|
 |
|
YAZ GREETED AFTER 43RD HR |
THE CURSE OF THE BAMBINO, PART 6 ...
"THE IMPOSSIBLE DREAM"
Luis Tiant
handcuffs the Red Sox at Fenway
September
26, 1967 ... Carl Yastrzemski hit his 43rd
home run of the year to tie Ted Williams' best seasonal production in
1949. But the Red Sox fell to Luis Tiant and the Indians, 6 to 3, at
Fenway Park.
Yaz's homer was as long as any he's ever hit, about 15 rows back into the
centerfield seats. It came in the seventh inning, with José Tartabull in Jerry
Adair on base. Each one had singled ahead of them and Yaz hit a 1-1 pitch to
make the score, 6 to 3, at the time.
There was one other chance the Red Sox had to get to Tiant, who threw hard
for six innings and then threw breaking pitches over the corners for the rest of
the game. In the fourth inning the Red Sox had the bases loaded, thanks to two
singles by Dalton Jones and Rico Petrocelli, and a walk to Elston Howard. Norm
Siebern batted for starting pitcher Gary Bell, but Tiant struck him out.
Tiant struck out eight batters with a variety of pitches. His fifth
strikeout, against Adair, in the third inning, tied the 1964 Cleveland team
record set by the Indians staff of 1162.
Bell had his trouble in the second inning when he gave up two runs. Tony
Horton got the first of his two singles. Chico Salmon got the end of his bat on
a fastball and hit down the left-field line. The ball took a weird bounce off
the wall and Yaz had to chase it some 25 feet before he got to it allowing
Horton to score. Salmon moved over to third on an infield out and scored while
José Azcue hit a high bouncer ground out to Rico Petrocelli.
Tiant helped himself in the third inning with a liner just out of the reach
of Adair to start. After two fly ball outs, Max Alvis popped one out behind
second that fell between Petrocelli, Adair, and Reggie Smith. When Reggie
finally grabbed it he had a good chance of getting Tiant at third, but his throw
bounded past into the Cleveland dugout, giving the Indians a 3 to 0 lead.
José Santiago, who came in to replace Bell was slammed in the sixth inning.
Chuck Hinton homered into the left-field net to start the inning and after Alvis
flied out, Horton bounced a single to left before Salmon knocked him in with his
second home run of the year.
Then the crowd just sat around quietly until the seventh inning when Yaz
slammed his home run into the centerfield seats.
The loss put the Red Sox back in third-place, one percentage point behind the
White Sox and one game behind the Minnesota Twins. The Twins beat the Angels, 7
to 3 on a pair of tape measure home runs by Harmon Killebrew. Killebrew and Yaz
are tied for the American League lead with 43 home runs each.
The other bright spot of the day was the fact that the Red Sox seasonal
attendance swelled to 1,597,752 which exceeds the club record of 1,596,650 set
in 1949. |
