Dodgers Succumb 9-5 in First Game Of World Series

The Dodgers overcame a four-run deflcit, backed Yankoo relief pitcher Johnny Sain against the well, and threatened to break the first game of the 1953 World Series wide open before they fell apart themselves. Sain and the Yanks gained a 9 to 5 victory.

Spotting the World Champions four runs in the first frame, the Dodgers managed to blast starter Allie Reynolds out of the game in the sixth inning and hauled up even with the Yanks in the seventh. Three round-trippers, including a two-run pinch-hit home run by George Shuba, helped finish off Reynolds.

But no sooner did the Brooks tie the score at 5-5 than Yogi Berra vaulted a home run into the right field stands in the bottom of the seventh. The Yanks picked up three more in the eighth, but they were superfluous, for reliever Sain recovered from a shaky seventh inning and went on to gain credit for the win.

There were five home runs in the game--one short of the record--and the Dodgers got three of them. But the Bums consistently flubbed scorring opportunities and left and awing total of 11 men on base. The Yankees stranded six.

The Odds Increase

Betting odds on the Series have leaped to 9 to 5 in favor of the Yanks, and in some places the line is as high as 2 to 1. For the second game, a couple of veteran soft-stuff southpaws are slated to pitch. With Eddie Lepat going for the Yanks and Preacher Roe for the Dodgers, the Brooks are rated 6 to 5 underdogs.

The Bombers leaped to a four-run advantage in the first inning of yesterday's game, sandwiching three walks between a pair of triples by Hank Bauer and Billy Martin. Martin's blow came with the bases loaded. Reynolds kept the Brooks in check until the fifth inning, when rookie second baseman Junior Gilliam smashed a bases-empty home run, his second hit.

Homer by Shuba

In the sixth, the Dodgers jumped on Reynolds for three runs, on a four-bagger by first-baseman Gil Hodges, a single by Billy Cox, and Shuba's pinch homer. Sain came on to relieve Reynolds, but soon found himself in trouble as the Dodgers put together the game-tying run on successive singles by Roy Campanella, Hodges, and Carl Furillo.

The crucial play of the game followed, as Cox, with runners on first and second and no men out, bunted up the third base line. Berra fired his throw to third base, and Hodges was called out on a close play.

Tomorrow's game will again be played at Yankee Stadium, with the following three games moving to Ebbets Field.