Walter Johnson failed in the attempt,
to keep Joe Wood from winning his 14th consecutive victory with the Red
Sox winning their third game in succession
against the Nationals from Washington, 1 to 0.
A pitchers’ battle it surely was. Witnessed by 29,000 fans, the contest
was hot every moment, with only two consecutive doubles driven out by Tris Speaker and Duffy Lewis in Boston’s sixth
inning, after two were out, producing the only run that crossed the plate all afternoon.
All day it was hard, clean, crisp steady baseball, and a battle that
was all glory for Joe Wood to win, yet one that Johnson could lose
without a tinge of dissatisfaction over his great pitching.
The crowd packed the stands and
the bleachers and trooped all over the outfield inside the stand and
bleacher boundaries. The grandstand was packed a solid ten rows deep
with fans on tip-toes to see what was going on. The playing field was
surrounded by a triple, even quadruple rows of fans, at least 3,000
assembling on the banking in left field, and the mass extending
around in front of the grandstand. So thick were the spectators
massed, that it was impossible for the police to keep them back. The
players’ dugouts were abandoned, with the players bringing their
equipment out almost to the baselines.
It was an orderly crowd, though, and one that did not interfere with
the playing of the game.
Only one or two hits went into the recesses of left field, and these
were held down as ground-rule doubles.
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JOE WOOD WARMING UP |
It was remarkable that no one was
hurt. One little boy was hit by a foul tip, and tenderly carried to
the players’ locker room, but he soon insisted that he was “all
right” and in a little while, he was back in his place again.
Of course, what brought the big
crowd was the promised battle between Joe Wood and Walter Johnson. Johnson was most anxious to show his prowess against
the Red Sox favorite, while it was intimated that Wood wished some other
Sox
pitcher would pitch against Johnson, so that he might face Groom, and
might have a better opportunity to win. Wood and therefore, might
also have a more favorable chance to increase his record of straight victories.
But whatever transpired so that
Wood and Johnson came together, their meeting proved to be a classic.
While both pitchers seemed to have their best at their command,
neither team made even a semblance of an error, a little short passed ball by
catcher Hick Cady of the Sox, being the only slipup of the day.
Washington made six hits, including two doubles, while
the Sox hit Johnson safely only five times, two of these hits being combined for the run that
decided the game. Wood
issued three bases on balls, while Johnson passed only one batter.
Nine Nationals were strike-out victims of Wood, while only five Red Sox batters walked to the plate only to return
having
been struck out. The six hits made by the Nationals were scattered through as many innings. On the other hand,
the Sox got to Johnson in only three of their eight innings, bunching two singles in the second, after
having made one stray hit in the first, and then, save for the two doubles that brought home the winning run, going hitless for the remainder of the game.
Seven members of the Sox were all who reached first base all afternoon and of these, only four reached
second base.
The big run that came in the sixth was hammered across the home plate
and scored after two men were out. Harry Hooper started the inning by flying out
and then Steve Yerkes grounded out. Johnson got Tris Speaker to go after a ball close to him, and then bent the ball over the outside corner for another strike before Speaker was aware
of what had
happened. It was on the next ball, that he gave Speaker a good one, and “Spoke” made one of his characteristic punches, lacing the ball like a bullet past third baseman
Kid Foster, and racing to second base before Herbie Moran fielded the
ball at the edge
of the crowd in left field. Duffy Lewis was next, and the Washington outfield moved well over to the left. But Duffy crossed
up everyone and swung hard at one of Johnson’s speediest balls and the ball shot off to right field.
The ball sped away over Chick Gandil’s head and then began to drop toward the foul line.
With one frantic plunge, right-fielder Joe Moeller dove after the ball. For an instant, it seemed that he had caught it, but the ball just touched his fingertips
and dropped onto the grass. Speaker was almost across the plate when Moeller got to the ball. Lewis also was legging it around and was at second base when Moeller picked up the ball and shot it back
into the infield, but Speaker was in with a run.
In the first inning, Steve Yerkes singled but was forced by Speaker, who was thrown out trying to steal, and in the second when
Larry Gardner and Clyde Engle grouped their singles, they remained
stranded on second and first bases. In the fourth, Speaker received the only base on balls issued by Johnson and advanced on Lewis’ sacrifice hit
before Gardner and Engle grounded out.
Washington had many more chances than
the Sox, but Wood held them. In the very first inning, Clyde Milan opened with a hit but immediately fell victim to a double play when
Kid Foster bounced back straight to Wood.
In the third, which Tom McBride opened with a double and was advanced by sacrifice, Wood again stopped
them by smothering a slash from Walter Johnson and nipped McBride between third base and home. Wood then filled up the bases by passing both Milan
and Foster, before whipping the ball over against Danny Moeller and striking him out.
A hit and a pass put two
Nationals on base in the fifth when there was one out, but neither Milan nor Foster could bring across the much-desired run.
In the last four innings, three
Nats saw
second base, that was the farthest point to which they were advanced.
In the seventh Frank Laporte doubled to right center just before
Roy Moran fanned for the third out, and in the eighth Kid Foster singled and stole second, again with one man down, but only to
see his teammates easily popping up outfield flies. Then
in the ninth, when one run would tie the game, Laporte’s opening hit and Moran’s sacrifice helped not at all, as Wood finished
the game by fanning both McBride and Eddie Ainsmith.