April 22, 1931: The Cardinals Take Down The Reds 3-2 In The Home Opener

     On April 22, 1931, the Cardinals opened their home schedule with a 3-2 win over the Reds at Sportsman's Park. Before the contest began the Governor Harry S. Caufield joined Mayor Victor J. Miller in pregame ceremonies that included raising the National League Flag. The Governor went onto throw out the first pitch before settling in to watch the Redbirds pound out a victory.

     Once the game got started it was quite the contest. The Birds got things going in the first, when George Watkins knocked in Ernie Orsatti with a two out single to give them a 1-0 lead that stood until Sylvester Johnson surrendered a solo shot to Wally Roettger in the fifth. The Reds took a 2-1 lead in the sixth, which was keyed by a two out double by their pitcher Ray Kolp who had settled down after the rocky first inning.  However, he became unsettled in the seventh when Andy High drove in Sparky Adams with a sacrifice fly to tie it up.

     Kolp was able to limit the damage to just the one run, but that only lasted until the eighth when he gave up back-to-back one out singles to Jim Bottomley and George Watkins. It spelled the end for Kolp, and his reliever Benny Frey could not clean up the mess he inherited, as he gave up a double that scored Bottomley and put the Birds up 3-2. While Johnson had turned in a solid performance with seven strong innings for the Birds, it was Jim Lindsey who got the win. Lindsey took over on the bump in the eighth, and gave up just one hit in that inning, before tossing a flawless ninth.

     The Reds had not beaten the Cardinals since June 23, 1929. They would finally take one from the Cardinals with a win on May 24, 1931. That came in the first game of a doubleheader, and the Cardinals got their revenge in the second game with a 13-6 victory. The Cardinals ended up going 20-2 against the Reds that season, which helped them reach the 100 win plateau for the first time in franchise history. The Cardinals ended that season with 101 wins and went onto win the World Series for the second time in franchise history.

Check out the box score here: http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/SLN/SLN193104220.shtml