THE CURSE OF THE BAMBINO, PART 2 ...
A POWERFUL RED SOX TEAM FAILS
IN THE WORLD SERIES ...
The Yankees with a ninth inning walk-off

July 3, 1946 ... Only one run separated Tex Hughson from his sixth consecutive victory at Yankee Stadium. Aaron Robinson, a two-time previous strikeout victim, doubled into right field to give the Yankees a 3 to 2 decision and cutting the Sox American League lead to 6 1/2 games.

It was a heartbreaker for Hughson as the Sox batters, who always seem to go on strike when he pitches, again could not get things going. As the Sox kept leaving men on base, Hughson came into the ninth inning with a one run lead. Tommy Henrich hit the first pitch for a single and was followed by Charlie Keller's line single to right-center, which moved Henrich to third base. Tex was terrific striking out Joe DiMaggio on three pitches and Nick Etten, who had homered for the first Yankee run in the fifth inning, was erased on a pop fly to Bobby Doerr. Aaron Robinson, who had twice whiffed and rolled weakly to Doerr, smashed a fastball and drove it into right field for a sure base hit to score Henrich. George Metkovich made a daring bid to catch the ball but didn't have a chance. The ball shot past him as Keller kept running. By the time he gathered up the baseball and fired it to Bobby Doerr, Keller had scored the winning run. If he had let the ball drop in front of him, Keller would not have scored and it the very worst the game would've been tied.

The Sox had frittered away scoring opportunities in the second and third innings. They finally broke the ice in the fourth, as starter Floyd Bevens walked Dom DiMaggio with one out. Dom stole second and continued to third when Robinson threw wildly into center field. The Yankee infielders then closed in on Mike Higgins who hit a high roller toward shortstop. Rizzuto charged in and the ball took a freaky high bounce over his head into left field. DiMaggio scored easily and Hal Wagner singled to center, putting Higgins on second. Hughson, after falling off to bunts, hit a hard grounder up the middle that Rizzuto made a great stab at, but failed to come up with, the ball as Higgins scored to give the Red Sox a 2-0 lead.

The Sox threatened thereafter. They had the bases loaded in the seventh with one out, but Doerr struck out and York grounded out. They had another opportunity in the eighth on walks to Higgins and Wagner. Hughson advanced them with a perfect bunt but Metkovich grounded out weakly to Joe Gordon.

Hughson had pitched himself out of holes in the fourth and the seventh innings, before having the roof fall in in the ninth inning. Tex has lost five games this year, while winning eight. Four of them have been by the hard way but none rougher than what Robinson did to him today. It was another game without a walk issued by Hughson who has allowed only 19 passes for the year against 86 strikeouts. He retired 10 Yankee batters in order prior Stuffy Stirnweiss' single in the fourth inning.