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MUDCAT GRANT |
THE CURSE OF THE BAMBINO, PART 6 ...
"THE IMPOSSIBLE DREAM"
The Twins shut down the Red Sox
May
5, 1967 ... Jim "Mudcat" Grant gave a snappy
performance that helped the Minnesota Twins to a 5 to 2 victory over
the Sox. Grant, who went into the game with a 0-3 record, simply
overpowered the Sox hitters, until he finally weakened in the ninth
and gave up two runs. The Red Sox have now scored just eight runs
in their last five games. Another disappointing feature for the Red Sox was the
way the Twins batters manhandled rookie Billy Rohr. The Red Sox got good relief
pitching but the damage had been done before they arrived on the scene.
In the second inning, some sloppy defense of work and a home run put Rohr on
the spot. A four-run inning for the Twins developed when secondbaseman Mike
Andrews and rightfielder Tony Conigliaro let in easy pop up drop between them
for a double as they couldn't make their minds who should catch it. Earl Battey
followed with a single to right and Conigliaro could have had a good chance at
throwing the runner out at third, but he bobbled the ball. Two pitches later the
Twins jumped ahead 3 to 0, when Ron Clark slammed his first big-league homer. He
drilled one of Rohr's pitches into the seats in left field, scoring Battey ahead
of him.
Rohr set up the fourth Twins run of the inning when Cesar Tovar beat out a
high hopper near first, on which Rohr should have made the play. He tried to
catch the ball barehanded but dropped it, and Versalles then brought Tovar all
the way around with a triple into the right-field corner. Then Rohr walked Bob
Allison on five pitches to start the third. He was finally removed in favor of
Lee Stange. So after his glittering major-league debut, Billy Rohr has given up
too many runs in his last two starts, lasting only five innings and resembling
anything but the kid that shackled the Yankees.
The Twins added a run to their lead in the fifth, again with the help of the
Red Sox defense. Tovar, after singling to right with one out, stole second and
advanced to third when Bob Tillman's throw bounced into centerfield. Versalles
knocked him in with a single through the middle, making it 5 to 0.
Meanwhile, Grant breezed through the first five innings, allowing just two
hits. One was a bunt that Conigliaro beat out to open the second and the other
was a ground ball single by Bob Tillman.
Grant rolled into the ninth-inning with a shutout. Then Dalton Jones, José
Tartabull, George Thomas and Reggie Smith reached him for singles that scored
two runs with two outs. Relief pitcher Al Worthington came in for the Twins and
struck out Mike Andrews to end the game.
Conigliaro, battling a slump, reinjured his back in the game and might be out
of action for the rest of the series. |
