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Schofield's triple brings the Sox back June 24, 1970 ... The Red Sox were getting the business from the Baltimore Orioles, when little Dick Schofield changed the mood in the ballpark with a bases clearing triple, while the Red Sox were scoring five runs in the seventh inning, to beat the Orioles, 6 to 5. Schofield had been pressed into service when Mike Andrews couldn't play second base, because he had hurt his back lifting one of his kids. Schofield, however, looked none the worse for hoisting his teammates on his back to a victory. It was his first extra-base hit of the year. Vicente Romo finally made the bullpen look like anything but a load of flotsam and jetsom. He came in after the five-run inning and stopped the Orioles. But he had to get out of a bases-loaded jam in the eighth-inning and he left a base runner on third in the ninth-inning. Until Schofield jumped on an Eddie Watt fastball in the seventh inning, the fans were getting noisy and restless. The only time they thought the Red Sox were doing anything right, was when Reggie Smith hit a home run in the first inning off Jim Hardin to put the Sox up 1-0. That run was wiped out in the third inning off Sonny Siebert, who couldn't get by a single batter. It looked as though the Orioles were going to win the game by coasting in. In that inning the Orioles had their home run thunder working back to back. Don Buford had singled and stolen second on consecutive pitches. Then Paul Blair and Frank Robinson drilled Siebert's pitches out of the ballpark. In the fourth inning, Brooks Robinson opened up with a home run and the Orioles added their fifth run in the seventh inning when Buford stole home on Gary Wagner. up 5 t0 1, Hardin had not walked a hitter in the first six innings and had given up only four hits. But he then walked George Scott to start things off in the seventh inning. Scotty stole second and from there came nothing but trouble from the Orioles. Hardin walked Billy Conigliaro and when Tom Satriano came to bat and worked a 2 to 0 count. Hardin got the ball over the plate, but Satriano drilled it into right field for a single, that scored Scott with Billy C. stopping at second base. That was the night Hardin. The next choice for the Orioles, was Eddie Watt. The Red Sox sent up Mike Fiore to pinch-hit for Wagner. When Watt walked Fiore, manager Earl Weaver came hustling out of the dugout. After a noisy chat with his pitcher and the count wgoing to three and two on Schofield, Watt laid a fast one down the middle. Schofield smashed it to right-center between Frank Robinson and Paul Blair. He scooted around the bases and finally stopped at third-base once Blair had picked up the ball and had thrown it in. With the score now tied at 5 to 5, Pete Richert came to the mound and faced Reggie Smith. Reggie lofted a fly ball to center and Schofield came in with the go-ahead run. Vicente Romo came into pitch the eighth and had a dig himself out of trouble. Dave Johnson singled and Elrod Hendricks drew a walk. Mark Belanger forced Johnson at third and Terry Crowley came up to pinch-hit. Romo struck out Crowley but Carl Yastrzemski fumbled a ground ball hit to him by Don Buford. With the bases loaded, Romo also struck out Paul Blair to end that threat. In the ninth-inning Merv Rettenmund came into pinch run for Boog Powell, who had drawn a walk with one out. Brooks Robinson moved him over to second on a ground ball, and he went over to third on a wild pitch. With the winning run 90 feet away, Romo struck out Johnson to end the game. |
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