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PETROCELLI HITS 2 HRs |
THE CURSE OF THE BAMBINO, PART 6 ...
"THE IMPOSSIBLE DREAM"
The Sox sweep a
doubleheader
and move into 3rd place
May
14, 1967 ... The Red Sox won two games, 8 to
5, and 13 to 9, and twelve home runs were hit, six by each team. The
Red Sox had nine doubles and one triple, and the Tigers had six
doubles. There were 28 extra-base hits, one more than the record set
by the Red Sox and the A's in 1905. George Scott, who broke a 3 to
3 tie in the fifth inning of the opener with a triple to right off Denny McLain,
did it in one of those dramatic scenes that little boys dream about. There were
bases-loaded, a three and two count, everyone moving while McLain wound up and
Scott smashed a long fly to right which landed past Al Kaline to clear the
bases.
And Scotty was solid in the second game also. The Red Sox had scored three
runs in the first inning off Mickey Lolich and the Tigers had opened the second
with a home run and had the bases loaded with one out on José Santiago. Don Wert
hit a hot ground ball down to Scott. He wanted to start a doubleplay by way of
second base, but the ball broke in on him around his belt. In an awkward
position, he might have thrown poorly to second base. Instead Scott, with an
overhead throw to the plate forced Bill Freehan. Catcher Mike Ryan got the ball
back in time for a doubleplay at first.
And Mike Ryan was the number three catcher a week ago. He worked behind the
plate in both games. In the first game he had two doubles and a single and
another single in the second game. Rico Petrocelli was big also. He had two
booming homers in the first game and a double and a single in the second game
for 5 RBIs on the day.
Carl Yastrzemski drilled a home run into the centerfield seats in the first
inning of the opening game and lined another one over the left-field fence off
Lolich in the second inning of the second game.
Hank Fischer came into the opener in the seventh inning and was good until he
gave up a home run to Don Wert in the ninth. He had relieved Jim Lonborg, who
spent the first six innings giving up nine hits.
José Santiago got his second starting assignment in the second game and
lasted until the eighth-inning. He gave up four runs in the first seven innings,
all on bases empty home runs. Don McMahon had a rather rugged time finishing the
inning in the eighth, when the Tigers got five runs, and Galen Cisco finished
the ninth without any damage.
It looked awful starting out in the first game when Dick McAuliffe started it
off with a home run against Lonborg into the right-field stands. But after
Scott's triple, out went McLain to be replaced by George Korince. Lonborg had a
hard time in the fifth when he gave up four hits for two runs. After that
however, there was not much of anything from the Tigers until Wert's home run in
the ninth, with the Sox winning the game 8 to 5.
In the second game, the Red Sox went ahead 3 to 0 in the first inning when
Joe Foy doubled, Yaz singled, Scott singled and Rico doubled. Santiago homered
in the second inning and the Red Sox put on five runs in the fifth on five hits,
including a home run by Foy. They never looked back in winning 13 to 9.
In sweeping the doubleheader, the Red Sox knocked the Tigers out of first
place. And even more important than that, the Red Sox jumped from eighth place
and are now tied for third place. |