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The second year of Bill Carrigan's tenure as manager of the Red Sox produced about the same result as the year before. The Red Sox again finished in last place. In December, owner Bob Quinn picked up outfielder Ken Williams. Secondbaseman Bill Regan batted .264 and drove in 75 runs to lead the American League and had seven homers. Two of the homers came in the same inning of the same game, the fourth inning of the June 16th game against the White Sox. That tied a major-league record. He was only the third player to have done so in “modern” baseball. There were some brighter spots: shortstop, Buddy Myer batted .313 and led the league in stolen bases with thirty; Phil Todt batted .252 and had 12 homers; Ken Williams batted .303 at age 38; and Ira Flagstead was the most dependable member of the team and batted .290. Fans held a “day” for "Flaggy" on July 21st, where he was presented with $1,000 in gold and an automobile.
Danny MacFayden lost 15 games against nine wins and his ERA was 4.75. MacFayden was consistently walking more men than he struck out, and clearly wasn’t that special a pitcher. His 4.40 ERA fluctuated around the team average, and his won-loss percentage was better than the team’s record. The biggest surprise was a rookie pitcher named Ed Morris who won 19 games with a 3.53 ERA, while Red Ruffing had a respectable 3.89 ERA and batted .314, while losing a league-leading 25 games. A victim of poor offensive support, his teammates failed to score more than three runs in 11 of the 13 losses he suffered as a starter.
MacFayden was the Opening Day pitcher, pitching in front of President Calvin Coolidge at Washington’s Griffith Stadium and earned a 7-5 win on April 10th. But the Sox lost the next three games with the Nats. The Yankees came to Fenway for the first time in 1928 and took three of the four games played. The game the Sox won was in the first half of a Patriots Day doubleheader on April 19th. The Sox were down 6 to 3 and scored four runs in the bottom of the eighth inning, to pull out a 7-6 victory. Bill Regan's tripled tied up the game and Billy Rogell's base hit brought him home with the winning run. Infielder Wally Gerber was then traded from the St. Louis Browns for pitcher Hal Wiltse on April 25th.
On May 3rd, Ed Morris no-hit the Athletics until the seventh inning at Fenway. Ty Cobb then nicked him for a double and scored the A's only run, in a 3 to 1 Sox victory. In his next start, Morris allowed the White Sox only four hits, winning 5 to 1 on May 8th. The Sox started what would their longest winning streak of the season by taking 2-of-3 from the Chicago White Sox. On May 11th, Red Ruffing was superb, while Phil Todt and Ira Flagstead led the offense to a 4-3 win. Next were the St. Louis Browns and the Sox welcomed them to town by bombing them 15-2. The Sox had an 11 run outburst in the third inning. Sixteen batters were sent to the plate resulting in eight singles and a home run from Ken Williams. Ed Morris picked up his third straight win, beating the Browns 3-2 the next day and Ruffing completed the sweep, winning 3 to 1 in the finale. The Detroit Tigers next lost two games at Fenway. The first was a 5-4 walk-off win on May 16th. The Tigers gave the game away in the 11th inning, when Detroit pitcher, Vic Sorrell, loaded the bases on a single and two walks, giving Bill Regan the opportunity to bring home the game winner with a fly ball to center. The next day the Sox won 5 to 3 as Ken Williams' (.355 BA) three hits supplied the runs necessary for the victory. Having won six straight, the Sox climbed out the cellar to nestle into fourth place, but gained no ground on the Yankees, still 9 1/2 games behind them. Next, facing the Yankees in New York, homers by Phil Todt and Bill Regan and another fine outing by Ed Morris, brought an 8 to 4 win to the Sox. But the Yanks stopped the Sox winning streak by nosing them out 3-2, in the second game of their May 21st doubleheader, in spite of Ruffing allowing the Yanks just four hits. Ruffing was the star when the Sox hosted Washington on May 27th. He pitched effectively when he needed to do so to prevent runs and also contributed a timely RBI double. Phil Todt also homered in his 5-0 shutout.
