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JOE McCARTHY & DEL BAKER |
BOSTON RED SOX ...
THE
CURSE OF THE BAMBINO, PART 3
A
SUBWAY SERIES DISAPPEARS ...
The
Tigers salvage
a final win
July 17, 1948
... Virgil Trucks had good control of his
fastball and gave the Tigers their only victory in the four-game
series with the Red Sox before 17,477 fans at Fenway Park, by a 3 to
1 score. He yielded only four hits, two of them in the ninth inning.
Trucks, who had failed to beat the Red Sox in a previous occasions over a
two-year period, weakened slightly in the ninth, when the Sox loaded the bases
with two outs. However, he drew on his reserve to force Wally Moses to pop up
and end the game. Trucks set the Sox down in order for six innings, walking only
three and striking out a half dozen.
Dom DiMaggio's ground ball between first and second in the fourth inning was
the first base hit. It led to the only Sox run. On the mound for the Red Sox was
Ellis Kinder, who pitched a good game, aided by sharp Red Sox defense of play.
Hoot Evers opened the second inning, slamming a liner that got by Johnny
Pesky for a base hit. Pat Mullin dropped a low pitch into short right field for
a Texas League single, with Evers holding at second. Sam Vico bunted the ball
down to the third-base side of Kinder and Ellis grabbed it, turned toward third,
and then spun around to nip Vico at first, allowing the runners to advance. That
move hurt, because Evers was able to come home on Bob Swift's sacrifice fly
ball.
The Sox tied it up in the fourth on a DiMaggio single, a walk to Pesky,
another one to Stephens and a sac fly ball from Bobby Doerr. But the visitors
came back and won the game in the sixth. With one away Dick Wakefield lined the
ball off the centerfield wall and scored when Vico lined the first pitch he saw
into right field. They picked up an insurance run in the eighth on successive
singles by George Kell and Wakefield and a sacrifice fly by Evers.
The Sox ninth inning threat started with two outs. Vern Stephens singled to
left and Trucks pitched around Bobby Doerr, putting him on first with a walk.
Billy Goodman then hit a chopper to the left of the mound and George Kell was
unable to pick up the ball cleanly in time to get Goodman in first. Wally Moses
fouled off three pitches before popping out to end the threat. It gave Detroit
his first victory over the Red Sox after seven straight losses. Trucks threw 131
pitches, 27 of them in the ninth-inning.
The fans were afforded a late game appearance of Tex Hughson in a relief
role. Tex set down three men in order and only use seven pitches. The Sox stayed
5 1/2 games behind Cleveland, but lost ground to the Athletics, who beat the
Indians, and to the Yankees who beat the Browns. |
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