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“DIARY OF A WINNER”
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FENWAY'S FIRST TEAM May 13, 1912 ... The field was slippery and the winds were high at Fenway Park as St. Louis used five pitchers today in an effort to stop the Red Sox but to no avail. It took the Red Sox just 2 hours and 18 minutes at Fenway Park, the put the finishing touches on the St. Louis Browns team for the second time, by winning the game 14 to 9. Boston used three pitchers, Charley Hall, Jack Bushelman and Hugh Bedient, while St. Louis used Curly Brown, Joe Lake, Jack Powell and Roy Mitchell. The unbeaten Charley Hall opened the game and at the close of the first inning, St. Louis had scored four runs on a pass, two singles and a double, helped along by Bill Carrigan's muff of a thrown ball at the plate. The Red Sox cut the lead down to one run in the same inning on a pass, a wild pitch and a single by Tris Speaker. In the second inning Jack Bushelman was sent in to pitch, and although he was hit easily, he managed to keep the visitors from scoring over the course of the next five innings. The Red Sox however got very busy in the second inning by scoring nine runs, with every player crossing the plate. Heinie Wagner led off by making it to first when Ed Hallinan booted his ground ball. Carrigan then singled and Bushelman walked to fill the bases. The inning had started with the threat of rain and now it started to pour quite hard, so play was suspended. When play resumed Joe Lake came into pitch for the Browns. The first batter he faced was Harry Hooper who got a base hit, then Clyde Engle walked and Speaker cleared the bases with a double. Duffy Lewis followed him with another double to bring Speaker in. At that point Jack Powell was pressed into service for St. Louis. He was greeted by Larry Gardner who hit another double to score Lewis, and next he walked Hugh Bradley. Wagner came up for the second time in the inning and sacrificed Gardner and Bradley over. Carrigan was up next and singled the two runners in. After Bushelman struck out, Hooper lined a single and Engel closed the inning with a line drive that was pulled down near the incline by Willie Hogan in left field. When the smoke cleared, the Red Sox were up 10 to 4, having scored nine runs in that inning. The Red Sox scored another run in the fifth and Bushelman was going along fine until the seventh. With the lead and nothing to worry about, be grooved one to Jimmy Austin, the first man up, who lined it out to Duffy Lewis in left, who made a remarkable one-handed running catch. George Stovall then walked and Del Pratt singled. Bushelman passed Hogan to fill the bases, and Frank Laporte smashed one past Gardner for a base hit that scored two runs. Hallinan followed with a base hit to score the third run. Bushelman got a little shaken up and unleashed a wild pitch that moved up the base runners. At that point manager Stahl brought in Hugh Bedient. Jim Stevens popped one up to Wagner and Bedient walked the next batter. Bert Shotton singled to score the fourth run and then Umpire Evans saw something in Bedient's delivery that he didn't like and called a balk. That brought Hallinan home and moved up the baserunners. A base hit with now tie the score, but Austin sent out a week fly ball to Tris Speaker for the final out. With the score 11 to 9, the Red Sox got three more runs in the bottom of the seventh inning. Roy Mitchell was now pitching for the Browns and he passed Hooper to start things off. Hooper was thrown out trying for second before Mitchell passed Clyde Engle. Speaker flew out to centerfield and afterwards Duffy Lewis doubled and Larry Gardner walked to fill the bases. Wagner came up and lashed out a single to center that scored two more runs. Carrigan grounded out to first to end the scoring. Bedient got down to business in the eighth and ninth innings, striking out three and allowing only one base hit to preserve the 14-9 win. One of the best catches ever witnessed was made by Duffy Lewis in the seventh inning. Austin drove the ball between him and Speaker. The players were on the dead run, but Speaker was not be able to reach the ball on the fly. Just then Lewis came across the field and like a whirlwind, stuck his gloved hand out and nailed the ball just two feet off the ground, rolling over and coming up with the ball to shown that he had caught it cleanly. The timing of the play was perfect, and so great was his momentum, that he was well over into right field before he could stop himself. Lewis was also there with two hard smashes for doubles. Gardner and Hooper also got in a pair of hits, while Speaker and Carrigan led the hitting attack for Boston with three hits each. |
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