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“DIARY OF A WINNER”
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THE CURSE OF THE BAMBINO, PART 6 ... September 21, 1967 ... The Red Sox beat the Cleveland Indians, 6 to 5, to keep pace with the Minnesota Twins at the top of the American League. There were no ninth-inning heroics. As a matter fact the Red Sox had a 6 to 1 lead and let it disappear. Rain was in the forecast all day and for quite a while it looked like a game would not be played. But it finally cleared and the Red Sox had themselves what looked like an easy game, when they were ahead by five runs going into the bottom of the seventh-inning. But their better defensive players like Carl Yastrzemski and George Scott had moments of weakness and it took a trio of relief pitchers to hold on all the way to the end. The game started nice enough and Gary Bell was on the mound back against his old beloved fans in the cavernous ballpark. Bell pitched five scoreless innings and gave up only two hits, while his teammates were getting a run off Indians starter, Steve Hargan, in the second inning. With two outs Mike Andrews singled in the third and Yastrzemski lined one to Richie Scheinblum in right field. The ball landed in the rookies glove and then just fell out. When he picked up the ball, Scheinblum threw it past mound into the Red Sox dugout for a double error, that allowed Andrews to score the first run. When the Red Sox scored three more times in the sixth, with only one hit, it looked like it was going to be a very easy evening. Andrews and Yastrzemski walked to start the inning. Scott sacrificed them along and Reggie Smith was walked intentionally to load the bases. Dalton Jones then lined a single to right to score Andrews and Yaz, with Reggie moving over to third. Then the Sox got a gift from Hargan, when he threw a ball past his catcher, allowing Reggie to score the third run of the inning. Down 4 to 0 in the sixth, with two outs, Bell walked Scheinblum. A single by Hinton and another single by Tony Horton scored the first Cleveland run. But Bell fanned Joe Azcue to end the threat. Two more runs came home for the Red Sox in the seventh. Bell doubled to start the inning and Tartabull drove him home with a triple right, a show of strength from the lineup's two weakest hitters. Andrews lifted a pop up behind second base that fell in for a single, but he was thrown out trying to stretch it into two. Tartabull scored however, and the Sox were up 6 to 1. In the following inning, Bell was touched for a single by Jim King and a double by Lee Maye, that Yaz seem to lose track of, allowing it to drop a foot in front of the fence. Vic Davalillo was the next batter and grounded one to Scott, who let the ball go through his legs, to score two runs. An infield single by Scheinblum moved Davalillo over to third and he scored on a sacrifice fly out to Reggie in centerfield. In the eighth-inning, down 6 to 4, against Darrell Brandon, pinch-hitter Leon Wagner and Larry Brown both singled. Dick Williams brought in Bill Landis to pitch to Fred Whitfield. Whitfield poked a single to center that scored Wagner, but Davalillo grounded out to end the inning. José Tartabull started the ninth-inning for the Red Sox when the rains came. An hour later play was resumed and two ground ball outs finally ended the inning for the Sox. In the bottom of the ninth, John Wyatt took over and put the Indians down in order to preserve the 6 to 5 win. For the first time in 10 days, the Sox had their first chance for a laugher, but became a groaner. |
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