The Red Sox had a fine game in the first of June 9th doubleheader. Bill Regan knocked out three hits and brought home three runs with a double and triple, as the Sox beat the Tigers 11 to 4.
After losing two tough 2-1 decisions in St. Louis, Ed Morris stopped the Browns and won 5 to 2, winning his sixth game, but came in to pitch in the 10th inning of a tie game the next day and gave up a walk-off single to the Brownies. On June 15th, Danny MacFayden took a no-hitter into the eighth inning, eventually winning 3 to 1 in Chicago. The next game was another memorable one for Bill Regan, who collected four hits, including two home runs and drove in three runs, as the Red Sox again beat the White Sox 10-5. Regan once again knocked out six hits and brought home six runners as the Red Sox swept a doubleheader from the Bronx Bombers in New York on June 23rd, 8 to 4 and 7 to 1. Morris won his 10th game and sixth in a row, when he was on the winning side of an 11-4 victory in the second game of a June 27th doubleheader with the Washington Nationals at Fenway Park. Rightfielder Doug Taitt banged out three singles, a double and a triple in five times at bat for the Sox.
On July 1st it was Buddy Myers' turn to be the hero. He rapped out a homer, triple and double in the opener, and two singles was his contribution in the nightcap. The Sox beat the Nationals twice, 2-1 and 7-1. The Sox swept the Tigers in a July 9th doubleheader at Fenway. Pitchers Jack Russell and Ed Morris each pitched fine games. Russell shutout Detroit, 4-0 in the opener on five scattered hits, while Morris (12-4) pitched no-hit ball for four innings, winning 7-2. Ken Williams (.325 BA) went 4-for-4 against the Cleveland Indians on July 21st, leading the Sox to a 5-2 win. A week later he knocked out four hits in five trips against the Tigers.
After losing nine of their last ten games, on August 17th, the Sox showed the fans at Fenway a bit to cheer about. Against the White Sox, pitcher Jack Russell helped himself by driving a single to bring home the game winner in the 11th inning. He not only pitched a great game, but contributed two hits in the Red Sox 4-2 walk-off win. On August 30th, trailing 2 to 1 in the ninth inning in Philadelphia, the Sox landed on the A's for two runs when Red Ruffing doubled down the right field foul line as a pinch-hitter, with two men on, sending them both home for a 3 to 2 Sox win. But with a 12-23 record for the month, the Sox ended August, 39 1/2 games behind the Yankees.
Ed Morris got his 18th win in Washington on September 10th. It was his bat that won the game for him however. With two men on base in the ninth inning, Morris tripled off the wall in left field, scoring himself when Jack Rothrock beat out a squeeze bunt, giving the Sox a 5-2 victory. The last place Red Sox therefore won 13 of the 22 games played with the Nats this season. The Sox finished their dismal season with a bang, taking 4-of-5 in Cleveland. Morris won his 19th game in the second tilt of a September 27th doubleheader. The next day Jack Russell out-pitched Wes Ferrell, winning 1-0, limiting the Indians to six scattered hits. On September 29th, down by three runs, the Sox scored a run in the eighth inning and three in the ninth, to win a satisfying come-from-behind 6-to-5 game. The final game of the season was a 7-to-2 win, in which Phil Todt slugged his 12th home run for the Sox fourth straight win over the Tribe. Ed Morris was a candidate for the American League Most Valuable Player Award (MVP) and finished tied for 15th place, but he was the second-leading vote-getter among the league’s hurlers behind 23-game-winner Waite Hoyt of the Yankees. Although the Rookie of the Year Award hadn’t yet come into existence, Morris was arguably the top rookie in the American League in 1928. The 1928 edition of the Red Sox finished with a 57-96 record, 43 1/2 games off the lead, firmly entrenched in the American League basement, 4 1/2 games behind the Indians.
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