58.34 Blazers Shine Bright in Losing Effort at Mid-Summer Classic

[Bob Breum]

Before a sellout crowd of 45,000 at Ebbets Field, all three Montreal All-Stars took the field with the starting nine Tuesday evening.

Batting sixth, Miguel Martinez started at the keystone for the Johnson League. He led off the second inning with a line drive single to shallow right. After the next batter struck out, Martinez stole second on the first pitch to Blazer first baseman Lineu Aldo, which was called a strike. Aldo singled to left center on the next pitch, and the third base coach waved Martinez home. He was thrown out by a nice throw from left fielder Jeffrey Smith, keeping the score at 2-0 in favor of the Frick League.

Aldo, starting in place of the injured Larry Stinson, advanced to second on the throw, putting him in scoring position with two out. The third Blazer to bat in the inning, shortstop Qutuz Mahdi, singled on a 1-0 count to right field, plating Aldo for the Johnson League’s first run of the game. Mahdi was stranded when the next batter grounded out to second base.

Martinez grounded to shortstop in the fourth inning with one out and no one on base.

Back-to-back Blazers led off the fifth inning, with Aldo singling again with a hard-hit ground ball past the diving shortstop. Aldo stole second as Mahdi worked the count to 2-2, but he grounded to the left side and Aldo could not advance. The next batter grounded out to the right side, moving Aldo to third with two outs. Two pitches later, Aldo raced home on a wild pitch, scoring his second run to make the score FL 4 JL 2.

Martinez gave way to Richard Vernon in the sixth inning and Robert Menzies took over at shortstop in the seventh. Aldo got one more swing in the seventh inning, hitting a routine flyball to left field. He remained in the game into the ninth, when Wilson Prieto pinch hit for him.