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JIM LONBORG |
THE CURSE OF THE BAMBINO, PART 6 ...
"THE IMPOSSIBLE DREAM"
Jim Lonborg wins his 18th in the first game,
The Sox lose in the 20th inning of game 2
August
29, 1967 ... The Red Sox took over first place
by one half game, but missed a chance to go a game and a half ahead,
when they dropped a 20 inning marathon to the Yankees. Horace
Clarke's single in the last of the 20th gave the Yankees a 4 to 3
walkoff win at 2 AM. Earlier in the night, Jim Lonborg's three-hit,
11 strikeout pitching, had given the Sox a 2 to 1 victory. Lonborg
got a one run lead in the third inning of the first game when Mike Andrews
reached on an error by Ruben Amaro, was sacrificed to second by Lonborg and
after a wild pitch by Mel Stottlemyre, came home on a perfect bunt by José
Tartabull.
In the seventh inning, Reggie Smith, who had five stolen bases in the
doubleheader, beat out a grounder to second base and stole second after two fly
ball outs. Andrews was intentionally walked so Stottlemyre could face Lonborg,
but Jim singled to left, scoring Smith and putting the Red Sox up 2 to 0.
In the Yankee half of the seventh, however, Tom Tresh homered into the
right-field seats. Lonborg allowed only one man to reach base for the rest of
the game.
The second game started with Bill Monbouquette facing Lee Stange and Monbo
pitched very well, except in the second inning, when Reggie started with a
double to left. He came all the way home when he stole third and Bob Tillman
threw the ball into left-field. Ken Harrelson, making his Red Sox debut,
followed with a long home run into the seats in right-center, putting the Sox up
2 to 0.
But the Yankees got one of the runs back in the fourth, on a double by Mike
Hegan and a triple to left by Steve Whitaker. Carl Yastrzemski had tried to make
a shoestring catch of the ball and it went past him into deep left centerfield.
When Reggie caught up with the ball and relayed to Rico Petrocelli, the ball
bounced and hit Rico in the leg, rolling back toward Yaz. He picked up the ball
and fired it home , getting Whitaker, who was trying for an inside-the-park home
run.
The Yankees finally tied up the game in the seventh inning on two singles, by
Bill Robinson and Tillman off Stange. Then John Wyatt came in and Roy White hit
a fly ball out to Yaz that scored Robinson with the tying run.
The Red Sox used 20 players going into the 18th inning, only having pitchers
left on the bench. It looked like the Sox might lose in the 15th after Tresh
bunted to get on base and was sacrificed along. Robinson popped a fly ball
behind second base and Reggie came running in as fast as he could, and reached
down and made a tumbling catch. Then Tillman hit a line drive to left that Yaz
who made a sliding catch, to end the inning.
And so it went into the 20th and, with one out, George Scott beat out a
single behind second base and went to third on Smith's single to right. Reggie
then stole second for his fifth steal of the night and Petrocelli was
intentionally passed to set up the force. Elston Howard, who caught the whole
first game, and came in the ninth-inning of the second game, was the next
batter. All he could do was hit a ground ball to second, that ended the inning.
In the Yankees half of the 20th, John Kennedy lined a single to right. While
attempting the bunt, Jim Bouton was hit by a pitch from Darrell Brandon, putting
runners on first and second. Brandon was taken out of the game and replaced by
José Santiago to face Horace Clarke. Clarke greeted Jose with a walkoff line
drive single to right, that scored the winning run and ended the marathon after
six hours and 15 minutes.
The Sox split, coupled with Minnesota's 4-3 loss to Baltimore, left the Red
Sox in first place by 1/2 game. |
