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GEORGE SCOTT HOMERS |
THE CURSE OF THE BAMBINO, PART 6 ...
"THE IMPOSSIBLE DREAM"
George Scott and Darrell Brandon
give the Sox a sweep of the Indians
May
21, 1967 ... The Cleveland Indians had a 3 to
0 lead in the eighth-inning of the opening game of the doubleheader.
All the sudden Cleveland pitcher, Sonny Siebert, lost his magic. He
had given the Red Sox only three hits while Billy Rohr was having a
hard luck trying to match him. Two singles in a row started the Sox
eighth, and then Carl Yastrzemski slammed a triple and George Scott
followed with a home run. The game belonged to the Red Sox 4 to 3.
Billy Rohr had not gone past three innings in his last couple of games, but in
this one, he threw a lot of curves instead of leaning on his fastball. The
Indians got two runs off him in the fifth inning but should've been blanked.
Chico Salmon doubled to left and Gus Gil pushed a bunt toward second base. Mike
Andrews threw it wildly, allowing Salmon to score with Gil going to second.
After Larry Brown had been thrown out, Siebert bunted a three to pitch, with Gil
on third, and he headed for the plate. Rohr tried to make a barehanded grab the
ball and threw it to Mike Ryan, but Ryan never really got control of the ball
and dropped it before he made the tag.
The third run came on a double, a hit batter, a sacrifice and an intentional
walk to Chuck Hinton. Then John Wyatt took over. With the bases loaded and Rocky
Colavito at the plate, manager Joe Adcock decided to pinch-hit. Rocky flung his
bat and had a few choice words firs manager. Leon Wagner pinch-hit for him and
grounded out while a run scored, giving Cleveland the 3 to 0 lead.
The Sox only had two singles and a double off Siebert going into the
eighth-inning. Yastrzemski unloaded with his triple to the 420 foot mark and
Scott followed with his third home run of the season over the bullpen, about
five rows up into the bleachers, giving the Red Sox a 4 to 3 lead.
In the second game, Darrell Brandon, who had not won the game all year, beat
the Indians 6 to 2, to sweep the doubleheader. Brandon could have had a shutout
in all probability. With Sam McDowell at the plate in the third inning and a man
on, with the Red Sox ahead 1 to 0, he put one down the alley and the Cleveland
pitcher knocked it 420 feet down the alley next to the Indians bullpen.
Otherwise he pitched very well. He had a great fastball and didn't walk a man.
Rico Petrocelli, Yastrzemski and Joe Foy supplied the hitting punch for
Brandon.
If not only for McDowell's long home run, two singles and a double, Brandon
had the game well in hand all through nine innings. Rico Petrocelli and Joe Foy
doubled back to back in the second inning to give the Red Sox a 1 to 0 lead.
It took the Red Sox until the fourth inning to get ahead of McDowell in the
second game. Down 2 to 1, Yaz singled to right and Scott lined one high
off-the-wall for a Fenway single. Yaz made it to third and with Joe Foy up,
Scott headed for second. Pedro Gonzales put the tag on him as Yaz raced home
with the tying run. Then Foy walked and stole second base. Mike Andrews singled
up the middle to give the Sox a 3 to 2 lead.
In the sixth inning, Yaz walked and came all the way home on Rico's double
off the wall in center field, making it 4 to 2. The final two runs came in the
seventh when Brandon doubled to left with one out. Reggie Smith singled and both
runners moved up on a wild pitch. John O'Donoghue came in to replace George
Culver and Yaz lined a single off the secondbaseman's glove to score the two
runners, making it 6 to 2.
Yastrzemski knocked in four runs in both games, boosting his RBI total to 25.
There never was a happier bunch of guys in the Red Sox dressing room. |
