CARDS SWEEP BOSTON.

REDBIRDS NEARLY LET BIG LEAD BLOW SKY HIGH

SHERDEL COASTS SIX FRAMES, CARDINALS BUILD 8-0 EDGE, THEN HOLD OFF BRAVE RALLY TO COMPLETE BOSTON CLEAN SWEEP

— The Cardinals spent most of Monday afternoon knocking the Boston Braves halfway back toward the Atlantic coast before suddenly remembering during the late innings that no ball game is entirely dead until the last out gets stuffed into a glove.

After carrying an 8-to-0 advantage into the seventh inning and looking headed toward another easy holiday against the league cellar occupants, the Redbirds abruptly began wobbling all over the lot while Boston stormed back with five late counters before Bill Sherdel finally nailed the lid down on an 8-to-5 St. Louis triumph.

The victory completed a clean three-game brushing of the Braves and shoved the Cardinals up to 15 triumphs against 17 setbacks after the ugly pounding absorbed during the recent Giant series.

For six innings, the whole affair belonged entirely to St. Louis.

Sherdel looked smooth, quick, and comfortable atop the hill while the Braves flailed away helplessly against the Cardinal southpaw’s fast one and bending curve. Boston failed to score at all through the opening six frames and managed little solid timber besides scattered harmless bingles that died quietly in the gloves of the Cardinal outer gardeners.

Meanwhile the Redbirds kept pecking away at Larry Benton and the rest of the Boston slab corps inning after inning.

The Cardinals struck immediately in the opening frame.

Taylor Douthit started trouble by reaching the paths and setting the machinery rolling. The Redbirds soon shoved a pair of tallies across before the Braves could properly settle themselves into the afternoon’s labor.

St. Louis returned in the second and repeated the treatment.

Again the Cardinals swarmed the sacks.

Again Boston hurling bent under pressure.

By the close of the second frame the Redbirds already possessed a four-run cushion while Sportsman’s Park customers settled into their seats with the pleasant feeling that this might finally become a quieter afternoon than the recent Giant wrangles.

Sherdel helped make certain of it for most of the route.

The Cardinal southpaw scattered Boston safeties without permitting the Braves to string enough together to start genuine danger. Through six innings the visitors remained blanked while Sherdel worked rapidly, stayed ahead in the count, and kept forcing weak contact.

The Cardinals finally appeared to bury the whole affair in the sixth.

That inning brought the afternoon’s decisive wreckage.

St. Louis shoved three more counters across the dish while the Braves again struggled to stop the traffic flooding around the sacks. The Redbirds pieced together safeties, timely hitting, and enough pressure baseball to stretch the lead out to 7-to-0.

One inning later the Cardinals added another tally and the scoreboard suddenly read 8-to-0.

At that point the Braves looked whipped clean.

Boston manager Dave Bancroft sat quietly in the visitor dugout while Cardinal customers began talking more about supper plans than the outcome of the ball game.

Then the whole business nearly turned crooked.

The Braves finally cracked Sherdel during the seventh and shoved a pair across the platter, their first real noise of the afternoon. St. Louis still appeared comfortably ahead, but the sharpness that marked the earlier innings suddenly began leaking from the Cardinal machinery.

Then came the eighth.

Boston erupted for three additional tallies and suddenly Sportsman’s Park stopped sounding relaxed altogether. The Brave bats finally began stinging line drives into the outfield pasture while the Cardinals kicked themselves into hurried baseball trying to stop the uprising before the whole afternoon escaped into smoke.

The once-dead affair now sat at 8-to-5.

And after the kind of late collapses the Cardinals have already suffered repeatedly this spring, nobody around the grandstand felt especially eager to declare the matter settled.

Sherdel, however, finally gathered himself before the Braves could move any closer.

The Cardinal left-hander finished the route, preserved the triumph, and collected his second victory against four setbacks despite the rough late turbulence.

Boston finished with eight safeties altogether and scored all five of its runs during the final three innings after spending most of the afternoon swinging as though blindfolded.

The Cardinals meanwhile gathered thirteen hits and received offensive work from nearly every corner of the lineup.

Douthit continued climbing out of his recent batting fog and collected another pair of safeties while helping ignite the early attack from the top of the order. The fleet Cardinal center gardener now appears considerably livelier at the platter than he looked during the ugly Giant series earlier in the week.

Rogers Hornsby again handled the bat like a man splitting kindling. The Cardinal pilot gathered two more bingles and continued floating among the league batting leaders while serving as the steady axle of the St. Louis attack.

Jim Bottomley supplied additional heavy timber and continued his recent surge after a sluggish opening fortnight. Les Bell and Ray Blades again helped keep the batting order smoking while Tommy Thevenow contributed useful lower-order stick work during several important innings.

The Cardinals did not play flawless baseball afield.

Far from it.

The late innings again showed the same loose stitching that has repeatedly caused the club trouble this spring. Throws hurried. Pitchers lost rhythm. Routine outs suddenly became difficult labor once pressure returned to the sacks.

But unlike several recent afternoons, the Redbirds finally escaped before the whole structure collapsed completely.

That alone marked progress.

The Braves, meanwhile, left St. Louis looking every inch the weary last-place caravan they brought westward into town. Boston pitching spent most of the series getting battered from foul line to foul line, and though the Braves showed late spirit Monday, the club never truly recovered from the pounding absorbed during the opening innings.

For the Cardinals, however, the important matter sat plainly in the standings column.

Three straight victories.

A clean sweep.

And at least temporary relief from the smoke and bruises left behind by McGraw’s Giants.

The Redbirds may still carry leaks.

But after the week just completed, the clubhouse at Sportsman’s Park suddenly feels considerably lighter than it did five days ago.

— Mike Allen, Bird Chatter Post