[kenyan_cheena]

The Cleveland Courier

SATURDAY 31 JULY 1959

MARIS GETS THREE HITS,
BLUES WIN 4TH STRAIGHT

Story by Larry Jacobson

Slotted into the lineup for the rested Rocky Colavito, 24 year-old rightfielder Roger Maris went 3-for-5 in Cleveland's come-from-behind 6-4 win over the Kansas City Athletics yesterday afternoon. It was the fourth win in a row for the Blues following their impressive sweep of the Yankees, Maris showing once again that he is one of the real young talents of the sport. The Minnesota-born slugger is batting .411 on the season with eight home runs and thirty RBI, having started in 21 games and appearing in 77. In ten of those outings he's recorded at least two hits and yesterday's effort was his fourth three-hit performance of the season.

However, with both Maris and Colavito playing rightfield it appears that the Blues have something of a problem on their hands. There's no doubt they'd like nothing more than to accomodate them both in the lineup but with Willie Mays and Minnie Minoso forming the rest of Cleveland's outfield it seems quite unlikely. Both are in their mid-twenties with what should be the best years of their careers still ahead of them. More importantly, both will be off-contract at the end of the year. Following how the organisation handles the situation will be one of the stories of the coming off-season.

Trailing 4-1 in the top of the 5th the Blues took the lead with an explosive frame, a two-run homer from Minoso followed by a Preston Ward double and a Willie Mays single that brought Ward home. Mays then scored on Russ Nixon's single down the 3rd base line before Nixon became the fourth run of the inning when Maris doubled to the gap in right-centre. Ward added a solo home run in the 9th to bring about the final score, the Athletics going down in order to end the game. The loss continued what has been a terrible stretch for Kansas City as it was their sixth in a row after pulling themselves up to .500 with a six-game winning streak last week.

While Maris was excellent Preston Ward continued what has been a great run of form, the 32 year-old recording his sixth consecutive multi-hit game. He's 14-for-29 over that stretch (.483) with six runs scored and eight RBI. While manager Joe Gordon was happy with the continued hot streak his hitters are on he gained most satisfaction from the performance of his bullpen, which gave up just two hits in five innings of work after starter Don Ferrarese was chased out of the game in the 4th.

"They were the reason we won this game," said Gordon with a smile. "They just suffocated KC and allowed our hitters to get us back into it. It's a memorable win for that reason."

The Blues close out July with the second game of the series this afternoon, a matchup they'll be confident of winning on the back of yesterday's victory and their 13-4 record since July 9...