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LOU
FINNEY |
"THE GREATEST HITTER THAT EVER LIVED"
STEPS UP TO THE PLATE ...
Finney and Williams dump the Indians
June 18,
1939 ... A pinch-hit double by Lou Finney in the
eighth-inning, produced the payoff run in the opening game, as the
Red Sox ended a four-game losing streak, with a 5 to 4 victory. After
spotting the Cleveland Indians three runs in the first inning of the
second game, the Red Sox roared back down the stretch with a 5 to 3
victory, on Ted Williams' double which drove home the tying and
winning runs. The second game was halted at the end of the
eighth-inning on account of the local Sunday Blue Laws. While it
required an eighth inning clout in the clutch by Finney, to pull out the first
decision on an uphill climb in the opening contest, both Fritz Ostermueller and
Lefty Grove should have coasted home easily. Only one of the seven runs scored
against the combined pitchers were clean hits.
The eleven hits made off Ostermueller were well spaced, while the two walks
he issued didn't figure in the scoring. Ostermueller was very prominent in the
Red Sox attack. He drove in the first run of the game and set up another pair of
runs, including the winning one, with well-placed sacrifice bunts.
A single and two walks by Bob Feller filled the bases in the second inning of
the first game. Ostermueller came up with two out and beat out a slow roller
between third and short for a single, as Jimmie Foxx scored. Back-to-back
doubles by Cleveland tied the score in the third inning. Feller walked Doc
Cramer, the Boston leadoff batter in the third, and after Joe Vosmik struck out,
Jimmie Foxx belted the second of his three singles to put Cramer on second. A
double off the left-field wall by Joe Cronin brought home Cramer to put the Sox
back into a 2 to 1 lead.
Johnny Peacock belted a double to start the Red Sox fourth inning. He went to
third on Ostermueller's perfect bunt and scored when Tommy Carey flew out to
right-field. A single, a sacrifice bunt and a double by Ben Chapman, which Foxx
lost in the sun, gave the Indians their second run in the fifth inning. But in
their half of the inning, Foxx singled and stole second, scoring on Cronin's
base hit to put the Sox ahead 4 to 2.
In Cleveland's half of the eighth-inning they tied the game. With one out
Chapman beat out a roller down the third-base line and went to second when Jim
Tabor threw the ball into right field. Moose Solters brought him home with a
double and went to third on a wild pitch. He scored the tying run when Ken
Keltner was thrown out at first base.
In the Sox half of the eighth-inning, with the score tied, Jim Tabor struck
out, but Johnny Peacock worked Bob Feller for a free pass. He went to second on
Ostermueller sacrifice bunt. Lou Finney came in to bat for Carey and he lined
the first pitch into left-center to score Peacock with the eventual winning run.
Although outhit in the second game, the Red Sox made their hits count. The
Indians were off to a three run start aided by a couple of doubles. Willis
Hudlin breezed through the first two innings for the Indians and it seemed as if
he were on his way to an easy win. The Sox got their first run in the third,
when Tabor blasted the first pitch into the left-field screen for a home run.
They added another run in the fourth on an error, another hit by Tabor, and a
squeeze bunt by Gene Desautels.
The winning run came in the fifth inning. With one out, Cramer beat out an
infield hit and took third on Vosmik's single. When Hudlin uncorked a wild
pitch, Vosmik made it down the second base. Then the Indians decided to walk
Jimmie Foxx and load the bases. Ted Williams came to the plate hitless all
afternoon, but certainly came through at the proper moment. For the insult of
walking Foxx to get to him, Williams made the Indians pay dearly. He teed off on
the first pitch and lashed a double into left-center, that cleared the bases and
won the game for Lefty Grove. Lefty was invincible after the first inning
Cleveland flare-up. |
