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“DIARY OF A WINNER”
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FENWAY'S FIRST TEAM July 10, 1912 ... The Red Sox fell hard at the hands of veteran Jack Powell, as the Browns, with ten stinging defeats at the hands of Jake Stahl's pennant contenders, refused to take the count on the eleventh meeting and simply walloped the Speed Boys with 18 hits which made them an easy 9 to 2 winner. Hugh Bedient, Larry Pape, Ray Collins and Doug Smith the youngster from Turners Falls, were treated alike by the Browns' hitters. The best the Red Sox gathered was that it was just not their day. The Browns jumped out to a quick 3 to 0 lead in the first inning and these runs, as subsequent events transpired, were enough to win the game. St. Louis however, was taking no chances and continued to hammer all corners of Fenway Park. All day the Red Sox struggled to start something that might worry Powell, who refused to worry the least bit. He seemed to take things easily in the July heat and put a little something on the ball that the home hitters could not figure out. Inning after inning he kept the Browns in the best of spirits and finished easily across the line as a winner. All afternoon the hits rattled off the Browns bats, with five hard ones against Bedient in the first inning, three off Pape in 2 1/3 innings, six off Ray Collins in 2 2/3 innings and four against Smith in the last three innings of the game. Meanwhile big Jack Powell was working all long with no worries at all, being hit safely in almost every inning, but seeing only two runs score against him. Frank Laporte, the former Red Sox player, was a particular nemesis of his old time Boston teammates, having a great afternoon with the stick, blasting out four hits, the first of which was a home run over Tris Speaker's head. There were two men on base at the time and the clout settled the game then and there. The Red Sox started off well enough getting three hits off Powell in the first inning and scoring a run, but their remaining six hits of the game were distributed in his many innings and it was only because of an error by Del Pratt in the sixth inning that the Red Sox were able to get a second run across. Powell did not strikeout many batters but he got his team fly ball outs that settled peacefully in the gloves of the St. Louis outfielders. In the first inning after Bert Shotton had fouled out to Bill Carrigan, Heinie Jantzen and George Stovall all laced the ball to centerfield for base hits, and then after Pratt had filed out to Carrigan for the second out, Laporte drove the ball into deep center field for a home run and a 3 to 0 lead. The Red Sox came back for one run in their half of the first inning but St. Louis got another one in the fourth. After George Aiton was passed, Jim Stephens got a safe hit. Larry Pape caught Aiton napping off second base, but then Jack Powell laced a triple to right-center to score Stephens, making it 4 to 1. They added another run in the fifth and three more in the sixth. After two men were out the combination of a single by Powell and a double by Shotton was followed by a home run by Jantzen made it 8 to 1. Doug Smith, who pitched the last three innings was hit safely four times, the seventh and eighth innings producing no runs. However in the ninth Stovall opened with a triple and then scored on Pratt's long fly out to Duffy Lewis for the ninth St. Louis run. All this time the Red Sox had been trying vainly to get into the game. Pape got a hit the second inning after two men were out and then was forced at second by Hooper. In the third after Steve Yerkes had driven a liner out to Jantzen, Speaker doubled, but both Lewis and Gardner popped out. In the fourth Stahl started with a hit but was doubled up on Heinie Wagner's line drive to Pratt. The same thing happened three innings later when Hooper opened with a hit and Yerkes failed to poke the ball through the infield. In the fifth inning Ray Collins got a life on a fumble by Pratt and after Hooper and Yerkes had flown out, Speaker got another hit. But then Duffy Lewis raised a little pop fly to Laporte to end that threat. Then in the sixth with two out Wagner doubled to the bank and came home when Pratt allowed Hick Cady's ground ball to go between his legs for an unearned run. The Red Sox did not see first base for the last three innings. |
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