|
“DIARY OF A WINNER”
|
THE CURSE OF THE BAMBINO, PART 6 ... August 9, 1967 ... Jim Lonborg arrived in Kansas City on an overnight pass from his Army reserve unit in Atlanta, and then proceeded to collect his 16th victory of the season, the best in the majors, as the Red Sox beat the Athletics, 5 to 1, for the second straight game. The Red Sox supported Lonborg in a style that all pitchers would love to have. They were on the attack and they made all the plays. Jerry Adair, who had three singles for the second game in a row, drove in three runs, and slapped a hit-and-run single in the sixth inning, that set up the Red Sox second run. Carl Yastrzemski, with his glove in the eighth, made a running one-handed over the shoulder catch of Ken Harrelson's booming shot to left, that broke up the possibility of a big inning. Lonborg finally had to be relieved in the eighth-inning, and Sparky Lyle came in to get the last four outs. Up to that point, Lonborg had been overpowering, striking out seven and allowing only four hits. The Red Sox had staked him to the lead against Jim Nash, in the third inning on Elston Howard's bouncing ball behind second, a wild pitch and Adair's single past shortstop Bert Campaneris. The Red Sox scored another run in the sixth as Adair bounced a single through the second base hole, with Reggie Smith on board. He then slid hard into John Donaldson on Joe Foy's double-play ball, forcing Donaldson to throw it into the A's dugout, allowing Smith to score. Jim Nash got knocked out in the seventh inning as the Red Sox broke the game open. Norm Siebern led off with a single to right. After Rico Petrocelli popped out, and with the count one and one on Howard, pinch runner George Scott, took off. Donaldson ran with him toward second base and Howard lined a hit into the spot that the secondbaseman had vacated. Scott made it to third and with Howard on first, Nash walked Reggie Smith to load the bases. After Lonborg struck out, Adair drove in two more runs with a single past third baseman, Dick Green, to make it 5 to 0. Lew Krausse came in to replace Nash and on his third pitch to Joe Foy, Adair broke for second. Krausse cut off the throw and Smith was caught up between third and the plate. They both hesitated and Smith scored when he knocked the ball out of catcher Phil Roof's glove, with a hard slide. The Athletics scored their run in the eighth and would've had more, if it wasn't for Yastrzemski's catch. Danny Cater led off with a single and then Harrelson blasted a liner into left-center that Yaz ran down and caught. Jim Gosger struck out and Mike Hershberger doubled to left and finished Lonborg's day. Sparky Lyle came in and got pinch-hitter Joe Nossek to fly out to center and retired the A's in the order in the ninth to nail down Lonborg's victory. |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
 |
 |