We’re back for Game 3, as the series scene shifts to Dyckman Oval in New York, the home field of the New York Cubans. Today, Andy Cooper will be sending Lefty Wilson to the hill for the Kansas City Monarchs, and New York manager Martin Dihigo will counter with Johnny Taylor.
The Monarchs took an early lead in the top of the first, scratching out a run. Henry Milton led off with a walk. Newt Allen hit a ground ball to third, forcing Milton at second. After Willard Brown flied out, Luther Taylor sent Allen over to third on a sharp single and Pat Patterson scored the run with a single up the middle.
The Monarchs added to their lead in the top of the fourth. Pat Patterson led off the inning with a double off the center field wall. Curtis Harris scored Patterson with a clean base hit to right. After Harry Else hit an easy fly ball to center, Taylor lost Eddie Dwight on a full-count fastball just off the corner, sending Harris to second. Lefty Wilson sacrificed Dwight to second with a perfect bunt. Henry Milton then scored both runners on a clean single to right, making the score 4-0 Kansas City.
For the next several innings, that’s where things stayed, with Lefty Wilson continuing sharp for the Monarchs and Johnny Taylor finally getting his act together. That continued until the Cubans came up in the bottom of the eighth. Anastasio Santaella led off, pinch hitting for shortstop Rabbit Martinez. Santaella worked the tiring Lefty Wilson to a full count before slapping a sharp single to right. After pinch hitter Sonny Arnold struck out, Lazaro Salazar hit a lazy fly ball to right, but LeRoy Taylor misplayed it into a two base error, putting Cubans runners at second and third. Three pitches later, first baseman Dave Thomas lined a single to left, scoring Santaella with the Cubans’ first run.
The Monarchs went down quietly in the top of the ninth, bringing things to the Cubans’ last shot. Chaney White led things off by beating out a bouncing ball to third for an infield single. Manager Martin Dihigo then crushed a bad breaking ball for a double off the center field wall, putting runners at second and third. Andy Cooper brought in Hall of Famer Hilton Smith to try to stem the Cubans’ rally. Pinch hitter Jabbo Andrews greeted Smith with a double down the right field line, scoring White and Dihigo and bringing the Cubans within one. Pinch hitter Cocaina Garcia stroked a single to left scoring Andrews, and suddenly the game was tied. After Smith got Anastasio Santaella on a fly ball to right, Dihigo send Francisco Correa to the plate, the third pinch hitter of the inning. Correa singled up the middle and Garcia came all the way around to third, putting the winning run only ninety feet away. Lazaro Salazar sent a weak grounder to first, and both runners held. That brought Dave Thomas to the plate with two outs and the winning run still waiting at third. Smith got two quick strikes on Thomas. But on the next pitch, Smith uncorked one that sailed past catcher Harry Else. Cocaina Garcia raced home with the winning run, and the Cubans had come all the way for a 5-4 win.
So three games in, it’s the New York Cubans two games, the Kansas City Monarchs one.
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