Evening star., 1953-07-13

Richards Louds New Men;
Braves Confound Critics
Ry the Assoeiated Press


Ask almost any National League
manager what he thinks Of the
Milwaukee Braves and he'll
shake his head in wonderment
and tell you they should have
folded long ago.
He'll tell you the Braves still
will fold, but with the season
more than half over, he won't
say it with the same flnality he
used a month ago.
When the Braves lost three
games in a row to the Brooklyn
Dodgers late last month, their
detractors thought they had
cracked and never would recover.
Early this month, they fell ga
games behind the Dodgers and
again the experts figured 1t was
all over but the shouting.
They're Still In There.
Yet. today, the Braves are just
a game-and-a-half behind Brook
lyn and causing quite q bit Of
disturbance.
The st. Louis Cardinals had q
good opportunity to help bury
Charley Grimm's boys yesterday,
but they succeeded only in dig
ging a grave for themselves. The
Braves won a double header
from the Cards, 10-1 and 4-3.
and knocked the Redbirds right
into fourth place.
The Phillies took over third
place by whacking helpless Pitts
burgh, GA and 6-5. In other
games the Dodgers turned back
the Giants, 4-3, and Cincinnati
won two games from the Cubs,
IA and 7-3.
In the American League the
Yankees nosed out Washington,
6-5. but saw their lead sliced to
five games when the White Sox
mauled Cleveland twice, 14-2 and
81. Boston and the Athletics
split a double-header, the Red
Sox winning the first. 9-5, and
the AS the second, Al. Detroit
won the first game of their twin
bill with st. Louis, 81, but the
Browns took the second, 80,
beating Ralph Branca in his first
American League start.
Easy Win for AntOnelli.
The Braves made it easy for
Johnny Antonelli to notch his
eighth victory of the year in the
first game by slugging five Car
dinal pitchers for II hits. in
cluding a grand-Slam home run
by Ed Mathews.
The nightcap, though, was a
different story. st. Louis scored
three runs in the fifth and Don
Liddle had to be rescued by Bob
Buhl, who held the Cards at
bay while his mates were scoring
the tying and winning runs in
the seventh.
The double triumph enabled
the Braves to shave half game
off the Brooklyn lead. The
Dodgers themselves snapped an
eight-game winning streak by
the Giants when they scored q
run off Hoyt Wilhelm in the
bottom of the 10th inning. With
the bases loaded. the relief ace
passed Bobby Morgan to force
in the winning run. Billy Cox
had tied it for Chuck Dressen's
operatives with a home run in
the ninth with one on.
14th Win for Roberts.
Robin Roberts hurled the
Phillies to their first-game tri-
umph for his 14th victory Of
the year. Bob Miller and Steve
Ridzik tossed the nightcap. The
second defeat was the Pirates
10th in row and meant the
11th double-header they have
lost this year.
Harry Perkowski and Fred
Baczewski each went all the
way for the improving Redlegs
in their twin triumphs over the
Cubs.
Hector Brown and Ivan De-
lock tossed the Red Sox to their
f1rst-game victory, but Harry
Byrd stopped them with six hits
in the nightcap to give the AS
a split. Mel Parnell was the los
ing pitcher.
Del WILDER, Boston'S second
string catcher, drove in six runs
in the first game with a bases
loaded double and a home run
with two on. Parnell. trying for
his 18th victory, failed to last
out the second inning in the
nightcap, but Bill Henry pitched
good ball thereafter.
The Tigers took the opener
from the Browns on a neat re-
lief job by Ray Herbert. In the
second game Branca was tapped
for all three runs in the first
inning and was charged with
the loss. After the rocky first,
he did all right until he was
lifted in the sixth.
Detroit's winning run in the
first game was forced in by
Satchel Paige. who walked Steve
Souchock with the bases filled
in the eighth inning.