April 27, 1933: The Bats Come Alive In The Ninth

     On April 27, 1933, the Cardinals found themselves trailing the Cincinnati Reds 2-0 headed into the bottom of the ninth, before the bats came alive and the team scored 3 runs on their way to victory. Dizzy Dean gave the Birds eight strong innings of 4-hit ball, but was victimized by errors that put the team in the 2-0 hole. In the bottom of the eighth, the Cardinals skipper Gabby Street called on Tex Carleton to pinch hit for Dean. Carleton did not do any damage with his bat, but he did pitch a scoreless ninth and would go on to earn the W.  Larry Benton, who had gotten the start for the Reds had pitched a gem of his own, until he saw it all unravel in the ninth. Benton gave up consecutive singles to Ripper Collins, Rogers Hornsby, and Ducky Medwick before the Reds skipper Donie Bush took the ball out of his hands. He called on Benny Frey to put the fire out, however, Frey did not bring a big enough bucket of water, or he might have just brought a bucket and forgot the water altogether. The reliever proceeded to give up a single to Pepper Martin to close the Cardinals gap to 2-1, then he issued a free pass to the Redbirds catcher Jimmie Wilson that tied it up. Street called on Ethan Allen to pinch hit for Carleton, and Allen did his job by hitting a sac fly that brought the winning run across the plate.

Check out the box score here: http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/SLN/SLN193304270.shtml