A Deadly Base on Balls Costs Seattle a Win
Despite a late rally and a hard-fought pitcher's battle, the Seattle baseball club fell to Spokane after a shaky ninth inning defined by control issues.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
To the deadly base on balls do the Hustlers chiefly owe their turn-down yesterday at the hands of Ollie Beard's Spokanes. Gilliland made his reappearance in the box after a long rest and worked like a Trojan, yet it was of no avail. He could not get the ball over the plate. He had good speed and sharp curves, but there was no great need of hits with so many presents of first base. Several times at critical points the big southpaw rose to the occasion and was invincible, pulling out of some very tight holes. But it was wildness that virtually lost the game. In the ninth, the Spokanes began to bestir themselves in earnest. Gus Klopf reached first on being hit by a pitched ball, and after a series of smart plays and errors, a single by Cline allowed Reccius to sprint home with the winning run. The score ended 6 to 5 in favor of Spokane.
“Several times at critical points the big southpaw rose to the occasion and was invincible, pulling out of some very tight holes. But it was wildness that virtually lost the game.”
Early Seattle baseball culture was defined by the 'Hustlers,' a team that mirrored the city's frantic, turn-of-the-century expansion. While the venue has changed, the frustration of local fans watching a pitching collapse in the ninth remains a timeless Seattle experience.
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