“I’ll try to bring their pelt back to the clubhouse,” responded Joe, with a grin.
The Cubs were relying on their great pitcher Axander, who was regarded as being only second to Joe himself in the National League, and the fans settled down to witness a battle royal.
The Giants, as the visiting club, were first at bat, and Axander made short work of them. Curry fouled out on the second ball pitched. Iredell sent up a twisting fly to short that Harker gathered in. The redoubtable Burkett was completely buffaloed and struck out.
Axander was received with a tempest of cheers as he went to the bench and was compelled to doff his cap in acknowledgment.
But Joe went him one better by setting down the Cubs on strikes in their half. The ball whizzed over the plate with the whine of a bullet. He had speed to burn and the Cub batsmen never had a chance.
It was evident that a pitching duel was impending, and this was what McRae was praying for. Let it come to a matter of twirling, and he was willing to bet on Joe against the world.
The second, third and fourth innings were also scoreless for either side. Wheeler had found Axander for a single and Joe had poled out a crashing triple, but their comrades were unable to bring them in.
Not a hit as yet had been scored on Joe. When the Cubs connected with the ball at all, they hit it on the under side for a fly to the outfielders or dribbled easy ones that were gobbled up by the infield. But his chief reliance was on strike-outs, as he wanted to give McCarney and Hupft as few chances as possible.
In the fifth, two singles in succession got Giants on bases, but Axander tightened up and they got no farther. Still they were finding that Axander could be hit, and that it itself was something.