Editor’s note: Tournament games are played with Strat-o-Matic cards and dice. Three-man pitching rotations will be used for starting pitchers. Injuries are in-game only during this single elimination event.
Fans of the Detroit Tigers were ecstatic in the ninth and dejected by the 10th.
The Philadelphia A’s survived a battle with the Tigers to post an 8-7 victory in the second round of the 1938 Tournament.
Philadelphia is set to visit the winner of the Chicago White Sox at Boston Red Sox contest in the semifinals.
Detroit trailed by four runs heading into the bottom of the ninth, before the Tigers rallied against A’s starter Bud Thomas to send the game to extra innings.
Charlie Gehringer had a RBI single that was followed by three-run homer by Hank Greenberg that tied it at 7-7.
Harry Eisenstat (0-1) took over on the mound for the Tigers in the 10th as he hit Billy Werber to begin the inning.
Frankie Hayes followed with a single that moved Werber to third. With the infield playing in, Bob Johnson hit a grounder to second base and Gehringer shut down Werber at the plate.
After Sam Chapman was out on a fly ball, Dario Lodigiani singled and the Browns took the lead.
Nels Potter (1-0), who got the last out of the ninth, retired Pete Fox, Billy Rogell and Mark Christman on grounders in the bottom of the 10th to earn the victory for the A’s.
Thomas went to the showers with one out in the ninth after giving up seven runs on 10 hits with three walks and a strikeout.
Tommy Bridges started for the Tigers and was relieved with two outs in the eighth by Al Benton.
Bridges gave up seven runs on seven hits with four walks and three strikeouts, while Benton got the final out of the eighth before tossing a scoreless ninth giving up a hit and fanning one.
Both teams scored a run in the third inning. Wally Moses had a sacrifice fly for the A’s and Gehringer hit a solo homer for Detroit.
Johnson added a sacrifice fly in the fourth as the A’s took a 2-1 lead. A walk to Johnson with the bases loaded in the sixth put the A’s on top 3-1.
Greenberg’s solo blast in the bottom of the sixth cut Detroit’s deficit to 3-2.
A pair homers by Philadelphia in the eighth gave the A’s a 7-2 advantage. Lou Finney hit a solo long ball and Chapman drilled a three-run shot.
Detroit added a run in the eighth on a sacrifice fly by Fox trimming Philadelphia’s lead to 7-3 to set up the wild finish.
1938 Tournament
Semifinals
(7) St. Louis Browns at (4) Cincinnati Reds
Second Round Results and Pairings
(4) Cincinnati Reds 5, (1) New York Yankees 4
(7) St. Louis Browns 5, (6) St. Louis Cardinals 4 (10 innings)
(8) Philadelphia A’s 8, (4) Detroit Tigers 7 (10 innings)
(6) Chicago White Sox at (2) Boston Red Sox
First Round Results
(1) New York Yankees 4, (8) Philadelphia Phillies 2 (22 innings)
(4) Cincinnati Reds 3, (5) Washington Senators 1
(6) St. Louis Cardinals 4, (3) Cleveland Indians 3 (10 innings)
(7) St. Louis Browns 10, (2) Pittsburgh Pirates 0
(8) Philadelphia A’s 3, (1) Chicago Cubs 0
(4) Detroit Tigers 5, (5) Boston Bees 1
(6) Chicago White Sox 6, (3) New York Giants 0
(2) Boston Red Sox 6, (7) Brooklyn Dodgers 3