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“DIARY OF A WINNER”
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THE CURSE OF THE BAMBINO, PART 2 ... May 7, 1946 ... Leon Culberson kept the Red Sox hot streak going with a 14th inning walk-off grand slam home run at Fenway Park. Utilityman Culberson came to bat in the last of the 14th with the score tied 6-6, resulting from two Red Sox comebacks. With the bases loaded and no outs, Culberson plastered the first pitch offered by Tex Shirley into the left field netting above the wall. The blast gave the Sox their 12th consecutive win. The blazing bats of Ted Williams and Rudy York kept the Sox in the contest, while it was Clem Dreisewerd, less than a month out of the Navy, who battled surely down through the twilight to preserve the win. Entering the contest in the seventh inning, with the score tied at 6 to 6, Dreisewerd matched goose eggs which Shirley in a tense relief pitching duel. On the brink of disaster on several occasions, they each choked off several threats until it seemed that darkness would engulf Fenway Park and ended all in a tie. Opening the 14th inning was Rudy York. He had belted three singles to take the numerical lead among Sox hitters. Shirley was careful any past Rudy on a 3-1 pitch. The Browns were looking for a bunt, but manager Joe Cronin across them up when he ordered Don DiMaggio take it away. DiMaggio belted a single to right. As Joe Grace fumbled the ball, York put on added steam and pulled into third, as Dominic advanced to second. At this stage, the Browns purposely walked Hal Wagner to fill the bases and therefore set up potential doubleplay. Andy Gilbert, a fleet outfielder, was inserted to run for your. Replacing Eddie Pellagrini earlier in the game, Culberson strode to the plate. He lost no time in settling the issue. Dreisewerd had become Tex Hughson's savior. Hughson, the only Sox starter to not pitch a complete game, once again had to be rescued. He left the game in the third inning, trailing by four runs. Before Hughson's retirement the Browns had pelted Tex for nine hits. Their four run lead was cut in half by the Red Sox on a single stroke by Ted Williams in the third. With Johnny Pesky on first, Williams stroked a Jack Kramer pitch into the bleachers, a dozen rows behind the bullpens. The Browns bounced back in the fourth with two runs. In the sixth inning the Red Sox loaded the bases on singles by York and passes to DiMaggio and Wagner. Culberson's force out of Wagner scored York and George Metkovich singled to score DiMaggio, cutting the deficit to 6-4. In the seventh Williams started the inning with a walk and York dented the left-field fence with a line drive hit so hard that Ted had to stay at second base. DiMaggio reached on a fumble by the shortstop Mark Christman to load the bases for Hal Wagner. Wagner rapped a potential doubleplay ball down to first baseman Ed Stevens. Stevens threw to Christman who stepped on second and threw back to first, but the throw went wildly into the Red Sox dugout to send York home with the tying run. In his previous relief of Hughson, Dreisewerd pitched runless ball for 2 1/3 innings, as Williams won the game in the 10th with a home run. All told Clem has pitched 13 relief innings, allowed 10 hits and no runs. Clem also helped himself. Off the rubber like a flash, he twice threw out runners at second on attempted sacrifice bunts. |
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