On this day in 1894: July 7th

[DrungoHazewood]

From the pages of the Baltimore American on July 8th, 1894:

INKS STOPPED THE REDS
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HIS SLOW DROPS MYSTIFIED COMISKEY'S BRAVES
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Meanwhile the Orioles Hammered Pitcher Parrett, Winning Out Quite Easily - Another Sensational Catch by Keeler, Boston Again Defeats Cleveland - Pittsburg Shut Out by Phillies
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[Special to the American]

Cincinnati, O., July 7. - Baltimore broke the Reds' winning streak today, stopping them at eleven straight victories.  The Orioles flitted from base to base with great rapidity during the greater part of the game, to the merry accompaniment of rattling hits.  Most of the Cincinnati's roosted disconsolately on first, while they watched the Monumental City gentlemen wading knee deep in the gore of slaughtered hits. Smith was spiked last Thursday, and today his foot was swollen so badly that he could not leave his bed.  Farmer Vaughn was put in at short, and played his position in true agricultural style.  He was not alone, however.  Latham wallowed in errors, while McPhee and Murphy each contributed his mite towards welling the total of Baltimore's runs.  Three thousand eight hundred and thirty-two roosters looked gloomily on, and had never a chance to give vent to their bottled-up enthusiasm.  Keeler killed an incipient rally in the fifth inning by an even more wonderful catch than that of Thursday.  That catch cut short a certain home run, and disheartened the Reds.  Inks had no speed at all, and the Reds, who have been pounding swift pitchers for the past fortnight, could not gauge the Baltimorean's leisurely incurves.

...

(Later on in the fifth) Parrott waited for a good ball, and when it came he smote it on the nose.  The crowd rose and cheered as the ball whistled through the air on a bee-line for the right-field seats.  Just as it was about to go over the fence Keeler flung himself into the air and stuck up one paw, which, to the eye of the startled spectators, looked about as large as a ham.  When he came down he had the ball.

...
 

Lineups:

Baltimore
McGraw, 3b
Keeler, rf
Brodie, cf
Brouthers, 1b
Kelley, lf
Reitz, 2b
Jennings, ss
Clarke, c
Inks, p

Cincinnati
Latham, 3b
Hoy, cf
Holliday, lf
McPhee, 2b
Vaughn, ss
Canavan, rf
Parrott, p
Comiskey, 1b
Murphy, c

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Baltimore... 2  2  1  3  1  0  0  1  1 - 11
Cincinnati...0  1  0  0  1  0  0  0  0 -  2

[DrungoHazewood]

Interesting to note that the Reds' pitcher, Tom Parrott, batted 7th.  He pitched 41 games in '94, but also played 28 games in the field.  He OPS'd .853, which was good but only a bit higher than the league average in what was an exceptionally high scoring season. 

In 129 games the Orioles scored 1171 runs, or just over nine a game. To put that into context, the Rockies' worst pitching season was 1999, when they allowed 1028 runs in 162 games, or 6.3 per game. And they've never scored 1000 in a season.

[George Zuverink]

Love the prose.