The Washington Senators had many a lean year before they moved to Minnesota and 1958 was no exception as the team lost 93 games, including 13 straight to end the season. As if the losing needed to get any worse, the Sens also were blanked four times from Sept. 19 to Sept. 22.
All four games were 2-0 losses. The first three were at Boston, the fourth at Baltimore.
Although the Sens were blanked four times, their pitching wasn’t that bad.
In the Game 1 loss to Boston, Camilo Pascual took the mound and allowed two runs (one earned) on four hits across eight innings with three walks and 10 strikeouts. He walked Ted Williams twice, but repeatedly fanned the bottom of the order, including Jimmy Piersall. Pascual also had a sacrifice bunt in the game and fellow future Twins Bob Allison and Harmon Killebrew each had a hit.
The Sens lost the next game 2-0 and the one after that by the same margin. The Game 3 loss is notable because after Teddy Ballgame was caught looking on a called third strike, he threw his bat in disgust and it hit a female fan in the head, who also happened to be the housekeeper for Boston GM Joe Cronin, according to Baseball-Reference.com.
The Boston Globe played the whole incident on the front page.
“Apparently disgusted for taking a called third strike in the third inning, Williams flung his bat towards the Red Sox dugout.
“It sailed into a box seat and struck Mrs. Gladys Heffernen on the left side of her forehead. Mrs. Heffernan, a housekeeper for Red Sox General Manager Joe Cronin, at 77 Lake Ave., Newton, was given first aid treatment at the park and then taken to Sancta Maria Hospital for X-rays and observation by Dr. Ralph McCarthy, Red Sox team physician.”
The Senators then moved on to Baltimore and lost there as well.
The Baltimore Sun
“The Orioles got a pair of gift runs in the third inning and Skinny Brown made the margin stand up as he shut out the Washington Senators, 2 to 0, on a strong six-hitter last night in the Stadium.
“The victory was the Birds fourth in a row, tying their longest winning streak of the year, and it moved them into sixth place in the American League standings, three games out of the first division.
“And the shutout also afforded the Senators the dubious honor of tying a major league record. Washington has now been blanked four games in succession, each time by a 2-to-0 score.”
The (Washington D.C.) Evening Star, under a headline that reads, “Griffs approach all-time record for helplessness.”
“The Senators will establish one major league record and approach another tonight if the search for their first run in a week is fruitless.
“Dealt four successive shutouts, a wrong-way feat achieved by six other clubs, the Senators have compiled 37 scoreless innings and need only 12 more to set an all-time mark for futility.
“Fifty-two years ago the Athletics failed to score in 48 consecutive Innings. The Senators’ lone run in 48 innings was posted a week ago tonight in Cleveland through the medium of two walks, an infield out and a sacrifice fly. They’ve lost seven straight games and in their last five they have stirred up only 24 hits.”
Extra innings…
-The Twins and Red Sox were rained out Saturday so they will play a doubleheader Sunday.
-The Detroit Tigers won, so they moved a half-game closer to the Twins, while the Royals lost their sixth straight game and now lead the Twins by only a half-game. The other team to watch — the Seattle Mariners — won, too, and are now just 1.5 games out of the final wild card spot in the AL.
Sources: MLB.com, Baseball-Reference.com, Newspapers.com