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D.C. STADIUM |
THE CURSE OF THE BAMBINO, PART 6 ...
"THE IMPOSSIBLE DREAM"
The Senators
walk-off with
a win in the 10th inning
June
18, 1967 ... The Red Sox lost to the Senators
in 10 innings, 3 to 2, when pinch-hitter, Hank Allen, lined a single
to left field off Dennis Bennett, as thunder in the background and a
rainstorm was about to unload on DC Stadium. For seven innings Lee
Stange and Phil Ortega pitched head-to-head in a scoreless tie. Carl Yastrzemski
drilled a two run home run over the right-field fence in the ninth-inning, to
tie up the score at 2 to 2. The Senators had reached Stange for a pair of runs
the inning before.
Stange pitched very well until the eighth. He gave up only three hits for
seven innings and in the eighth suddenly lost it, as Bob Savarine doubled to
right with two outs. Ed Stroud singled him in for the first run and then Frank
Howard and a double off the fence in right-center to score the second run.
Yastrzemski brought some life back with his drive, as Ortega had retired 18
Red Sox batters in a row. In the ninth-inning, Andrews started with a single to
left, and with two's strikes on Yaz he hit his 16th home run for his 45th and 46
RBIs for the season.
José Santiago took over for Stange in the ninth-inning. Mike Epstein bounced
a one hopper down to Mike Andrews that took a funny bounce and went over his
glove for a base hit. Ken McMullen then sacrificed him along and Paul Casanova
was walked intentionally to bring up Eddie Brinkman. Brinkman hit a looper over
Rico Petrocelli's head, and on came Yaz who threw a bullet toward the plate.
Epstein wisely stayed at third-base because Yaz threw a strike. That brought up
Dick Nen and with two strikes, he bounced one down the first base line. George
Scott was going toward first, but then wound up throwing home to force Epstein.
Scott's choice faked Nen, who stopped running about 30 feet from the bag,
thinking Scott had tagged first, and when he realized what was going on, he
stumbled toward first and was an easy out for Russ Gibson.
But in the 10th inning, Saverine worked Santiago for a walk. Ed Stroud
successively sacrificed him over to second and Fred Valentine was given an
intentional pass. Santiago struck out Cap Peterson and manager Dick Williams
came out of the dugout and called in Bennett. Gil Hodges countered by bringing
in Hank Allen. Williams went to the mound and told Bennett that the best way to
get Allen was with a high fastball, in tight. Bennett threw a fastball that was
not high nor tight, and Alan lined it to Yaz. Yaz came racing in to grab the
ball on the hop, but at the last second it broke to his right. He tried to
backhand it and missed, allowing Savarine to score the winning run easily. |
