|
“DIARY OF A WINNER”
|
THE CURSE OF THE BAMBINO, PART 6 ... July 27, 1967 ... After home runs by Joe Foy, with a man on, and Tony Conigliaro, had tied the score at 5 to 5 in the ninth-inning, Carl Yastrzemski robbed the Angels of extra bases with a stunning catch in the 10th inning and threw a strike to home that stopped the go-ahead run from scoring. And the Red Sox went on to beat the Angels in the bottom of the 10th, 6 to 5. The first eight innings of the game barely served to set the stage for the last minute dramatics. The Red Sox jumped out in front in the bottom of the first inning on Yaz's 25th home run of the season. George Scott followed with another home run, his 12th of the season, to put the Red Sox on top by two. The Angels wiped out the 2 to 0 lead with five runs in the fifth inning, as Lee Stange paid dearly for the only two walks he gave up in six innings. With one out, Stange walked Bobby Knoop. After pitcher Jim McGlothlin struck out, José Cardenal also drew a walk and Woody held slammed a single inside third-base, to drive in Knoop. Jim Fregosi bounced a single up the middle to tie the game and then Don Mincher blasted the first pitch he saw, into the bleachers, behind the Red Sox bullpen, for a three run homer, his 16th of the year, and giving the Angels a 5 to 2 margin. McGlothlin breezed into the ninth-inning with a three hitter, two of which were the home runs, and then the walls came crashing down on him. Mike Andrews started it off with a single to left. Foy looked at one pitch for a ball, before lining a solo shot into the screen above the scoreboard to cut the lead to one run. Angels manager, Bill Rigney, then came strolling out of the dugout and brought in lefty, Clyde Wright, to face Yaz. Yaz lifted a fly ball to centerfield and then Rigney decided to bring in right-handed pitcher, Bill Kelso, to face Conigliaro. The move backfired, as Tony slammed the first pitch he saw into the screen, for his 19th home run of the year, tying up the score at five each. Dick Williams thought ahead and brought in lefty Sparky Lyle to pitch the 10th inning, because three of the Angels hitters due up, were lefties. Lyle retired Jim Fregosi, the only right-handed hitter, and then Don Mincher singled past first baseman George Scott into right field. Right-handed batter, Bill Skowron, came up to hit for Jimmie Hall and slammed a line drive to left-center. Yastrzemski raced over as fast as he could and snared the liner, one-handed, robbing Skowron of a sure extra base hit.
Bubba Morton, another right-handed pinch-hitter, got on first when Joe Foy booted his bouncer for an error. With runners on first and second, Bob Rodgers grounded one past shortstop Rico Petrocelli into left. Don Mincher raced around third as Yastrzemski charged the ball and fired a strike, on the fly, to the plate. Mincher was out by 15 feet to end the inning. Reggie Smith led off the 10th. He slammed a three and two pitch into the right-field corner. The ball bounced past Morton, rolling toward centerfield. Reggie, with visions of an inside the park home run, saw the ball caroming around. He raced around third, but coach Eddie Popowski held him up. Popowski then conferred with the next batter, Russ Gibson, and Dick Williams. They decided they were not going to try a squeeze and were hoping for a fly ball or a base hit. With the Angels ace reliever on the mound, Minnie Rojas, Gibson popped one up to short left and Smith couldn't budge. Jerry Adair was next picked to pinch-hit for Sparky Lyle and he bounced one down toward thirdbaseman, Paul Schaal. The ball took a tricky hop and skidded past him for an error, as Smith jogged across the plate with the winning run. It was a Red Sox second straight victory and there 14th in their last 16 games. The victory enabled the Red Sox to gain a half game and pull within one game of the league-leading White Sox, who were rained out in Cleveland.
|
.jpg)
.jpg)
 CLICK TO VIEW SCORECARD |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
 |
 |