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.
A rally in the sixth inning gave the Boston Braves the edge they needed to post a 5-3 victory over the Chicago Cubs in the second round of the 1951 Tournament.
The Braves advance to the semifinals to face the winner of the upcoming Cincinnati Reds at Brooklyn Dodgers contest.
With the scored tied at 1-1 entering the bottom of the sixth, Walker Cooper put the Braves in front 3-1 with a two-run single.
Roy Hartsfield would follow with a double as Cooper moved to third. After Braves starting pitcher Vern Bickford was retired on a shallow fly ball, Sibby Sisti doubled to score Cooper and Hartsfield and it was 5-1.
The Cubs closed the gap with two runs in the eighth off Bickford. Smoky Burgess had a RBI double and Roy Smalley drove in the final tally with a single, but that’s as close as the Cubs would get as Bickford tossed a perfect ninth.
Bickford (1-0) went the distance giving up eight hits with three walks and four strikeouts.
Paul Minner (0-1) worked six innings for the Cubs as he surrendered all five Boston runs on 10 hits with three walks and a strikeout. Dutch Leonard and Monk Dubiel each threw scoreless to give the Cubs a chance to comeback.
Bob Elliott knocked in Boston’s intitial run with a single in the fourth before Chicago’s Frank Baumholtz tied the game in the fifth with a RBI single.
1951 Tournament
Second Round Results and Pairings
(4) Boston Braves 5, (8) Chicago Cubs 3
(6) Cincinnati Reds at (2) Brooklyn Dodgers
(8) St. Louis Browns at (5) Philadelphia Phillies
(3) St. Louis Cardinals at (2) Cleveland Indians
First Round Results
(8) Chicago Cubs 2 at (1) New York Yankees 1
(4) Boston Braves 5, (5) Detroit Tigers 2
(6) Cincinnati Reds 4, (3) Boston Red Sox 2
(2) Brooklyn Dodgers 4, (7) Washington Senators 2
(8) St. Louis Browns 6, (1) New York Giants 1
(5) Philadelphia Phillies 10, (4) Chicago White Sox 3
(3) St. Louis Cardinals 2, (6) Philadelphia Athletics 0
(2) Cleveland Indians 5, (7) Pittsburgh Pirates 3