1954 National League Wild Card
One Game Playoff
Milwaukee Brewskies vs.
Pittsburgh Knaves
One Game Playoff
Mad Ryan vs. Bill Kiely
At Pittsburgh, October 3rd, 1954
|
Milwaukee |
2 |
|
|
Pittsburgh |
0 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Win |
Billy Kiely |
|
|
Loss |
Mad Ryan |
|
|
Save |
|
|
The National League Wild Card refusing to be settled
in 162 games, the Brewskies and Knaves, each with a record of 89 and 73,
arrived in Pittsburgh to battle it out for the right to face St. Louis in the
NLCS.
The match up pitted Milwaukee starter Bill
Kiely, 14-16 with a 4.26 ERA, against Mad Ryan, who had an impressive 15-4
record and 2.70 ERA. Yet on this day,
it was Kiely who rose to the challenge, tossing nine innings of two-hit shutout
ball.
Kiely no-hit the Knaves for six innings,
allowing just three baserunners on a walk, a hit-by-pitch, and an error. Pittsburgh’s best chance to score came in
the fifth, when the hit batter and error combined to put runners at 1st
and 2nd with one out. But
Kiely got Ed Rueter to ground into an inning-ending double play. The Knaves eventually picked up a pair of
hits, but Kiely allowed neither runner to advance.
Ryan, meanwhile, allowed ten hits but just
two runs in seven innings, as Milwaukee repeatedly missed scoring
opportunities. In fact, it was Kiely—in
addition to throwing a two-hitter—who was responsible for both of Milwaukee’s
runs. In the second, Hal Lyons scored
on a Kiely RBI ground out, and in the sixth, a double-play ball off the bat of
Kiely produced the second run.
More than enough to make his sensational
one-game playoff performance stand up.