more than the Tigers anc
Yankees. Yep. I like our chances
particularly with Joe Gordon
playing great ball again. He''
the reason for our success or
this trip"
Win 8 i'm IL.
Cleveland finished its Eastern
swing with eight wins in II games
as Bob Lemon captured his 18th
game at the Mats expense.
BY his victory, Lemon became
the first pitcher in the majors to
win is games.
A key figure. however, in the
surge Of the Indians has been
Gordon. When the Indians left
Cleveland. he was on the bench
with a 400 batting average, but
that has been changed.
Gordon broke into IL games on
Cleveland'S trip, batted .375 and
lifted his season average 43 points
His defensive play is reminiscent
of his fielding genius in earlier
campaigns.
Boudreau has FIVE regulars hit
ting .290 or better and when he
dips among his reserves 1t is with
little misgiving. If he desires
shortstop to replace himself, for
instance, there's Ray Boone. hit
ting 1923. If it's a second baseman
he needs, there's Bobby Avila with
a .298 average.
Lemon Coasts In.
The Indians wasted no time in
sewing up yesterdays game before
a crowd Of 1889. They clipped
Bob Kuzava for two runs in the
first inning and had a 60 lead by
the third inning. Lemon coaste6
with that comfortable margin
scattering five hits to hold the
Mats scoreless for six innings.
A walk to Dale Mitchell, Bou-
dreau's double and AL Rosen'.
single presented Cleveland two
runs in the first inning.
They added three in the second
when they again shelled Kuzava
Gordon launched the second with
a single and Bob Kennedy fol-
lowed with another. Jim Hogan
sacrificed and Lemons long fly
to center scored Gordon and
shifted Kennedy to third. Mitch.
ellis triple of the rightfleld wall
scored Kennedy and, after San
dalio Consuegra took over the
Mats pitching duties, Larry Doby's
single scored Mitchell.
Gordon Doubles.
Gordon'S double and Kennedy's
single produced another Cleve-
land run in the third. That ended
the Indians scoring as AL Sima
and Elmer Singleton restricted
them to four hits in the last six
innings, but meanwhile the Mats
weren't giving Lemon cause fol-
much anxiety.
Lemon owned a shit shutout
with one out in the seventh, when
singles by Sam Dente and Mickey
Grasso, Sam Mele's pinch double
and Eddie Yost's grounder ac-
counted for the Mats only runs.
NAT NOTES: Irv Noren ac-
counted for a third of the Mats
hits with two singles and q
double Gordon paced the
Indians 12-hit attack with three
hits Stewart hasn't hit q
ball beyond the infield in his last
nine tries and has one hit in his
last Is attempts.
Idle today, the Mats open a a.
game road trip. tomorrow night
at Chicago the Mats have
played better on the road than at
home, with a 20-21 record on
foreign fields and a 20-25 mark at
Griffith Stadium Mickey Ver-
non reached first base seven
straight times-f1ve walks and two
hits-before grounding out to
Gordon in the third inning.
Bucky Harris is getting produc-
ton from his pinch-hitters lately
the last eight times he has
used them they have responded
with five hits and a walk in
the 3-game Cleveland series the
nrN1x,lo or,o~,o 90 m nn4