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JOE FOY GREETED AFTER SLAM |
THE CURSE OF THE BAMBINO, PART 6 ...
"THE IMPOSSIBLE DREAM"
Yaz and Conigliaro batter the Indians
July
23, 1967 ... The Red Sox tomahawked the
Cleveland Indians twice, 8 to 5, and 5 to 1, to win, not only a
doubleheader, but sweep the entire series at Municipal Stadium. They
now come home, still one half game behind the league-leading Chicago
White Sox, who also swept a doubleheader in Kansas City. The Red Sox
won six straight games on the road, without an error, good pitching
and strong hitting. The afternoon started off much is expected,
with Jim Lonborg, the league's leading pitcher, winning his 14th game and fifth
in a row. The second game was considerably questionable at the start, as Gary
Bell, who had not pitched well recently, started off giving up a run in the
first inning and then settled down for the rest of the game, with hardly a
scare.
Jim Lonborg had a nice cushion to work on in the opener, when the club got
him seven runs in the first three innings. The big blast came from Joe Foy, who
hit his second grand slam home run of the year and his 15th overall. It came in
the second inning off Indians starter, John O'Donoghue. Tony Conigliaro hit his
16th home run in the first inning and Lonborg seemed to let up some once he had
a big edge in the game.
The first inning started when O'Donoghue walked Joe Foy with one out. After
Yastrzemski flew out, Conigliaro drilled a drive over the fence in left-center.
The second inning started with Jerry Adair doubling to right and Reggie Smith
beating out a grounder hit to shortstop. They were moved along by Mike Ryan and
then after Lonborg grounded out, Mike Andrews was walked to fill the bases. Foy
drove the first pitch he saw about 20 rows into the left-field stands.
Lonborg had some troubles in the second when Duke Sims lined a home run with
a man on. But the Red Sox picked up another in the third and added another in
the fifth on Yastrzemski's 24th home run of the year.
In the ninth-inning, Lonborg staggered a bit in the hot day, allowing Max
Alvis a double before Vern Fuller hit a home run. The excitement in the Indians
dugout didn't last long, as Lonborg got through the rest of the game without a
trouble.
Gary Bell was opposed by Luis Tiant, who was knocked out of the box in
Friday's game, in the nightcap. The Sox right-hander got a loud greeting off the
bat of Lee Maye in the first inning. Maye doubled to right and then went to
third on a wild pitch, scoring on a long sacrifice fly, giving the Indians a 1
to 0 lead.
But the Indians once again looked awful, this time in the fourth inning. Max
Alvis threw George Scott's grounder wildly to first and Tony Horton collided
with Scott, trying to catch the ball and knocking him down. After Adair singled
to left, Reggie Smith singled to right, to score Scott, and when Maye threw the
ball high to third, Smith scampered down to second base.
On a pitch in the dirt, Adair tried to score from third and was thrown out,
but Smith made it over to third-base. After Mike Ryan walked, the Indians went
to sleep. Ryan broke for second and catcher Joe Azcue made a weak throw to the
shortstop, allowing Reggie Smith to try and score. The return throw to home was
not a good one and Smith scored easily.
The last two runs came when Conigliaro hit his second home run of the day
over the wall in left, after Yaz had singled. The rest of the day was easy for
Bell, who wobbled some in the ninth, but got out of the trouble.
So the Red Sox head home, having won 12 of their last 13 games. |
