|
“DIARY OF A WINNER”
|
THE CURSE OF THE BAMBINO, PART 6 ... April 22, 1967 ... George Scott got himself benched for not following instructions and today he followed them perfectly, supplying the winning run as the Red Sox edged the Yankees, 5 to 4 at Fenway Park. Scott was sent up to pinch-hit in the sixth inning with the score tied at 4 to 4. He responded with a sacrifice fly to right, that scored George Thomas from third base with the winning run. Don McMahon, although staggering through the seventh and eighth innings, pitched scoreless ball over the final three frames to preserve the win. Carl Yastrzemski was the batting star, feasting on Yankees pitching. He slammed the games only home run, and had two singles, to give him 12 hits in 21 at-bats against the Yankees this season. Yaz played a big role in the Sox first four runs, driving in three and setting up the fourth with a stolen base. The Yankees, going through their sixth straight game without an extra base hit, took advantage of some sloppy pitching on the Red Sox part, to build up an early lead, which the Sox later overcame because of some poor fielding by New York. Against Jim Lonborg, the Yankees jumped out in front 2 to 0 in the top of the first. Lonborg pitched himself into trouble as Dick Howser singled, Tom Tresh walked and Mickey Mantle was hit by a pitch to open up the game. Joe Pepitone followed with a broken bat single, that dropped safely behind third base to score a run. The Yankees scored their second run in the inning when Charlie Smith grounded out, allowing Tresh to score from third. Yastrzemski got a run back for the Sox in the first, when he hit a line drive home run into left field screen off Yankee starter, Fred Talbot. It was his first home run of the season, just clearing the wall in left-center. The Yankees moved ahead 3 to 1, in the fifth, when Steve Whittaker knocked in Tresh from third with a sacrifice fly. Tresh had walked and moved to third on a single by Mantle. The Sox bounced back with three runs in the fifth, knocking Talbot out of the game. Mike Andrews, who collected two hits for the second straight game, opened the inning with a bloop single to center. After Lonborg struck out, Reggie Smith hit a ground ball past first into right field. The ball stopped dead in a puddle about 30 feet behind the infield grass, allowing him to get to second base, and Andrews to third. Dalton Jones then walked to load the bases and Hal Reniff was brought in to pitch for New York. Reniff's first pitch was drilled into right-center by Yaz, for a single that scored two runs and tied up the game, 3 to 3. Tony Horton struck out, but with Rico Petrocelli at the plate, Yaz and Jones worked a double steal. Yaz broke for second and stopped about three quarters of the way down the baseline. Catcher Jake Gibbs fired the ball to second, but it was low and bounced in the centerfield, allowing Jones to score from third and putting the Sox ahead 4 to 3. Lonborg was struggling all the way and pitched himself out of the game in the sixth by walking Gibbs on four pitches to open the inning. After he pitched to John Kennedy, who sacrificed Gibbs to second, José Santiago came in to replace him and got pinch-hitter Ray Barker to ground out. Gibbs moved to third and the next hitter, Dick Howser, beat out an infield hit which tied up the game at 4 to 4. The Sox came back in the sixth inning to score the winning run off relief pitcher, Dooley Womack. Womack nicked George Thomas with a pitch to lead off the inning. He was moved to third by Russ Gibson, with a single to left, but was thrown out at second, trying to stretch the hit into a double. Andrews then hit a soft ground ball to short that Kennedy booted, but Thomas held at third. At this point Dick Williams sent out George Scott to pinch-hit with one out. Scott went up looking for the first pitch and Womack threw a curve over the plate that he flied out to right-field, to bring in the winning run. McMahon was wild and in the seventh, he walked two but was able to pitch his way out of the jam. In the eighth, after two were out, Howser singled and McMahon walked Tresh and Mantle to load up the bases. Then he went behind on the count, three and one, to Pepitone, but Joe hit a hard line drive right at Petrocelli, for the final out of the inning. |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
 |
 |