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MEL PARNELL |
THE CURSE OF
THE BAMBINO, PART 4
FALLING SHORT AT THE END AGAIN
...
Mel Parnell
wins his 15th game thanks to Ted
August 1, 1949 ... Mel
Parnell beat the Indians, 4 to 3, before a crowd of 35,248 at Fenway.
In winning his 15th game, he equaled Vic Raschi as the only 15 game
winners in the league. Ted Williams drove in the winning run with a
sinking line drive single in the seventh inning off Bob Lemon to score Dom
DiMaggio. The "Little Professor" had singled after two were out and sped over to
third on Johnny Pesky's line drive to right-center. Dom's single extended his
consecutive game hitting streak to 28 games.
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DOM RUN DOWN |
Parnell had his troubles in the third and fourth innings when the Indians
scored three runs, while Lemon was holding the Red Sox hitless. Jim Hegan
started it in the third with a single to left, moved over to second by Dale
Mitchell and scored on a single to center by Lou Boudreau. They both moved up a
base when DiMaggio's throw got by Birdie Tebbetts. And so, Joe Gordon was
intentionally walked to fill the bases. Mitchell scored when Doby forced out
Gordon at second base. In the fourth Hegan lined a home run into the left-field
screen.
It wasn't until the fourth inning that the Red Sox were able to get a hit off
Lemon. With two outs Stephens doubled down the left-field line and raced for
home on Bobby Doerr's grounder into centerfield.
In the fifth inning, Al Zarilla reached on a scratch single, when his one
hopper bounced out of Boudreau's glove at short. Tebbetts forced him at second,
but Parnell sliced a single to right on Lemon's first pitch. Dom bounced one off
the left-field wall for a double that scored Tebbetts. Parnell tied the score on
Pesky's single to right, but Dom was thrown out at home by Bob Kennedy in a
rundown.
In the seventh Dom pushed a single to right with two outs. Pesky got him over
to third on the hit-and-run and Williams took Lemon's second pitch and dropped
it in front of Larry Doby, to put the Red Sox ahead 4 to 3.
The Indians threatened in the eighth when Mitchell led off with a single and
after one out Gordon singled. Parnell got Doby to ground out into a doubleplay
and end that threat. |
