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YAZ HOMERS |
THE CURSE OF THE BAMBINO, PART 6 ...
"THE IMPOSSIBLE DREAM"
Yaz and Joe Foy
punch out the Tigers
July
17, 1967 ... Lee Stange was in trouble at the
start of the game and maneuvered himself out of it, as the Red Sox
went on to defeat the Tigers, 7 to 1, and moved into third place all
by themselves.
In the first inning, with one out, Jerry Lumpe had singled to right and Norm
Cash had doubled to left. They were on second and third and there was one out.
Stange had to face Willie Horton, who almost knocked the ball out of the
ballpark completely in the last game. The count went to two and two, and Horton
was leaning over the plate, looking for a curveball somewhere on the outside. It
never came, as Stange busted a high fastball inside and got Horton to wave at it
for the strikeout. The next man grounded out and the threat was over.
Denny McLain, who had shut out the Red Sox the last time he faced them,
started for Detroit. Mike Andrews hit his first pitch for a line single to left
and Joe Foy hit a long fly to centerfield. It hit high off-the-wall for a double
and scored Andrews easily. Carl Yastrzemski next met one of McLain's junk
pitches and pulled it down the first base line for a double, scoring Foy with
the second run. After Tony Conigliaro grounded out, Yastrzemski took off the
third-base with George Scott at bat. Scott bounded it between short and third as
Yaz scampered home.
In the fifth inning, the Red Sox added two more off McLain. The first one
came on a single by Andrews and a double to right by Foy. The ball went bouncing
past Cash, who fell over and as Foy dug like mad to get the second, Northrup's
throw hit him on the butt and rolled into short center, so Andrews scored
easily. A single to right by Conigliaro scored Foy with the second run.
The final two runs came in the eighth off Fred Gladding. Foy got his third
hit of the game on a single to right, and on a three and one pitch, Yaz homered
into the net in left, for his 22nd of the year, and his 61st and 62nd RBIs.
The rest was quite easy for Stange. He was reached for three singles in the
fifth, consecutively by Ray Oyler, McLain and Don Wert. But Lumpe flied out and
Cash lined out, to end another threat.
After that Stange simply didn't led any of the last 14 men get on base. He
didn't walk a single hitter, while he was finishing his third game of the year
and getting his fifth win.
Yaz was outstanding in the field also. In the seventh inning, pinch-hitter
Bill Heath, batting for McLain, hit a hard line drive to left. Yaz ran quickly
to the wall, turned and braced with his right hand while the jumped up and
caught the drive.
It was his seventh straight loss for the Tigers, who whipped the Red Sox
three of four times when they met in Detroit. It was a fourth straight victory
for Boston, who are now six games over .500, the best they been all season.
The crowd measured 28,991 fans. In their six home games the Red Sox and drawn
143,322, an average of 23,887 per game. |
