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“DIARY OF A WINNER”
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THE CURSE OF THE BAMBINO, PART 6 ... September 24, 1967 ... Dick Williams yanked his star pitcher, Jim Lonborg, out of the game in the sixth inning, to rest him for the games coming up, when the Red Sox had a 7-0 lead. But the rest of the game became a tug-of-war, with the Red Sox winning it, 11-7. It all happened because the Red Sox walloped Tom Phoebus. Jerry Adair helped things immensely by getting four hits, and could have had five if not for a fine catch by Brooks Robinson. Dalton Jones also got four hits, although he had another hard time in the field. But the big slugger of the day was George Scott, who too had four hits, including his 18th home run of the year. That came off southpaw, Paul Gilliford. While Lonborg held the Orioles in check, the Red Sox scored in the first five innings. Jones had a triple in the first inning that scored Adair and Reggie Smith, who had doubled before him. Jones swung at curves by Phoebus, then whacked the ball between Paul Blair and Frank Robinson to the fence. In the second inning with one out, Phoebus walked Lonborg and Adair doubled to left, to score him with the third run. Then in the third Scott singled and after Rico Petrocelli walked, Elston Howard, who has been mired in a slump, singled to right, scoring Scott. Then in the fourth, Adair singled and Yaz was hit by a pitch. Reggie walked and Jones slammed a single to right that scored both Yaz and Adair, giving the Red Sox a 6 to 0 lead. The seventh run came on singles by José Tartabull, Adair and Yaz in the fifth inning. Lonborg went into the sixth inning, getting two strikeouts and that was his afternoon, with Darrell Brandon coming in to pitch the seventh. The Orioles scored one off Brandon when Adair and Jones booted ground balls. They got one more in the eighth on two walks, a single and an error by Petrocelli, his first in 280 chances. Up 7 to 3 in the ninth-inning, the Red Sox blasted it wide open. José Tartabull and Adair both singled to start the inning. Reggie erased Adair on a force out at second, before Tartabull and Reggie worked a perfect double steal, that scored José. It must have shaken up Gilliford, who had come in to start the inning, because he gave up a double to Jones and then a home run to Scott. Petrocelli followed with a single to center, but Elston Howard grounded out and the Sox were up 11 to 3. But the Orioles were dead yet and they beat up Brandon in the ninth-inning. With one out both Frank and Brooks Robinson reached on singles. Boog Powell lined a single to center to score Frank with Brooks going over to third. Buddy Leroux and Dick Williams rushed out of the dugout when Brandon grabbed his right arm in pain following the pitch. Dan Osinski came in and gave up a double to Dave Johnson and one to Larry Haney that scored three more runs. He finally got pinch-hitter, Sam Bowens, with a strikeout to end the game. The Orioles had put four runs up on the scoreboard and it was not enough. |
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