Editor’s note: The Reds Decade Tournament games are being played with Strat-o-Matic cards and dice. Injuries will only be used during the game when they occur. For this tournament, the rules include a three-man pitching rotation that starts over with each best-of-three game series. If a real life starter is not in the rotation, he can be used in relief. Cincinnati squads that did not made the post-season are featured in this event as one team from each decade from the 1910s to the 1980s were selected.
A late power surge gave the 1948 Cincinnati Reds a 5-4 win over the 1924 Cincinnati Reds in the second round of the Reds Decade Tournament.
As a result of the victory, the 1948 Reds grabbed a 1-0 advantage in the best of three series.
Down by four runs heading into the bottom of the sixth, Hank Sauer and Ted Kluszewski supplied all of the energy for the comeback.
Sauer’s two-run blast in the sixth got things started as he cut his team’s deficit to 5-2.
Kluszewski drilled a solo shot in the seventh to set the stage for the bottom of the eighth.
Although 1924 starter Eppa Rixey was beginning to tire, he was still on the mound.
Bobby Adams led off with a double before Rixey retired Grady Hatton on a fly ball.
Unfortunately for Rixey, Sauer liked a pitch from the lefty as he hammered a two-run blast that turned out to be the game-winner. Pedro Dibut got the last two outs of the eighth, but the damage was done.
In three tournament contests, Sauer has four homers with six hits and 10 RBI.
The 1924 team scored four times in the fourth inning to take the lead off 1948 starter Johnny Vander Meer.
Babe Pinelli had a two-run single that was followed by a RBI single by Ike Caveney that made it 3-0. The final tally of the frame came when 1948 catcher Ray Lamanno made an error on a slow roller in front of the plate off the bat of Rixey.
In the fifth, Vander Meer walked Jake Daubert and then surrendered a single to Edd Roush that ended his day.
Bucky Walters came on and got out of the jam. Howie Fox worked the next two innings before giving way to Harry Gumbert.
Gumbert (1-0) picked up the win with a pair of scoreless innings to close out the affair.
Ken Raffensberger (1-0) starts for the 1948 team in game two of the series, while Carl Mays (1-0) gets the ball for the 1924 squad.
Second Round Schedule and Results
(Best two out of three)
1911 Reds vs. 1977 Reds (2-6, 1977 Leads 1-0)
1924 Reds vs. 1948 Reds (4-5, 1948 Leads 1-0)
First Round Results
(Best two out of three)
1911 Reds vs. 1955 Reds (5-4, 6-4, 1911 Wins 2-0)
1934 Reds vs. 1977 Reds (3-7, 5-6, 1977 Wins 2-0)
1948 Reds vs. 1986 Reds (5-1, 8-3, 1948 Wins 2-0)
1924 Reds vs. 1964 Reds (3-2 (10), 3-0, 1924 Wins 2-0)