September 24, 1950 – Bob Lemon Helps Out His Own Cause, Scoring Winning Run in 10-Inning Complete Game

Bob Lemon led a very solid Indians rotation along with Bob Feller, Early Wynn, and Mike Garcia. Despite outstanding pitching, the Indians were in the middle of the pack. They were sitting in 4th in the American League standings when Detroit came to town in the waning days of the 1950 season. Lemon was matched up with Ted Grey on this Sunday afternoon on the Lakefront.

Lemon got out of a bases-loaded jam in the top of the first when he got Jerry Priddy to ground out and end the threat.

Likewise, Grey escaped a bases-loaded situation in the bottom of the third when Tribe shortstop Ray Boone popped out to left field.

In the bottom of the fourth, Lemon helped out his own cause by smacking a two-out home run to put the Indians up 1-0.

Tigers shortstop Johnny Lipton tied things up in the top of the seventh when he led off the inning with a solo home run off Lemon. Lemon then retired the next eight Tigers he faced. After issuing a walk to Lipton in the bottom of the ninth, George Kell grounded out back to the mound.

Gray struck out Joe Gordon and Jim Hegan in the bottom of the ninth to send the game to extras.

The Tigers got runners to first and third in the top of the tenth, but Lemon cut down Don Kolloway for his fifth strikeout in 10 innings.

Lemon led off the bottom of the tenth by slapping one into the massive outfield at Municipal Stadium. Lemon stretched the hit into a triple. Gray intentionally walked both Dale Mitchell and Bobby Kennedy to load the bases. Larry Doby was put out on a pop foul. Next up, Luke Easter grounded one sharply to first. Kolloway got to the bag for the out, but had no play on Lemon coming home to score the winning run.

Lemon threw a 10-inning complete game giving up only one run on five hits. He scored the Indians only two runs in the game on two of the Tribe’s six hits on the day. Lemon notched his 22nd win (of an eventual 23). This was his league-leading 22nd complete game. He also appeared seven times out of the bullpen in 1950 and went 6 for 26 as a pinch hitter.

Baseball Reference Box Score

