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A NEW
ERA BEGINS WITH YAZ ...
Jim Pagliaroni's bat gives the Sox a
come-from-behind doubleheader sweep
June 18, 1961
... There were two outs in the bottom of the
ninth inning and the Red Sox were behind, 12 to 5. Don Buddin was on
first base, having lined a single to right. Nine batters later, after
Jim Pagliaroni had tied the score with a grandslam home run, Russ
Nixon came up as a pinch-hitter. He lined the ball past the dive of
secondbaseman, Chuck Cottier and the Sox had miraculously won the
game, 13 to 12.
But that was just the first game of a doubleheader with the
Washington Senators. The Sox were leading 5 to 4, in the top of the
eight inning of the nitecap, when Willie Tasby led off and tied the score with a home run for the Nats.
Fast forward to the 13th inning. It now had been a pitcher's duel
between Mike Fornieles and Tom Sturdivant. Fornieles, who had come in
for Gene Conley, pitched six innings without letting a runner get
past second base. Sturdivant had pitched no-hit ball for six innings.
Up comes Pagliaroni again and he smashes a 3-2 pitch from Sturdivant
into the left field net for a walk-off, 6-to-5 Sox win.
The first game had the Sox down by a run in the fourth inning. A
single by Carroll Hardy, a double by Jackie Jensen and a booted
ground ball by shortstop, Coot Veal, then put the Sox up 2-1 in their
half of the fourth. But Washington put four more runs on the board
against Ike Delock in the fifth inning, finished off by Dale Long's
homer over the wall in left-center.
The Sox got one of the runs back in their half of the fifth when
Washington starter, Carl Mathias loaded the bases with two walks and
a single, before hitting Gary Geiger with a pitch.
Billy Muffett replaced Delock in the sixth and gave up a two-run
homer to Pete Daley to give Washington a 7-3 advantage. But Mathias
kept trying to give the game away. Frank Malzone tripled to center
field to lead off the Sox sixth inning and Vic Wertz's slow grounder
to first let Malzone scamper home with one run. Don Buddin followed
with a homer over the left field net, cutting the Nat's lead to 7-5.
The Senators added five more runs in the ninth inning and seemed to
sew up the game. Muffett got knocked out after giving up a single and
a double. Then Ted Wills came in and got massacred. Gene Woodling
brought in one runner with a base hit, Long walked to load the bases,
and Tasby hit a grandslam homer. Now the score was 12 to 5.
So things could not have seemed more bleak to the fans, with the Sox
down by seven runs going into the bottom of the ninth. Mathias was
still pitching for Washington and after getting Wertz on a grounder
to first, he gave up a hit to Buddin. Singles by Schilling and Hardy,
followed by a walk to Geiger, finally sent Mathias to the shower in
favor of old friend Dave Sisler.
But Sisler had nothing and walked Jensen to load the bases. Then he
walked Malzone to force in a run. Now up steps Pagliaroni and he
takes a 2-1 pitch into the nets, for a grandslam that ties the game
at 12-12.
That's all for Sisler after he next walks Wertz, who is up for the
second time. Sisler is replaced by Marty Kutyna and Buddin welcomes
him with a single to right, sending Wertz down to second. With a
right-hander now on the mound, Mike Higgins sends up Russ Nixon to
pinch-hit for Billy Harrell, who had pinch hit for Wills earlier in
the inning, and Pete Runnels comes in to run for Wertz.
Nixon hits a hard ground ball on the first base side of second base,
and second baseman Cottier rushes to his left, making a frantic stab
at he ball unsuccessfully. The ball squirts into right field and
Runnels comes home with the winning run.
So after everybody in the ball park, gets a chance to catch their
breath, the second game starts. Pete Burnside is the Washington
pitcher and he gives the Sox a 2-0 lead in the first inning. He walks
Chuck Schilling, gives up a hit to Jensen and Malzone doubles off the
wall to score them both. The next inning, Buddin laces a triple to
center and scores on a seeing-eye double to right by Schilling.
Conley is the Sox starter and gives back that run in the fourth
inning when Cottier takes him deep, making the score 3-1.
In the fifth inning another hit by Schilling, a walk to Hardy and a
two-run single by Jensen, knocks out Burnside. With the Sox up 5-2,
Conley gives up a two-run homer to Jim King in the seventh inning
that cuts the Sox lead to one run.
After Tasby's homer ties the game in the eighth, Conley leaves and
Fornieles takes over. Then Fornieles and Sturdivant shut down
everything until the 13th inning. |
