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YAZ & RICE WITH A WALK-OFF WIN |
THE "GOLD DUST TWINS" AND
A SEASON TO REMEMBER
...
Yaz
hustles the Sox to a sweep
July 31,
1975 ...
Carl Yastrzemski ran like a deer and hustled his butt off,
triggered scoring opportunities and then knocked out a base hit, to
lead the Red Sox into a 6 to 1 whipping of the Detroit Tigers, for
the sweep of a doubleheader at Fenway Park.
The Sox had already won the first game, 3 to 2, on Jim Rice's RBI
single in the 10th inning. Yaz was a big part of that driving in two
runs in the game.
The first came in the bottom of the opening inning. The Tigers were
up 1-0 quickly when Juan Beniquez opened with a base hit, stole
second and moved to third on Denny Doyle's grounder. Yaz grounded out
also, but it gave Beniquez the opportunity to score and tie up the
game.
The Tigers went back out in front on Ben Oglivie's solo homer the
next inning and their pitcher Ray Bare, and Bill Lee battled until
the eight inning. Then Bare walked Rick Burleson to start, who was
sacrificed up to second by Beniquez. Yaz's line drive into center
brought Burleson home and the game was again tied.
The Sox had an opportunity to put it away in the ninth inning. Jim
Rice was robbed of a game-winning homer by Leon Roberts' leaping
catch of his line drive after a long run, and crashing against the
wall in front of the Tigers' bullpen. Then three free passes by Bob
Reynolds, who had replaced Bare, loaded the bases, but the Sox
couldn't cash in, and so the game moved into extra innings.
In the 10th, after Doyle punched a single to center and stole second.
Rice lined a single off the wall in right center as Doyle easily
jogged home for a walk-off victory.
Lee went the distance in 90-degree heat for his fifth consecutive win
and 10th in 12 decisions since the middle of May. He gave up 11 hits
but didn't allow any runs after Oglivie's homer.
In the nitecap, Rogelio Moret battled with Dave Lemanczyk in a
scoreless game until the third inning. Lemanczyk walked Burleson to
open the inning and he went to second on Bob Heise's bunt. Doyle
lined a base to to center to put the first run on the board for the
Sox and extend his hitting streak to 18 games.
In the fourth, Yaz walked for the second time in the game and
sprinted all the way to third when Dwight Evans grounded weakly down
toward first base. With the infield drawn in, Bernie Carbo then
slammed a ball off Aurelio Rodriguez's glove at third, scoring Yaz.
The Sox added three insurance runs in the sixth inning. Doyle reached
on an error and Yaz followed him with a line single to right. Both
moved up on a sacrifice and Carbo was walked intentionally to load
the bases. Lemanczyk got wild and walked Rick Miller to let in the
third Sox run.
Tom Walker now took the ball for Detroit and got Tim Blackwell to hit
a grounder to shortstop Gene Michael. Michael was able to force
Miller at second but they couldn't complete the doubleplay and Yaz
scored another run. Rick Burleson followed that with a base hit to
score Carbo with the fifth Sox run. The final Sox run came in the
seventh inning on a walk, a base hit and a grounder by Dwight Evans
to make the final score, 6 to 1.
Moret had lost his shutout on Gary Sutherland's run-scoring single in
the fifth, but earned his eighth win against a single loss. He struck
out eight, including Ron LeFlore four times. |
