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“DIARY OF A WINNER”
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THE CURSE OF THE BAMBINO, PART 6 ... September 27, 1967 ... The Red Sox probably needs some luck to win the pennant after getting shutout by the Indians, 6 to 0 at Fenway. Jim Lonborg, with only two days rest, had one good inning in his attempt to win his 22nd game. The Indians scorched him for four runs in the second inning, on balls just out of the reach of his fielders and one that should've been caught. But what really for the Red Sox was their lack of clutch hitting. They left the bases loaded twice, once with one out and once with nobody out. The second time came in the sixth inning when the whole side was struck out by two of the Indians relief pitchers. Lonborg seemed sharp in the first inning, but the second inning was different. Tony Horton ripped a single to center and Rich Scheinblum lined a fly ball to deep center. With the wind blowing out, the ball was at the centerfield wall before Reggie Smith could take more than one or two steps. It hit high on the wall and while the rebound was being tracked down, Horton came all the way home from first. Scheinblum moved over to third on a ground ball and then Pedro Gonzales stung a liner just out of the reach of Rico Petrocelli to score him. Shortstop Gordon Lund, playing in his first big-league game, hit a fly ball to left that both Reggie and Carl Yastrzemski broke after. It hit about two feet up on the wall for a double, as Gonzalez ended up on third. After Cleveland pitcher, Sonny Siebert, struck out, Vic Davalillo slapped a roller up the middle that scored two more runs. Lonborg got out of it when Chuck Hinton hit a fly ball out to Yaz to end the inning. Down 4 to 0, the Sox crowd get stirred up in the bottom half of the inning. Dalton Jones lined a single to center and moved to second on a wild pitch. Then George Scott and Rico Petrocelli received back-to-back walks to load the bases, but Elston Howard ended by grounding into a 4-6-3 double play. Gary Bell came back in to pitch, after pitching yesterday and kept the Indians quiet until the sixth. He gave up a base hit to Scheinblum and Azcue slammed a double to score another run, making it 5 to 0. In the Sox half of the inning, they made what would be their last chance to score a run. Adair and Yaz led off with singles. Siebert walked Reggie Smith and was replaced by Bob Allen, who threw three pitches past Dalton Jones for the first out. Manager Joe Adcock came out of the dugout and decided to bring in Stan Williams to pitch to George Scott. Williams fired three balls past Scott and then truck out Rico Petrocelli, as the Sox left the bases loaded again. In the eighth-inning, manager Dick Williams brought in young Ken Brett to make his major-league debut. He gave up one run in the eighth-inning on a single by Scheinblum followed by a triple by Azcue. José Tartabull thought a fan had touched a fly ball hit in the corner, so he quit on it, not trying very hard to retrieve it. He finally realized his mistake, when he saw Scheinblum and Azcue digging around the bases. Brett must have thought he was back in high school. The youngster got the Indians in the ninth. After giving up a single, he struck out Williams and Hinton. Catcher Elston Howard had high praise for the young lefty after the game. In Kansas City, the last-place Athletics swept a doubleheader from the Chicago White Sox. The White Sox, who started the day one half game behind first-place Minnesota, ended the day 1 1/2 games out, behind both the Red Sox and the Tigers. Meanwhile the California Angels and Dean Chance, upset the Minnesota Twins, 5 to 1. So, in spite of their loss, the Sox moved into second place. |
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