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SPORTSMAN'S PARK |
THE LAST ONE FOR 86 YEARS
The Red Sox clean it up in St. Louis
August
1, 1918 ...
Hank Severeid's wild throw of Wally Mayer's intended sacrifice bunt, was the decisive play in the fourth and final game of the series with the Browns at Sportsman's Park. Severeid's mechanical break, permitted the winning run to score in the first half of the eighth inning, giving the Red Sox 2 to 1
victory.
Babe Ruth
pitched and was hit safely five times, but in his support, Ruth was more fortunate. The Red Sox committed only one error, that of a fumble grounder by Ruth. Good outfield work and the perfect cooperation of his infield, contrived to make Babe's mistake
inconsequential.
Lefty Liefeld pitched the best St. Louis game of the series, but he was in measure to blame for his defeat. Both Boston runs were scored by men who had worked him for a pass. He allowed only three Red Sox to reach first in this manner, but this number was enough to
bring about his downfall. Ruth gave two passes himself, but neither of them amounted to anything more dangerous than a Browns' player left on base.
Leifield accomplished the feat of holding Ruth hitless for the second consecutive day. Ray Demmitt robbed him of a base hit and possible trouble in the first inning, when he made a great catch against the outfield fence in right. Jimmy Austin cut off another hit as did
George Sisler down at first base.
Harry Hooper scored the first Sox run in the very first inning with a pass from Liefeld. He was brought in by Dave Shean's single to right. Strunk hit a high hopper down first, which Leifield jumped off the mound to get, but he was late in getting Hooper at home, so he
tossed the first to get Strunk, allowing the run to score.
The Red Sox scored a second run in the eighth inning, giving them a two to nothing lead. But in the bottom of the ninth, Jack Tobin and Fritz Maisel reached base in succession with one out. Ray Demmitt then hit a hot ground ball to second, on which Dave Shean made a
pretty play to get the batter, moving the runners to second and third. Tim Hendryx worked the call to three balls and two strikes, and then Ruth put a low one on the outside corner to strike him out and end the game.
Babe Ruth has a lot of fans in St. Louis. When he drives the ball to the fences, the crowd goes into a frenzy, but when he swings mightily and misses the outburst is just the same. Anything he does is perfectly acceptable to everyone in St. Louis. |
