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MOE DRABOWSKY |
THE CURSE OF THE BAMBINO, PART 6 ...
"THE IMPOSSIBLE DREAM"
Moe Drabowsky
chills the Sox in Baltimore
May
26, 1967 ... The Red Sox and the Baltimore
Orioles were tied for first place at the start of this three-game set
at Memorial Stadium. But now the Orioles sit there alone, after
beating the Red Sox 4 to 3.
Billy Rohr started for the Sox and he had absolutely nothing on the baseball.
Yet he managed to get through the first three innings and allowed only one run.
He finally ran out of good luck in the fourth inning when the Orioles got him
for three runs. They had three men on with nobody out after two singles and a
walk. Dick Williams then took Rohr out and brought in Lee Stange to face Orioles
starter Dave McNally. The infield was in and McNally drove a single thru the
infield for a run. After a pop fly out, Stange had a two strike count on Dave
Johnson, who lined a single to left for two more runs, giving Baltimore a 4-0
lead.
McNally ran into trouble in the fifth inning when the Sox had a chance to
blow things open. Joe Foy singled as did Mike Ryan. Bob Tillman came up to bat
for Stange, but took a third strike. Reggie Smith and Mike Andrews followed with
singles and that was it for McNally.
Manager Hank Bauer brought in Moe Drabowsky and he got Carl Yastrzemski to
hit an easy ground ball to Johnson at second base. Johnson however let the ball
pop out of his glove for an error, that allowed Smith to score, making it 4 to
3. George Scott, who has been having troubles at the plate during this road
trip, struck out to end the threat. He has only gotten one hit in his last 15
times at bat, and struck out eight times. After Scott was retired, Drabowsky
threw one past José Tartabull, striking him out. He allowed only one hit for the
rest of the game.
Tony Horton who came up to bat in the ninth with two out, lined one of the
middle. He is now batting .455 as a pinch-hitter. Drabowsky then let loose with
a wild pitch that put Horton on second. He let the count go up to three balls
and no strikes on Reggie Smith, who swung on the next pitch and lofted a fly to
right-field to end the game. |
