|
“DIARY OF A WINNER”
|
FENWAY'S FIRST TEAM April 12, 1912 ... Superior pitching and good hitting led the Red Sox to their second victory over the Highlanders in New York. The Sox found Russ Ford easy to hit and netted themselves five runs. The Highlanders also bunched their hits off Buck O'Brien for two runs. The Red Sox started right on Ford. Tris Speaker had a chance early and excepted it. After Ford failed to locate the plate on Harry Hooper, Birdie Cree made a nice catch to get out Steve Yerkes. Then Speaker walloped the ball to the clubhouse gate in deep center field. In spite of quick fielding by Harry Wolter and Bert Daniels, Tris made the circuit on his drive, sending in Hooper ahead of him and giving the Red Sox a 2 to 0 lead. Ford, obviously shaken, passed Jake Stahl and Larry Gardner forced him at second. Duffy Lewis came up next and found a spot in right-center that was good for two bases and scored Gardner, making it 3 to 0. New York came back in the bottom half of the first and scored a run, but from that point on, their hits were scattered and the runs became scarcer over the next five innings. The Highlanders got their second and last run in the seventh. Birdie Cree cracked out a triple to right and it was fast work by Harry Hooper that kept him from scoring. Roy Hartzell followed with a single and Cree raced home to cut the score to 3 to 2. Cozy Dolan's sacrifice put Hartzell at second, but Earle Gardner flied out to Speaker and Gabby Street popped out to catcher Bill Carrigan. In the eighth-inning after Yerkes struck out and Speaker grounded out, Jake Stahl then rapped out his third single of the day and Gardner advanced him to third with a clean double to left. "The jinx is here again!!" yelled a fan, just as Lewis tried to dodge a wild pitch by Ford and the ball hit his bat. The ball shot by Hal Chase at first, for a single that scored both Stahl and Gardner. The fans then saw Hartzell throw Wagner's ground ball over the head of his first baseman, which sent Lewis to third and Wagner to second. Ford was still wild and walked Carrigan to fill the bases. Chase ended the rally by tossing out O'Brien at first, but the score was now 5 to 2. The Highlanders started something in their half of the ninth-inning but they failed to score. Cree worked O'Brien for a pass, but Hartzell forced him at second. Dolan came up and then forced Hartzell at second. Manager Harry Wolverton made his first appearance as a pinch-hitter, and after Dolan stole second, he ended the game with a fly ball out to Speaker Jake Stahl got four hits for the Speed Boys, and apart from his batting, the fielding of Highlander Bert Daniels was the highlight of the game for New York. Daniels excepted seven chances four of which he caught after a long run. |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
 |
 |
