Sox Century: May 9, 1917

After starting a six-game series against the St. Louis Browns with three losses — including two by no-hitters — the White Sox somehow found a way to salvage a sweep by beating the Browns, 4-2.

With a White Sox pitching staff worn out by an out-of-control doubleheader the day before, Eddie Cicotte stepped up and delivered 8²⁄₃ scoreless innings in relief of an ineffective Lefty Williams.

Williams, starting his second consecutive game and making his third appearance of the series, had nothing from the start. The Chicago Tribune’s I.E. Sanborn:

The Browns had a merry time while Williams faced them. [Burt] Shotton was out when [Jimmy] Austin walked and went to third on [Gene] Paulette’s single. A wild pitch let Austin score. [Baby Doll] Jacobson whaled a double over Jackson’s head, scoring Paulette. That was “taps” for Williams, and Cicotte was sent to his rescue.

Cicotte escaped the inning with no further damage, and then he made it through the final eight innings without a real threat. Only one runner reached third, and only three made it to second on his watch.

While Cicotte posted zeroes, the White Sox got sweet revenge against Bob Groom, who threw the latter of the series’ no-hitters. Joe Jackson did what the Sox couldn’t do the last time by singling to start the second. He moved to second on a walk, then came around to score on a Chick Gandil single.

That inning ended with Groom fielding a smash and starting a double play, but the Sox struck back two innings later, with Jackson once again starting the barrage. This time, he tripled to start the inning and scored on a Happy Felsch sac fly to tie the game. Chick Gandil fouled out for the second out, but Swede Risberg kept the inning alive with a single, stole second, and scored on a Ray Schalk single. Cicotte then added himself an insurance run with a double to drive in Schalk.

That’s all the White Sox could score, not for a lack of hard contact. It turned out that Cicotte didn’t need the insurance, for according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, he had the Browns lineup “entirely buffaloed.”

Record: 14-10 | Box score