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“DIARY OF A WINNER”
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THE CURSE OF THE BAMBINO, PART 6 ... May 24, 1967 ... Jim Lonborg beat the Detroit Tigers, 1 to 0, in a game won by a single swing of the bat by thirdbaseman Dalton Jones. Lonborg felt that he had pitched stronger in some games, but under pressure he pitched his best in this one. Four times Lonborg had the first man get on base and three times there was a man on third base with only one out. But none of these runners ever got home and George Scott can be thanked for seeing that nobody did. Scott made another one of his brilliant fielding gems. It came in the seventh inning when Norm Cash was walked to start. Lonborg then hit Bill Freehan with a pitch and the bullpen got busy, with John Wyatt and Bill Landis starting to warm up. Ray Oyler missed two bunt attempts and then the Tigers sent of Jerry Lumpe to take the final swing. He missed a curveball by feet for a strikeout. Gates Brown was the next batter, hitting for McLain, and he walked to load the bases. Dick McAuliffe came to the plate and hit a soft ground ball down the first base line. Scott, who was playing back, raced in and fired a bullet to the plate to force Cash at home. Then Don Wert hit a little pop foul that Mike Ryan caught, to end the inning. Jones hit his home run off starter Denny McLain in the second inning on the first pitch. He has 17 home runs lifetime and five had been against the Tigers. When he came to bat, he hit one of McLain's curveballs and sent it into the second deck in right field. Lonborg kept digging himself out of trouble after that and went home with his first 1 to 0 win in the big leagues. There were some other tough moments. In the second inning the Tigers had men on first and third with nobody out, when Jim Northrup and Cash had started with singles. Freehan struck out for the second of the 11 strikeouts Lonborg picked up in the game. Then Oyler hit into a doubleplay to end the inning. Al Kaline started the fourth inning with a walk and went to second while Willie Horton was swinging at a wild pitch third strike. But neither Northrup nor Cash could do anything to bring him it. Then in the eighth, Kaline lashed a double to left-center to open the inning. Horton moved him over to third with a ground ball. Lonborg got both Northrup and Cash on strikeouts to end that threat. George Scott was only about 5 feet away from making it an easier game for his pitcher. He came to bat in the eighth-inning with the bases loaded and two outs. Ryan had singled and Lonborg had missed a third strike bunt. José Tartabull singled after that and Carl Yastrzemski was walked intentionally. Scott hit a long fly ball to the deep part of right-center field and Northrup jumped, reached up, and made the catch against the wall. Reggie Smith stole second base in the first inning for his 21st theft of the year. It was Lonborg's fifth win of the season and he admitted he was nervous going into the ninth-inning, only having a one run lead. |
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