Lyrical Baseball Tournament, Harmonic Series, Game 2: Nobody’s on third

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Results:

Pitchers again dominated the story during Game 2 of the Harmonic Series.

And once again, the Cashmen did just a little bit more.

While Mel Parnell and Bob Miller kept Fungo runners out of scoring position, the Cashmen used a pair of three-hit innings to pull off a 3-0 shutout and extend their series lead.

The Fungoes never had multiple hits in an inning, only put two men on base once, and only had one runner reach third base.

The Cashmen’s first three-hit frame came in the second, allowing them to plate one run against Claude Passeau. After an inning-opening groundout, Casey Stengel singled, stole second, and scored on Phil Rizzuto’s single. Parnell added a single of his own, but Passeau stranded the two men on base.

The best chance for the Fungoes came in the bottom of the third thanks to some successful small ball. Ernie Lombardi singled, Passeau bunted him to second, and Frenchy Bordagaray’s groundout into the shift moded Lombardi to third. But the catcher would be left there as Parnell struck out Lou Boudreau, the third of 11 consecutive batters retired by the Cashman hurler.

With Passeau out of the game after six five-hit innings, the Cashmen found an opportunity to strike against reliever Max Lanier. In the bottom of the eighth, Ralph Kiner hit for Parnell and beat out an infield tapper. After two aerial outs, George Brett lined a triple to left-center that brought Kiner home for an insurance run. The Cashmen added a second insurance run one batter later when Willie Mays singled in Brett.

The Fungoes added single singles in the sixth, seventh, and eighth innings, but went down in order in the ninth, falling behind two games to none.

Harmonic Series, Game 1 | Harmonic Series, Game 2 | Harmonic Series, Game 3